Argentina wins WTO appeal in case targeting Panama tax practices.
The World Trade Organization's appellate body on Thursday threw out a complaint from Panama about Argentina's efforts to combat alleged tax evasion and avoidance.
The case brought by Panama, now under global scrutiny because of a huge leak of secretive offshore accounts data from Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca, was the first WTO dispute over steps taken against "harmful tax practices."
Panama accused Argentina of discriminating against suppliers of financial services based in "countries not cooperating for tax purposes", and it won a partial victory in a ruling last September.
Panama claimed in 2012 that Argentina discriminated against countries that did not exchange information with Argentine authorities for the purposes of fiscal transparency. Argentina countered that its measures were in line with recommendations by the OECD and the Financial Action Task Force, which combats money laundering and terrorist financing.
The appeal ruling found Argentina's measures did not break WTO rules; but it did not go so far as to say Argentina was definitely within WTO rules, either. Instead, it decided there had been insufficient analysis of Panama's original complaint, leaving the way open for similar disputes in future.
The Appellate Body did rule that countries could restrict trade with tax havens for "prudential" reasons or to comply with national laws, as long as they did so in a consistent and non-arbitrary manner.
At: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-argentina-panama-wto-idUSKCN0XB2D4
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Please note that Argentina's policies targeting offshore tax evasion were enacted during the center-left administration of President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner.
The current president, Mauricio Macri, is a GOP clone that opposed these measures at the time, and as mayor even attempted to make Buenos Aires into an offshore tax haven in direct contravention of federal laws.
Macri is one of only five current world leaders implicated in the Panama Paper scandal.