OECD Claims Member Countries Have Ended Harmful Tax Practices

On September 26, 2006, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said that its members have achieved the principal objectives of a longstanding initiative aimed at eliminating harmful tax competition between nations. According to a new progress report on the harmful tax practices initiative, the 30 OECD member countries have eliminated all but one of the 47 preferential regimes the group initially identified in 2000 as potentially harmful. Since 1998, the OECD has asked members to avoid preferential regimes that harm international competition, claiming that they pose a major obstacle for the world economy. The initiative has principally worked for more tax information exchange and cooperation from offshore financial centers in order to prevent tax evasion and promote fair tax competition ... [more]