Liechtenstein – Submission to UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women

This background memorandum outlines how Liechtenstein’s domestic entity and tax laws combined with extremely low or zero tax rates for special entities, high levels of financial secrecy, and governance structures jeopardize women’s human and gender equality rights in Liechtenstein (i) at the domestic level, (ii) in ‘upstream’ countries from which extremely high net worth individuals, businesses, and investment entities transfer assets and income to Liechtenstein in order to reduce taxes they would otherwise have to pay to their countries of origin, and (iii) in ‘downstream’ countries in which local Liechtenstein branches and tax laws permit overseas investors and businesses to operate on low or tax free basis or to transfer lightly-taxed proceeds to no- or low-tax entities in Liechtenstein.