Offshore Tax-Haven Data Made Public As Companies Brace For Scrutiny
Source: Huffington Post
WASHINGTON -- The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) on Friday made public what it calls the most extensive collection of records on offshore accounts in history, encouraging sleuths to ferret out possible tax evasion.
The online portal, called the Offshore Leaks Database, contains hundreds of thousands of records showing corporations set up in so-called "tax-haven" countries, gleaned from the contents of about 2.5 million emails and financial documents that ICIJ said it received in early 2012. Over the past year, the data have been used by journalists around the world to detail alleged tax evasion by billionaires, oligarchs, emirs, princes and multinational corporations on nearly every continent.
Publication of the documents may heighten scrutiny of some of the world's largest financial institutions and their clients. Governments worldwide have renewed efforts to stamp out tax avoidance as fiscal authorities, including those from Europe and the United States, confront record budget deficits and slow-growth economies.
A 2012 report by the Tax Justice Network (TJN) found that untaxed wealth invested in offshore tax havens ran between $28 and $32 trillion dollars, equal to two years worth of U.S. economic output. The report estimated that if the money were to have been invested in home countries, even at low rates of return, it could have generated hundreds of billions of dollars per year in tax revenue.
Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/14/offshore-tax-haven-_n_3443722.html
Jackpine Radical
(45,274 posts)Surely we'll be able to track down the villainous leaker by tracking their phone calls.
avaistheone1
(14,626 posts)I wonder how the uber wealthy have been able to get away with dodging taxes for so long.
Jackpine Radical
(45,274 posts)Given that agencies of the Corporate State scrutinize all communications and financial transactions, I wonder how the uber wealthy owners of the Corporate State have been able to get away with dodging taxes for so long.
There--Does that help?
avaistheone1
(14,626 posts)Rosa Luxemburg
(28,627 posts)the uber wealthy manage to dodge the rader
msongs
(67,496 posts)BrotherIvan
(9,126 posts)She must protect her masters, no?
pipoman
(16,038 posts)BrotherIvan
(9,126 posts)Though I think she's untouchable.
avaistheone1
(14,626 posts)AnotherMcIntosh
(11,064 posts)(except for herself).
Kolesar
(31,182 posts)PearliePoo2
(7,768 posts)over at Bain starting to squirm just a wee bit?
AnotherMcIntosh
(11,064 posts)WillyT
(72,631 posts)summerschild
(725 posts)I'm guessing we could make a sizable dent in the deficit AND/OR strengthen our social safety net!
But I guess the same could be said about collecting from corporations paying zero here.
Uh, never mind....
Sunlei
(22,651 posts)Kolesar
(31,182 posts)Willard is such a bright boy.