Self seeks a haven
MY friend Self, the tax assessor, has left the Revenue's brown envelopes accumulat- ing on his doormat while he curls up with a good book: Caroline Doggart's classic Tax Havens and Their Uses. The 1997 edition has come just in time for him to make his travel plans in front of the election. The parties' rival promises to hold tax rates down fill Self with the liveliest distrust. It is time to pack those suitcases and leave the country. Novel haven destinations for your money this year include Djibouti, in the Horn of Africa — favoured for its snorkelling, but not more so than Minerva, the Pacific reef which is the world's only underwater tax haven. Liechtenstein is the world's largest producer of sausage skins, false teeth and tax-effective Anstalts, as favoured by the Maxwell family, but Self likes the look of Compione, a tiny piece of Italy surrounded by Swiss territory. Neither the Swiss nor the Italians can be bothered to tax it. Havens, Self notes, will always be in demand while the governments of supposedly advanced countries continue to tax and borrow more and more. By contrast, Hong Kong, where the standard of living overtook our own some time ago, has no national debt and a top personal tax rate of 15 per cent. Hong Kong, though, is not a conventional tax haven: just a successful economy.
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