Cameron Warns Over Transparency

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 Britain's offshore tax havens have been warned to enforce regulations and improve transparency to avoid evasion by individuals and companies.
The Prime Minister has written to nearly a dozen leaders of the havens, stressing the need to "get our own houses in order" as he pushes for international action to tackle avoidance schemes.
In a message to 10 Crown Dependencies and British overseas territories, David Cameron said he backed their right to be low tax jurisdictions but insisted that rules needed to be set and enforced fairly.
The move comes ahead of next month's G8 summit in Northern Ireland, where David Cameron will push for an agreement aimed at clamping down on tax evasion and avoidance.
He said he wanted the G8 to "knock down the walls of company secrecy" to reveal who really owns and controls firms.
Mr. Cameron's initiative came as he prepared to raise the issue of corporate tax dodging with Google ( NasdaqGS : GOOG-news ) boss Eric Schmidt at a meeting in Downing Street.
The internet giant's executive chairman is a member of Mr. Cameron's Business Advisory Group, which has its regular quarterly meeting today, just days after Google was given a mauling by a House of Commons committee over its tax affairs.
The group holds its meeting behind closed doors and Downing Street does not reveal the content of its deliberations.
But a source inside Number 10 confirmed tax will be up for discussion, insisting that "nothing is off the table" when David Cameron meets the group of 16 business leaders.
The  Prime Minister's letter calling for more transparency about tax information and the ownership of companies was sent to leaders in Anguilla, the British Virgin Islands, Bermuda, Gibraltar, the Cayman Islands, Montserrat, the Turks and Caicos Islands Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man.
" As you know, I have made fighting the scourge of tax evasion and aggressive tax avoidance a priority for the G8 summit which the UK is hosting next month.
"With one month to go, this is the critical moment to get our own houses in order.
"I am looking to all the overseas territories and crown dependencies to continue to work in partnership with the UK in taking the lead on two critical issues : tax information exchange and beneficial lownership", Mr Cameron wrote.
David Cameron told the leaders : " I respect your right to be lower tax jurisdictions. I believe passionately in lower taxes as a vital driver of growth and prosperity for all.
" But lower taxes are only sustainable if what is owed is actually paid-and if the rules to achieve this are set and enforced fairly to create a level playing field right across the world.
" There is no point in dealing with tax evasion in one country if the problem is simply displaced to another."
He welcomed commitments made by the territories to exchange tax information but said there was also a need to improve to its quality and accuracy.
He said : " Put simply, the means  we need to know who really  owns and controls each and every company."
" This goes right to the heart of the ambition of Britain's G8 to knock down the walls of company secrecy."
Labour leader Ed Miliband has pledged to write new rules to tackle corporate tax dodgers if the wins the next election, even if there is no international consensus for action.
In a interview with the Observer, he said Mr. Cameron's government was "dragging its feet" on the issue.