Jun 10 - GSD Sets Straight Govt Dispute Over Tax Exchange Agreements
The GSD has today accused the Government of distorting comments made by Opposition Leader Daniel Feetham. In response to the Government’s claim that the Opposition was not well briefed because in his GBC interview he said that “Gibraltar has signed 27 Agreements for exchange of tax information” when, in fact, there are over 100 tax information exchange arrangements in force.
On behalf of the Party tax expert and member of the GSD executive Chris White said that Mr. Feetham was right in his statements as ‘this figure can be confirmed by viewing the O.E.C.D website. The process begun under the previous administration and has continued under this administration.’
Mr White went on to say that ‘the accuracy of that statement is not diminished by the fact that Gibraltar has also transposed Directive 2011/16/EU on administrative cooperation in the field of taxation which establishes mechanisms for exchange of information with EU countries and that Gibraltar is also bound by the Convention on mutual administrative assistance in tax matters which has established an exchange of information relationship with additional jurisdictions. In combination with bilateral agreements Gibraltar has arrangements in place with over 100 jurisdiction.’
On the matter, the party added that ‘the Leader of the Opposition was therefore entirely correct in his statement and it is typical of the distortion and spin that characterizes the Government’s every statement to suggest otherwise.
‘It is also very sad that the Government should make such a petty point in a communiqué designed to show how prepared they are to work with the Opposition on matters of national interest, more so when we consider that the Leader of the Opposition made his statement to illustrate the fact that Gibraltar had bilateral agreements with some of the leading jurisdictions and that Spain had refused to sign an agreement with Gibraltar prior to the directive coming into force. In other words the statement was made in the context of defending Gibraltar. So much for bipartisanship!’
