Finance Minister Paula Cox suspects the world's richest states may be working towards a "global corporate tax policy".

Speaking in an interview with Reuters last week, Minister Cox said she thought major economies were seeking "extra-territorial solutions to their economic, fiscal and financial challenges".

"There is now a strong suspicion that the G20 has an undisclosed agenda item to drive forward a global corporate tax policy, which may fly in the face of a nation's sovereign right to set down its own tax policy," Minister Cox added.

But in a follow-up interview with The Royal Gazette, Ms Cox said she had received no indication from the UK to back up that suspicion that Bermuda's right to set its own taxes was under any threat.

US President Barack Obama has criticised the practice of multinational corporations using subsidiaries in low-tax countries to protect their non-US earnings from US taxation.

More strong words have been directed against offshore financial centres by UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, French President Nicholas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, in particular.

Despite her suspicion of the G20's intentions on corporate tax policy — Bermuda's corporate tax rate is zero — Minister Cox said the UK had not signalled any intention to encroach on the tax-setting rights of the Bermuda Government.

"There has been no indication to the Ministry of Finance that on domestic economic policy that the UK, as the administering power, will interfere in how we set domestic tax policy," Ms Cox said.

She added that the UK's Foreign and Commonwealth Office had given its full backing for Bermuda to negotiate, conclude and deal with any business relating to tax information exchange agreements (TIEAs) with foreign countries.

"Countries have the right to create and establish their own tax policy in order to address the specific needs and concerns of their markets and industries," Ms Cox said.

"Bermuda has a long-established and highly efficient consumption-based tax system that has been in place since the 19th century. Bermudians have always prided themselves on the fact that they have a tax system that is generally fair and that has been efficient.

"During the Sustainable Development Roundtable discussions and as part of the survey people indicated at that time a real resistance to changes in the tax structure."

Pressure for more taxation transparency has come from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which has led to a slew of TIEAs being signed by low-tax countries.

Bermuda was the first to gain promotion from the OECD's "grey list" to "white list" of companies deemed to be meeting international tax transparency standards. Others, including the Cayman Islands, the British Virgin Islands and Switzerland have now joined Bermuda on the white list.

Many are wondering what the OECD's next policy step will be and some, such as the Center for Freedom and Prosperity (CFP), have suggested that the OECD has a secret agenda to achieve tax harmonisation — or the elimination of tax competition between countries — as they chase revenue to fund bailouts of their battered economies.

Ms Cox said the CFP's stance was well known and she said their account was not what Bermuda had experienced of the OECD.

"The OECD took Bermuda's views into consideration at the Global Forum, has brought small financial centres into the Global Forum, and Bermuda is in fact even a vice-chair of the Global Forum," she said.

"Bermuda has been hailed by some other international financial centres (IFCs) and by the OECD for its trailblazing role given our long history working on the model code and we have earned a leadership role at the table.

"Our hope is that some of the misconceptions and stereotypes which target in a broad brush small IFCs can be dispelled by the Bermuda model and that each jurisdiction will be judged on its merits.

"However, it is important for jurisdictions, like business, to have certainty so that there is stability and consistency and equity in application of the rules if we truly wish a level playing field and to foster economic growth and investment."

The OECD intends to monitor the countries that have signed TIEAs to ensure the agreements function as intended. Ms Cox said reviews would be carried out by the OECD's Peer Review Group — and she was confident Bermuda would pass the test.

"For instance, a jurisdiction will be reviewed to ensure that it has the legislation in place to support these mechanisms, and is cooperative in transferring information and that the information is provided in a timely manner," Ms Cox said.

"As Bermuda has had a TIEA in place with the US for over 20 years, we have more experience than most jurisdictions. Our legislation and processes are well-regarded and satisfy all the OECD requirements."