ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book provides a human rights-based approach to tax havens, and is a detailed analysis of structures and the laws that generate and support these. It looks at the evolution of tax havens and their morphing into international finance centres; and examines the statistics. The book explains how common structures such as companies and trusts have been adapted by tax havens, often as the result of artificial design which results in the creation of chimera–structures which are classified as companies or trusts. It concentrates on the use of non-charitable purpose trusts, which have become a world-wide phenomenon. The book also looks at how human rights norms could be integrated into the anti-avoidance, anti-evasion strategies to strengthen them. It assesses Switzerland's tax haven strategies in light of the Maastricht Principles on Extraterritorial Obligations in the area of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
