The Pandora Papers: It will be a bad week for international tax cheats

I expect that much of what they found are legal transactions vs 'tax cheats'.

Per the article: "Setting up or benefiting from offshore entities is not itself illegal, and in some cases people may have legitimate reasons, such as security, for doing so."


I suspect they'll lump the true tax cheats along with those who have made legal transactions; guilt by association. IMO, the true and most clever 'tax cheats' won't be on their list.
 
^^^^^. And I imagine the IRS will trust but verify that with the American names involved.
 
Meh...Anyone remember the Panama papers back in '16? Nothing happened after that. My guess is because the major media have CEOs and others that are part of the group.
 
From what I understand, most, if not all, of this is legal.
I hope what people take from this is how awful the laws are that encourage this. Hopefully the laws will be changed.
 
HawkeyeNFO said:
Meh...Anyone remember the Panama papers back in '16? Nothing happened after that. My guess is because the major media have CEOs and others that are part of the group.
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Or because there was not much illegal going on. But it makes for good headlines for a few weeks.

Since the beginning of time: "Ok rich people! We're gonna getcha now!!!!........oh, never mind"
 
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HawkeyeNFO said:
Meh...Anyone remember the Panama papers back in '16? Nothing happened after that. My guess is because the major media have CEOs and others that are part of the group.
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Your guess is wrong. It takes years to prosecute white collar crime and the fallout around the world from the Panama Papers continues. Laws have been changed, crooked law and accounting firms have been shut down, people have gone to jail, billions of dollars have been recovered so far. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama_Papers
 
Upper middle class is a much easier target, and still lucrative.

marko said:
O
Since the beginning of time: "Ok rich people! We're gonna getcha now!!!!........oh, never mind"
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Markola said:
Your guess is wrong. It takes years to prosecute white collar crime and the fallout around the world from the Panama Papers continues. Laws have been changed, crooked law and accounting firms have been shut down, people have gone to jail, billions of dollars have been recovered so far. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama_Papers
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And weeks for the journalist to be murdered...
 
“Legal?”

A fuzzy term … if one is a monarch and transfers billions into unseen investment mechanisms in untouchable locations, is it “legal?” Monarch’s family?

If one is the “elected” chief of government in a sham national entity, and one and one’s cohorts shift millions/billions out of the national entity, is it “legal?”

If a billionaire creates numerous shell corps to manipulate and confuse in order to avoid paying taxes in one or more locations, is it “legal”

Lots of twists coming in this one … I don’t know the answers , but I’m looking forward to the analysis.
 
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Here is today’s update by The Guardian.

“Pandora papers reveal South Dakota’s role as $367bn tax haven:

Chuck Collins, the author of The Wealth Hoarders: How Billionaires Pay Millions to Hide Trillions and the director of the programme on inequality at the Institute for Policy Studies, said the situation with regard to South Dakota was “an embarrassment” for the US.

“We are the weak link. And South Dakota is in a race to the bottom to be the weakest link on trusts,” said Collins. “We have seen the hidden wealth apparatus but it is always considered offshore. The more we understand that it’s onshore, the US is a weak link and we are now the magnet for kleptocratic capital the better for national understanding and the greater the potential for national legislation.”

https://www.theguardian.com/news/20...-reveal-south-dakotas-role-as-367bn-tax-haven
 
Lots of twists coming in this one … I don’t know the answers , but I’m looking forward to the analysis.
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Are there any strategies that we might be able to use?
 
I read that article and all it really says is that people with a lot of money use trusts. This is news?
 
^^^. Of course, that’s not a fair reading of the article or a realistic assessment of the enormous due process involved in nailing such global tax cheats:

“Pandora papers reveal South Dakota’s role as $367bn tax haven.

…South Dakota is sheltering billions of dollars in wealth, some linked to individuals and companies accused of financial crimes or serious wrongdoing, according to documents in the Pandora papers…”.

And then they name some examples. Of course, it will take years for authorities to conduct investigations and bring tax evaders, money launderers, and kleptomaniacs to justice. As with the Panama Papers, authorities will probably focus prosecutions on a few blatant kingpins to set examples, and create amnesty programs for other wrongdoers to pay up. And it will take years to create rules and regulations to reign in some of the worst practices in South Dakota, Delaware and the other safe harbors for criminals.
 
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Well, the state slogan IS: Great Faces. Great Places (to hide your money).
 
I wish the Pandora paper disclosures would make a difference, but they won’t - at all…
 
I think it is funny how the public abhors having their personal data stolen, but revels in seeing the data of others stolen and published.

That said, I suspect the vast majority of these transactions are legal. The uber-rich hire people to make sure of that.
 
Markola said:
…South Dakota is sheltering billions of dollars in wealth, some linked to individuals and companies accused of financial crimes or serious wrongdoing, according to documents in the Pandora papers…”.
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Isn't South Dakota also one of the easiest states to establish legal residency in, and (in theory) avoid taxes in the state one actually lives in? Hmmmm...
 
Midpack said:
I wish the Pandora paper disclosures would make a difference, but they won’t - at all…
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Agreed. Maybe we should bookmark this thread and re-visit in 9-18 months and see. I suspect it'll be long forgotten by then...maybe as early as next week.
 
CardsFan said:
I think it is funny how the public abhors having their personal data stolen, but revels in seeing the data of others stolen and published.



That said, I suspect the vast majority of these transactions are legal. The uber-rich hire people to make sure of that.
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Yes, I’m sure most DO use legal tools to help the uber-rich have lower tax rates than you and I pay, and perhaps in the shadows they can avoid paying taxes altogether. That’s precisely the problem for civil society that tax havens foster.

Maybe others here either don’t yet grasp the growing risks to our political economy associated with ever-ballooning wealth inequality. As a history major, I do, because it nearly always leads to very sharp “corrections”, of the kind that none of us on this board of millionaires and multimillionaires would enjoy living through very much.
 
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