The Chief Minister has branded as an ’irrelevance’ a new index that rates the Isle of Man as the 17th most corrosive tax haven in the world.

We are included among six jurisdictions with the highest ’haven score’ of 100 in the corporate tax haven index published by the Tax Justice Network.

But the island drops to 17th place, behind the UK, Guernsey and Jersey, when it is ranked by its share in global foreign direct investment.

Chief Minister Howard Quayle said: ’We have led the charge on tax transparency.

’The Tax Justice Network are an irrelevance. We care about the organisations that matter.’

He said the island is one of a handful of jurisdictions that has retained its top ’compliant’ rating by the OECD, the global body reviewing tax transparency.

We have also recently been removed from the EU’s grey list of non-cooperative tax jurisdictions.

’This shows we take our international responsibilities on tax transparence very seriously,’ said Mr Quayle.

Topping the TJN list is the British Virgin Islands.