News Article - 04 September 2006
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The UK, US and Switzerland should be ranked among the most corrupt countries in the world due to their failure tackle tax havens, says new economic research.

The failure to tackle off-shore tax arrangements was causing more hardship than any developing nation's corruption, said director of the Tax Justice Network John Christensen.

"I would place the United Kingdom high on the list of most corrupt countries," said Mr Christensen, speaking at the Economic Geography Research Group conference.

He based this assertion on the countries country's role as a tax haven and on its defence of its overseas territories as tax havens, he told the conference, reports the Guardian.

He added that the UK had a very poor record in undermining EU attempts to legislate against tax loopholes.

Global measures such as Transparency International risked showing a distorted view of corruption he claimed, implying that it was a just a developing world problem.

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