LONDON: The UK’s Treasury suggested that an inter-governmental economic organization could help tackle tax evasion across the Irish border after Brexit.
According to details, the UK’s only land border with an EU state is in Northern Ireland. Without the European institutions, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) could help facilitate dialogue with the Republic of Ireland. The DUP claims international criminal gangs could take advantage of Brexit.
East Derry MP Gregory Campbell added: “My concern is that when we get to the point in two or two-and-a-half years’ time when one state, Northern Ireland, is outside and the Republic of Ireland will still be in it, will there be other further or greater scope for tax evasion?
A British Treasury official told the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee of MPs that within the EU there were some very different practices for exchange of information.
He said both the UK and Ireland would be concerned to prevent tax avoidance and that dialogue between the countries would continue.
“We also have conversations with other countries through the OECD, all of those things will continue,” he added.
The exact costs associated with border criminality were difficult to estimate.
