Bahamas-US Tax Agreement 'not enforceable' says Finance Ministry

Monday, January 19, 2004

NASSAU, Bahamas: A Bahamas Ministry of Finance official has defended the Tax and Information Exchange Agreement with the United States in the face of recent criticism that the agreement will allow the Bahamas to be dictated to by its larger neighbour. 

Responding to an article in the newsletter of offshore legal advisors the Sovereign Society, which suggested the TIEA created an undesirable legal bond between the US and the Bahamas, Rowena Bethel, a legal advisor in the Finance Ministry, pointed out that the agreement was just that, an agreement rather than a legally binding treaty. 

According Bethel, who was quoted by the Nassau Guardian, the recent tax agreements with the US were "not enforceable as treaties." 

Furthermore, she told the Guardian: "Treaties are enforceable under the rules of international law...The executive agreement, which is what the TIEA is, is not enforceable under international law." 

"Basically, if one party reneges then the other one simply walks away", argued Bethel. 

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