Quotes of the month

"There is a certain section of civil society that undoubtedly believes that all transparency is good and the more the better. But it has to be remembered that information on, for example, product pricing models can be competitively sensitive, and should be protected as such."

Alan McLean, executive vice president of taxation and corporate structure at Shell, sounds a note of caution in the tax transparency debate.

"Guernsey is ahead of the curve and we look forward to other jurisdictions stepping up to the mark so that we can help create a level playing field on beneficial ownership."

Fiona Le Poidevin, chief executive of Guernsey Finance, raises the bar by thinking outside the box and digging down to break the world record for number of PR clichés in one sentence.

"Some high profile digital companies have indulged in BEPS strategies... [But this] does not make the digitised economy itself a cause of BEPS, but [the OECD] has yet to take the sensible step of entirely decoupling the subjects."

Glynn Fullelove, group director of tax at Informa, urges clarity in discussions of the OECD approach to tackling the tax challenges associated with the digital economy.

"Over half of the Conservative party's funding comes from the financial sector and our worry is that [UK Chancellor, George] Osborne is defending the city against the wider interests of Britain."

Simon Chouffot, of the Robin Hood Tax campaign, airs his fears in relation to progress on a European financial transaction tax.

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