Herding Cats and Taming Tax Havens: The US Strategy of ‘Not In My Backyard’

Ronen Palan, Duncan Wigan

    Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

    Abstract

    Recent G8 and G20 statements, combined with a number of OECD campaigns have given an impression that the world has entered a phase of re-invigorated multilateral efforts to combat tax abuse. We argue that this impression is not entirely mistaken, but the centre of gravity in the battle against tax abuse generally, and tax havens specifically, is shifting decidedly towards unilateral approaches. The US is, in particular, in flexing its muscles attempting to ensure that the various mechanisms used to evade taxation and perpetrated through tax havens have little impact on its ‘back yard’. We call this the ‘Not In My Back Yard’ (NIMBY) principle of regulation, which underpins the new Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). The NIMBY principle, we argue, is likely to be adopted by other large political entities.
    Original languageEnglish
    JournalGlobal Policy
    Volume5
    Issue number3
    Pages (from-to)334–343
    Number of pages10
    ISSN1758-5880
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2014

    Cite this