A very large part of the problem here is the UK and nobody seems willing to say that out loud. Jersey, Guernsey, Isle of Wight, Gibraltar, Cayman Islands, Virgin Islands, all are british overseas territories, remnants of the british empire and known tax havens.

The UK could normalize the status of these and remove all the advantages that make them attractive as tax havens, but doesn't seem interested in doing so. Perhaps because of all the nice money involved, perhaps because the British government has other things to work on right now.

Because the tax havens are small countries that don't export much so trade sanctions wouldn't have much effect.

Sorry, trade embargoes, not trade sanctions. Attempt to make their imports more expensive, regardless of who they’re importing from. As if there was a global empire attempting a trade war with them.

All laws are ultimately backed by force. Have we no gunboats?

Regulatory capture? Nah! lobbying? Hmm, close. Corruption? Yup, that right!

Please don't post unsubstantive comments or use HN for ideological battle. Other users in the thread have views that I assume are similar to yours, and are posting substantively. That's the way to be.

Comments like this one and https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17620701 are a bit like littering. I'm sure you wouldn't do that offline, so please don't do it here either.

Yeah, not sure about the littering but I could have elaborated the argument some more. But it’s late here and other will do a better job than myself