Labour leader's salvo off target - Teare

The Treasury minister says he's disappointed but not surprised about Labour's attack on offshore jurisdictions over tax avoidance.

Party leader Ed Miliband has told The Guardian he'll impose a six month deadline on the Isle of Man, other Crown dependencies and the Offshore Territories to 'show him the books' if Labour wins May's general election.

He's demanding a central register of the ownership of offshore companies be set-up and made publicly available.  

Mr Miliband says he'll take steps to have those jurisdictions which fail to do so, put on an OECD tax haven blacklist - despite the fact other member countries including France, Germany and the US, do not have such a register. 

Labour has claimed up to £5 billion is to lost to the UK exchequer through evasion and avoidance of tax in offshore financial centres.

Eddie Teare says the beneficial ownership of Manx companies is available on request to the authorities, and known to the corporate service firms which deal with them.

A consultation on creating a central registry was held in the Island last year - further action is not yet decided.

Mr Teare says the Island complies with international standards on tax transparency and current safeguards are sufficient: