Latvia and the Euro: Meet the EU's Newest Tax Haven

[antiquie]

European finance ministers on Tuesday gave the Baltic country the go-ahead to join the common currency union on January 1 next year. Furthermore, new tax laws are set to go into effect at the same time. These laws, says Suharenko, will put his country "on a level with Ireland, Malta and Cyprus."
"It is a seal of quality for Latvia as a financial marketplace," [Rietumu Bank Manager] Suharenko says. "The euro is coming and capital will follow."

Many observers don't share Suharenko's euphoria, though. Riga's planned reform has been designed to transform Latvia into the euro-zone's next tax haven. And it highlights the degree to which rhetoric and reality diverge in the European Union.

Ever since the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) exposed the vast scale of tax evasion undertaken by multinationals around the world, the European Commission has made combating financial trickery a top priority. Theoretically, at least. In practice, exactly the opposite has happened.

"Instead of eliminating established tax havens, we have added a new one to the euro zone," says Sven Giegold, a financial expert with the Green Party in the European Parliament.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/latvia-set-to-join-euro-zone-and-become-a-new-european-tax-haven-a-910610.html

[JDPriestly]

1. Tax havens are a problem for everyone in the world.

That is especially true in countries that have laws that protect tax cheats from discovery.

Every once in a while the leader of an impoverished country dies and we learn that he or she (usually he) had a big bank account in some tax haven in the world. And where did that money come from? It's usually hard to say.

And yet, I do think people should enjoy privacy in their lives.

If the US is scooping up the communications data around the world, seems to me the US would know who sends money to what bank.

[antiquie]

2. I agree, if you "play by the rules" you deserve privacy.

If you don't pay your share and degrade other's quality of life, you forfeit your privacy rights, in my opinion.