October 22, 2008 12:46PM # The Moral Case for Tax Havens By [Daniel J. Mitchell](https://www.cato.org/people/daniel-mitchell) --- SHARE Last month, I narrated a [video explaining](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yi0lkJBTi58) the economic benefits of tax havens. Today, the highly-anticipated sequel (that may be a slight exaggeration) is available. The [video below](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xf14lkyH2dM) explains that there is a powerful moral case for these low-tax jurisdictions. As I note in the video, the financial privacy laws that make tax havens desirable to French entrepreneurs are the same laws that make these jurisdictions attractive to people who live in nations plagued by incompetent and/​or venal governments. The mini-documentary also exposes some of the hypocritical and unseemly activities of international bureaucracies that are attacking tax havens. For those who read the [recent book](http://www.catostore.org/index.asp?fa=ProductDetails&method=&pid=1441407) that I co-authored with Chris Edwards, you already know that tax competition is a very important constraint on the ability of politicians to over-tax and over-spend. And as the first installment of this video series explained, tax havens are a critical component of tax competition. But the current video makes clear that economic growth is just one reason why these jurisdictions should be celebrated rather than persecuted. Please feel free to share this new video with your friends and colleagues. ##### Related Tags [Tax and Budget Policy](https://www.cato.org/tax-budget-policy) [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).