"The traditional image of a tax haven is a palm-fringed Caribbean island, a chillier outcrop in the English Channel or a European microstate such as Monaco or Liechtenstein. But offshore is not so much a geographical concept as a set of activities and offerings ... Some of the biggest tax havens are in fact OECD economies, including America and Britain, that many would see as firmly onshore. They provide something the offshore islands cannot: a destination for money rather than a mere conduit, with first-world capital markets and banks backstopped by large numbers of taxpayers." (Quoted from article)