Greetings from the OECD Global Tax Forum in Mexico City.
Our erstwhile friends at the OECD are not very tolerant of dissent, and this trip is a good example. First, they bullied the hotel in Cabo into canceling my reservation. Apparently, my mere presence would create a disturbance to their plans for one-size-fits-all taxation. But then the conference got moved to Mexico City because of the hurricane and the bureaucrats did not have the ability – at least on short notice – into coercing the new hotel into denying me the ability to get a room (not that it would have been a big deal to register someplace else, but it is somewhat galling that petty bureaucrats seem so intent of throwing roadblocks in the way of the folks who pay their bloated – and tax free – salaries).
Today, however, the OECD upped the ante. I have been hanging out in the public lobby outside of the OECD’s conference room. This location makes it easy to communicate with the delegates from low-tax nations. This apparently irritates the bureaucrats, so they sent one of their security officials to ask me to leave. I asked what right he had to make such a request, especially since I was in a public area. He claimed that the lobby – which also serves as the entrance to a restaurant and the business center – was reserved for the conference. I said that was absurd and would like to see the hotel management. Perhaps more important, I turned to the reporter next to me and started explaining that this was a typical example of the OECD’s reprehensible strong-arm tactics. This flustererd the security guy and he backed down.
But I suspect that this is not the end of the story. And since I’m not overly confident that the Mexican government respects the rule of law, I do have visions of getting carted off to an unpleasant jail. If you don’t see anything in this space tomorrow morning, that won’t be a good sign.
For those interested in more background on the issue, read this memo and/or watch my videos on tax competition and tax havens.
this is unqualifiable and incredible. World’s super agencies would like to turn into new world dictatorship, but could they succeed ?
I stay tuned here and on your FB account and I make follow to friends
Well, the Mexican policeman responsible for your detention will be on the side of those who can offer the largest bribe. Consider that a good thing, I guess.
Dan,
Bribe Andy into taking your place if you go to jail. I’m sure potential “friends” among the inmate population would find him less, uhm, sociable.
[...] 12, 2009 by Dan Mitchell For those who followed my adventures at the OECD conference in Mexico, you have some idea of the dangers posed by bureaucrats trying to [...]
[...] I’ve traveled around the world to fight the international bureaucracies, and even been threatened with arrest for helping low-tax nations resist being bullied by high-tax nations. Simply stated, we need [...]
[...] I’ve traveled around the world to fight the international bureaucracies, and even been threatened with arrest for helping low-tax nations resist being bullied by high-tax nations. Simply stated, we need [...]
[...] I’ve traveled around the world to fight the international bureacracies, and even been threatened with arrest for helping low-tax nations resist being bullied by high-tax nations. Simply stated, we need [...]
[...] spend so much of my time fighting to preserve tax competition (even if it means the possibility of getting thrown in a Mexican jail). If the crooks in Washington and other national capitals know that the geese with the golden eggs [...]
[...] bureaucrats at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development threatened to have me thrown in a Mexican jail for the horrible crime of standing in the public lobby of a hotel and giving advice to low-tax [...]
Dont worry Dan, I live in Mexico and you would get off very easy, i mean there are some people who murder in plain sights and get away with it.
As long as you bribe them (with $100 usd) you would be fine.
There is no rule of law in Mexico, heck, the police is the one who kidnaps you…
Sorry to ear about your experience in my country, remember is a country of slaves, it goes back a long time since the spaniards came.
[...] That’s why I’ve been fighting the OECD for years, even to the point that the bureaucrats threatened to put me in a Mexican jail for the “crime” of standing in the public lobby of a public hotel. [...]
[...] To be blunt, I’m not a big fan of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. But my animosity isn’t because OECD bureaucrats threatened to have me arrested and thrown in a Mexican jail. [...]
[...] To be blunt, I’m not a big fan of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. But my animosity isn’t because OECD bureaucrats threatened to have me arrested and thrown in a Mexican jail. [...]
[...] To be blunt, I’m not a big fan of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. But my animosity isn’t because OECD bureaucrats threatened to have me arrested and thrown in a Mexican jail. [...]
[...] Why Are U.S. Taxpayers Subsidizing a Paris-Based Bureaucracy to Help the AFL-CIO Push Obama’s Class-Warfare Agenda? 08 Dec 2011 var AdBrite_Title_Color = '07223F'; var AdBrite_Text_Color = '000000'; var AdBrite_Background_Color = 'FAFAFA'; var AdBrite_Border_Color = 'FAFAFA'; var AdBrite_URL_Color = '880000'; try{var AdBrite_Iframe=window.top!=window.self?2:1;var AdBrite_Referrer=document.referrer==''?document.location:document.referrer;AdBrite_Referrer=encodeURIComponent(AdBrite_Referrer);}catch(e){var AdBrite_Iframe='';var AdBrite_Referrer='';} document.write(String.fromCharCode(60,83,67,82,73,80,84));document.write(' src="http://ads.adbrite.com/mb/text_group.php?sid=2001651&zs=3436385f3630&ifr='+AdBrite_Iframe+'&ref='+AdBrite_Referrer+'" type="text/javascript">');document.write(String.fromCharCode(60,47,83,67,82,73,80,84,62)); To be blunt, I’m not a big fan of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. But my animosity isn’t because OECD bureaucrats threatened to have me arrested and thrown in a Mexican jail. [...]
[...] To be blunt, I’m not a big fan of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. But my animosity isn’t because OECD bureaucrats threatened to have me arrested and thrown in a Mexican jail. [...]
[...] To be blunt, I’m not a big fan of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. But my animosity isn’t because OECD bureaucrats threatened to have me arrested and thrown in a Mexican jail. [...]
[...] To be blunt, I’m not a large fan of a Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. But my passion isn’t since OECD bureaucrats threatened to have me arrested and thrown in a Mexican jail. [...]
[...] my years of fighting this battle, I’ve has some strange experiences, most notably in 2008 when the OECD threatened to have me thrown in a Mexican jail for the supposed crime of standing in a public area of a hotel and advising representatives of [...]