Manx uncertain as UK budget nears

Report from Manx Radio's Business Editor, John Moss (pictured):

As we head towards the United Kingdom budget, there are growing suggestions the Chancellor, Alistair Darling, may not be able to stitch-up a deal in time for UK 'non doms' to be able to offset the £30,000 levy it's proposed they would be charged, against their United States tax. It is now thought that any such announcement could only be made some weeks after the budget, and therefore could not be included in Wednesday's statement.

At the same time there are reports that a second 'cache of data' on those who hold accounts in Liechtenstein has emerged, and that Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs may be prepared to dip into UK taxpayers' pockets again to pay for a look at the details, and pick up any UK account holders who have not provided details on those accounts. HMRC has already paid six figures for an initial cache.

The Manx Assessor of Tax, Dr Malcolm Couch, will this week be attending a meeting of the 'Level Playing Fields Group' of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development with, it would seem, much to discuss. The Isle of Man regards itself as one of the good guys, falling into line with regulatory requirements, and indeed quoted by the OECD as 'the intellectual leader of the off shores'. Yet it still suffers from a knee-jerk habit across the world to lump it in with every other tax haven, even with those such as Andorra, Monaco and Liechtenstein, who have opted to retain secrecy, through the 'withholding' tax provision.