Paradise papers - leaked document trove show Trump officials, Queen Elizabeth's offshore tax dodges
While you were doing whatever you were doing last Sunday, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists - the same that brought you the Panama papers less than two years ago revealed itself to be in the possession of a 13.4 million leaked documents on tax dodgers.
A trove of 13.4 million records exposes ties between Russia and U.S. President Donald Trump's billionaire commerce secretary, the secret dealings of the chief fundraiser for Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the offshore interests of the queen of England and more than 120 politicians around the world.
The leaked documents, dubbed the Paradise Papers, show how deeply the offshore financial system is entangled with the overlapping worlds of political players, private wealth and corporate giants, including Apple, Nike, Uber and other global companies that avoid taxes through increasingly imaginative bookkeeping maneuvers.
One offshore web leads to Trump's commerce secretary, private equity tycoon Wilbur Ross, who has a stake in a shipping company that has received more than $68 million in revenue since 2014 from a Russian energy company co-owned by the son-in-law of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
In all, the offshore ties of more than a dozen Trump advisers, Cabinet members and major donors appear in the leaked data.
The new files come from two offshore services firms as well as from 19 corporate registries maintained by governments in jurisdictions that serve as waystations in the global shadow economy. The leaks were obtained by German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung and shared with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and a network of more than 380 journalists in 67 countries.
[...] The most detailed revelations emerge in decades of corporate records from the white-shoe offshore law firm Appleby and corporate services provider Estera, two businesses that operated together under the Appleby name until Estera became independent in 2016.
At least 31,000 of the individual and corporate clients included in Appleby's records are U.S. citizens or have U.S. addresses, more than from any other country. Appleby also counted clients from the United Kingdom, China and Canada among its biggest sources of business.
Keep your eyes peeled for more articles as they are published by various news outlets:
- Russia funded Facebook and Twitter investments through Kushner associate
- US Commerce Chief Tied to Russian Shipping Venture, U.S. Commerce chief Ross kept holdings in Russian-tied firm - reports
- Glencore's Role in Paradise Papers "Documents cover Glencore in Congo, Australia and shipping unit"
- Paradise Papers: Queen's private estate invested £10m in offshore funds
- Revealed: Justin Trudeau's close adviser helped move huge sums offshore
- The wealthy men in Trump's inner circle with links to tax havens: chief economic adviser Gary Cohn, secretary of state Rex Tillerson, treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin, vice-chairman for supervision at the Federal Reserve Randal Quarles, friend and former adviser to Trump Carl Icahn, new US ambassador to Russia Jon Huntsman, ambassador to India Kenneth Juster and others
- Offshore Trove Exposes Trump-Russia Links and Piggy Banks of the Wealthiest 1 Percent
- Bono used Malta-based firm to invest in Lithuanian shopping centre
- Paradise Papers: leaks show 'one rule for rich and another for rest'
- The Paradise Papers Data Dump: What's Been Reported So Far
- Paradise Papers: Biggest data leak reveals trails of India's corporates in global secret tax havens
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 06 2017, @01:30PM
Ugh, I can't hold anymore! Gears grind as I fly back and forth. Too good, coming! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
(Score: 0, Redundant) by ewk on Monday November 06 2017, @02:00PM (18 children)
Some people cheat with moneyz... some rich people cheat with more moneyz...
Anyone surprised?
I don't always react, but when I do, I do it on SoylentNews
(Score: 5, Touché) by takyon on Monday November 06 2017, @02:05PM (16 children)
IT'S NOT A SURPRISE, SO PAY NO ATTENTION
IT'S NOT A SURPRISE, SO PAY NO ATTENTION
IT'S NOT A SURPRISE, SO PAY NO ATTENTION
I hope this conveyed a fraction of the nuisance your COOKIE CUTTER COMMENT does.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: -1, Redundant) by ewk on Monday November 06 2017, @02:14PM (15 children)
So, oh Great and All Knowing One, please do tell me how I should react.
I don't always react, but when I do, I do it on SoylentNews
(Score: 4, Interesting) by takyon on Monday November 06 2017, @02:20PM (13 children)
Wanton violence against the state, do drugs, drink alcohol, or stay silent. Or attempt to parse and analyze the story and share more information. All fine options.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 1, Insightful) by ewk on Monday November 06 2017, @02:40PM (12 children)
There is really no pleasing people...
Fwiiw I did parse and analyze the story (probably not good enough to your liking, since my summary seems to have riled you a tad).
Apparently conveying my non-surprise at this article was, in your opinion, not the right response to the article.
However, you really fail in providing in alternative options.
The 'stay silent' option seems counter productive, if one wants to engage people ('SoylentNews is people' and that sort of thing).
The remainder of your solutions seem equally useless regarding this forum, them being illegal, unhealthy or illogical.
So, it seems we have to agree that we disagree.
No shame in that though.
I don't always react, but when I do, I do it on SoylentNews
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Phoenix666 on Monday November 06 2017, @02:53PM (11 children)
One useful thing we can all do is not repeat self-defeating memes. "They all do it, so there's nothing we can do," is one example.
We can also modify our own behavior to align with our beliefs. If we feel that something needs to be done about anthrogenic climate change, then we can stop buying things we don't need (because those things have a carbon footprint) and can find other ways to get around than by an internal combustion engine car. If we feel that nobody practices good manners anymore, then we can practice them and lead by example.
As evidence that dynamic can make a real difference, I offer the transition from film cameras to digital. People stopped buying film cameras and the film companies went belly up almost overnight. Now, that's not a case of a moral position that needed to be taken, but rather that voting with your feet and your dollars does work. As a better, nearer case, consider the NFL whose anthem protests look like they're driving them right out of business because their core fans are switching them off. A related case is that of cable TV and cord-cutting, whose subscribers are fleeing the locked-in programming schedules and overwhelming amount of advertisements for streaming and P2P alternatives.
It doesn't work for every area of our lives all the time, because there are situations we can't change in the short run, but in the long run how we live is something we have much more control of than we give ourselves credit for.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 1, Informative) by ewk on Monday November 06 2017, @03:14PM (1 child)
You seem to make the same mistake as takyon regarding my thought about/summary of the article.
Nowhere do I condone this tax-evasion.
I don't always react, but when I do, I do it on SoylentNews
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Tuesday November 07 2017, @05:10AM
No it was clear you didn't condone it, nor was I insinuating that. It's the expression of futility that we can endeavor to avoid. I'm a fellow sufferer on this score, so I'm saying it to myself as much as anyone else.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by Osamabobama on Monday November 06 2017, @05:17PM (1 child)
I'd like to on the record as one who stopped watching the NFL to show lack of support for the TBI problem. (Although I wouldn't call myself a 'core fan')
Appended to the end of comments you post. Max: 120 chars.
(Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Tuesday November 07 2017, @08:30AM
I've never said this before, but thank you, Mr. Obama, for helping to make America great again!
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Monday November 06 2017, @09:33PM (1 child)
I believe you meant "Anthropogenic" Climate Change. I'm not so sure we've "caused" global warming, but I'm definitely in favor of going with "clean" energy / fuel sources. There's too much stake in pleasing the people who pay for the research for me to feel terribly comfortable with a lot of "Science" that gets done. The production of Solar / Wind generators do have some impact on the environment, but there's no doubt in my mind it's a lot easier on the environment than Coal plants. I like nature, I like scenic views, and I like to breath fresh air. A bit off-topic, but oh well.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Tuesday November 07 2017, @05:05AM
I did mean anthropogenic, and realized my error a split second after hitting "submit". Sigh.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Monday November 06 2017, @11:01PM (4 children)
The letters to the Columbian commonly sound like "Water fluoridation is a communist plot to corrupt our precious bodily fluids".
Oregon, Washington and the Feds _might_ finance a new Interstate 5 bridge over the Columbia River. One of the existing spans is 100 years old. That bridge is a chokepoint whenever there is a bridge lift to allow the passage of a tall boat. The new bridge will be higher, and not a drawbridge.
Oregon is willing to cough up its share provided the Trimet MAX light rail is extended to go across the bridge. Presently it stops at the river.
Washington flatly refuses to permit light rail into Vancouver. For the life of me I cannot figure out why. Could it really be that my fellow Washington State residents want me to have a two hour commute? Because I have to take two busses to get across the river to the MAX station.
I expect Vancouver's C-TRAN bus routes contribute to the problem. They really don't serve any cities other than Vancouver, but the entire state would be financing Washington's share of the bridge and light rail. The people who live in Ridgefield and Battle Ground prefer to be stuck in Portland's all-day rush "hour" as I whiz past them while listening to music and read Soylent News on my iPhone.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday November 07 2017, @06:47AM (3 children)
Sounds like cost is the big factor. The present line according to Wikipedia is $3 billion for 60 miles of line and only handles a little over 100k passengers per day. Typical US publicly funded mass transit money sink.
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Tuesday November 07 2017, @07:54PM (2 children)
The trains are packed during rush hour.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday November 07 2017, @08:24PM (1 child)
There are very few actions without some sort of benefit. Or some sort of cost. Optimizing for benefit without regard for the cost is a classic failure mode of public goods.
Here, why would Vancouver, Washington decide that somewhat less cars on the road is more important than the costs of buying into the Portland mass transit system?
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Tuesday November 07 2017, @09:18PM
That bus goes very slow in both directions, if I ride it during the rush hours. The rush hour - singular "hour" - is all day long. The only time the bus moves quickly is when I ride it late at night.
Were the train to extend across the river my commute would only be an hour and fifteen minutes, and I'd have one less wait at a bus stop. Presently my commute is two hours and I wait four times.
Waiting at a stop can be miserable because the Pacific Northwest rains all winter long.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 3, Insightful) by https on Tuesday November 07 2017, @01:04AM
Any way you like, as long as you take some action. Doing nothing, saying nothing, forgetting about it... just encourages them to continue. It sends a powerful message when you don't react.
THIS IS NOT NORMAL. So don't act like it.
Offended and laughing about it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 07 2017, @09:32AM
No, people are just angry that those cheating options are only available for the rich.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 06 2017, @02:00PM (1 child)
I think the leaker manifesto was a pretty gruesome read. It really helps understand what "business as usual" really means.
https://panamapapers.icij.org/20160506-john-doe-statement.html [icij.org]
(Score: 3, Informative) by takyon on Monday November 06 2017, @02:02PM
Malta Panama Papers Journalist Killed by Car Bomb [soylentnews.org]
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by takyon on Monday November 06 2017, @02:01PM (7 children)
Paradise Papers: Queen should apologise, suggests Corbyn [bbc.com]
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 5, Touché) by looorg on Monday November 06 2017, @02:45PM (5 children)
For what? Why would she ever do that? Apologise that is. I'm sure there are a lot of Richy Rich people being called out right about now for potential tax dodging, questionable morals, using various grey areas or down right illegalities. But the Queen is most likely not one of them. Why is that? Cause she is exempt from paying taxes on her holdings. So she can't be breaking the law. Hench no tax dodging going on.
She doesn't have to pay ANY taxes. But she does so voluntarily anyway. She is actually giving away money she doesn't have to give away. But according to Corbyn she is a tax dodger and should appologise. He can just go and fuck right off. At moments like this I wish the Queen could still have people beheaded.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 06 2017, @03:15PM (1 child)
If she didn't "voluntarily" pay taxes, she could lose a lot of esteem from the general public in the current economic and political environment. Queen Liz isn't getting any younger and, with Charismaless Charles being next in line to the throne, the last thing the monarchy needs is increased republican sentiment.
(Score: 4, Touché) by looorg on Monday November 06 2017, @03:24PM
All true. I don't believe she just does it out of the goodness of her hearth. But she still does it. So Corbyn is full of shit as per usual. I also still believe that the Queen is somewhat more popular then Corbyn. So this probably hurt him more then her, even tho the people that like him probably already hate the Queen so perhaps no great change at all. But as noted the monarchy is probably going to take a hit when she eventually dies if she is replaced by Charles. One could only hope he decided to skip being King, like that is ever going to happen -- after all he has been waiting all his life for mommy to die so he can become King, and let his offspring William step in instead, at least he is probably moderately more popular then Charles is.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 06 2017, @08:01PM
U.S. income tax is also voluntary, some people say. [irs.gov]
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Monday November 06 2017, @10:07PM (1 child)
Well, the sad thing is, I invest in mutual funds, and if my mutual fund managers are doing a good job, they are investing my money in companies that are increasing in value, profitable, and otherwise going to grow my investment. Dodging taxes is one of the ways that this is done. Take two identical businesses, one with a billion dollars a day in cashflow with a 1% profit margin after taxes, and another that has increased their profit margin after taxes by 1% to 2%, that's a 10 million dollar a day difference in profits, double the profits. Which one do you want your fund manager to invest in?
Now, say you have morals, principles, and you care about where your money is invested - how much of your personal time and attention would be required to ensure that your investments aren't backing tax dodgers, cheats, thieves, and other miscreants? Even if you dig deep in the quarterly statements, it will be hard to find any evidence of criminal wrongdoing - you'll have to be digging harder than the regulators; granted, that's probably not too hard, but still more time than an individual should be spending to manage a $4K investment.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Gaaark on Tuesday November 07 2017, @01:54AM
And this is why it's a government trough problem, not a tax cheat problem:
Close the loophole that allows this, so they can't legally do it!
But pigs gotta eat, snouts gotta.....push against my crotch.....?
The rich push for the loophole, then use it. Politicians are to blame.
And the rich are to blame.
Crikey... I'm going walkies...about....errr.....
.....what?
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 06 2017, @05:56PM
LOL [order-order.com]
(Score: 4, Informative) by Thexalon on Monday November 06 2017, @02:17PM (18 children)
Why does Queen Elizabeth need tax dodges? She isn't legally required to pay a dime in taxes (at least in the UK), she just does so as a courtesy and show of solidarity with her subjects.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by ledow on Monday November 06 2017, @03:08PM (17 children)
They aren't tax dodges, as such.
They're investments in legitimate things that return more money because they don't pay certain taxes.
There's nothing "illegal" there. There's not necessarily any tax being deliberately worked around. But the investment fund are saying "If we do this one in the UK, we get 5% back, if we do this one in the Bahamas, we get 5.5% back on the same risk, and they're both legal". It's almost a duty on the investment funds to then invest in the one with the greater return.
Notice that nobody is suggesting the Queen is actually deliberately avoiding tax. Her investment fund managers have just invested in a fund that happens to be off-shore. There's a big difference.
And, as you point out, she doesn't AVOID paying tax... she actually volunteers to do so when she doesn't need to!
The problem is - as with all the Starbucks etc. debacle - it's not that it's ILLEGAL to do these things. The problem is that it it's quite sensible if you have the capability to do so, and the laws are written such that you're allowed to do so. If people don't want others investing in off-shore investments like this, they should make them illegal, or tax the arrangement appropriately. That they don't is the problem. Not that someone chooses to utilise it to their advantage.
(Score: 1, Disagree) by khallow on Monday November 06 2017, @04:00PM (9 children)
Actually, I'm quite comfortable with "people" being completely unable to outlaw or tax these arrangements. It helps create sensible tax and investment policies in a country when they have to compete with other countries.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by NewNic on Monday November 06 2017, @07:18PM (6 children)
Unfortunately, that competition is a race to the bottom and at the bottom, the state is unable to pay for the basic necessities of running a country.
lib·er·tar·i·an·ism ˌlibərˈterēənizəm/ noun: Magical thinking that useful idiots mistake for serious political theory
(Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday November 07 2017, @02:13AM (4 children)
What are "basic necessities" again? Payouts to the right corporations? Or is it going to be a litany of expenses that make up a small fraction of a country's budget?
I'd take your concerns seriously, if the costs of what I consider "basic necessities" were anywhere near the actual budget of an actual developed world country. Sure, roads, police, functional military, education, yep, yep, yep, all that important stuff, are needed. but that might be half the budget, but probably less. Why are we going to crack down on our economic freedoms merely because the state got greedy and spends well in excess of what it is needed for?
(Score: 2) by NewNic on Tuesday November 07 2017, @04:01PM (3 children)
There are tax haven islands where you can see this in action. They are great places to put your money and great places to live, if you are wealthy, but they don't have the tax revenue to provide those things that you describe as basic necessities.
lib·er·tar·i·an·ism ˌlibərˈterēənizəm/ noun: Magical thinking that useful idiots mistake for serious political theory
(Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday November 07 2017, @04:47PM (2 children)
What would be an example of this? Not seeing them myself. There's not a lot of need for a road system or police on a small island, for example.
(Score: 2) by NewNic on Tuesday November 07 2017, @06:13PM (1 child)
You don't see them, because you don't want to see.
But how about education? I saw a documentary about a British territory which is a tax haven and they don't have the money to properly fund education for kids.
Also, better not get ill on those islands if you are poor, because health care for those people without the funds to pay is somewhere between non-existent and ineffective.
lib·er·tar·i·an·ism ˌlibərˈterēənizəm/ noun: Magical thinking that useful idiots mistake for serious political theory
(Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday November 07 2017, @06:44PM
I kinda was hoping for evidence at some point. Just because education isn't being "properly funded", doesn't mean that they don't have the money.
I notice that most British territories [wikipedia.org] which happen to be tax havens have no such trouble funding education, such as Bermuda, Anguilla, British Virgin Islands, and Cayman Islands. Of the remaining two which have any sort of offshore banking activity, Montserrat is an active volcano and the Turks and Caicos Islands are seriously corrupt [telegraph.co.uk].
(Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Tuesday November 07 2017, @07:15AM
Folks, our tax code is a giant, self-inflicted, economic wound. Outdated, complex, and extremely burdensome, with billions of hours wasted on paperwork and on compliance. So we're doing a giant, beautiful, massive tax cut. The biggest in history. This is going to be the biggest tax cut and the largest tax reform in the history of our country. We're cutting the tax on our companies tremendously. And simplifying the taxes tremendously for every American. Under our plan, 95 percent of Americans will be able to file their tax returns on a single page without having to keep receipts, fill out schedules, or track endless paperwork. You'll be able to do your tax on a little card. Very easy. I saw one of those cards and I had to kiss it. I gave it a big, wet smooch. I love the cards! And you're going to love them, believe me. And our companies are going to start coming back to the USA. They're already coming back. It's gonna be great. #MAGA 🇺🇸
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 06 2017, @08:47PM (1 child)
This is why in the competition with other countries your [google.com] roads [google.com] are [google.com] a serious [google.com] contender in the number of potholes.
Hope your proud of your achievement, you pay $3B each year from your pocket [thehill.com] in repairs for the privilege. MAGA
(Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday November 07 2017, @02:15AM
(Score: 0, Disagree) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 06 2017, @04:00PM (4 children)
This guy gets it. I'm getting a little tired of Congress calling in all the CEOs and saying "Based on the laws that we wrote, you paid all the tax that you owed. We don't think that you paid the right amount."
Don't think they paid enough? Change the laws. YOU wrote them.
Then they get all "blah blah blah, the tax system is complicated and its hard to change." True story. Then again, whose fault is it? Who has the power to fix it? Stop bitching at the CEOs and get to work.
(Score: 5, Touché) by Thexalon on Monday November 06 2017, @04:02PM (3 children)
Actually, usually, the CEO's lobbyists wrote them, because they're just so helpful like that.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 2) by ledow on Monday November 06 2017, @04:22PM (1 child)
So if someone is able to legally pay to convince others in power to give them a law that's helpful to them, does the problem lie with the people paying, the people lobbying, or the people who are able to be "bribed" into changing laws to suit random causes?
I know which one I'd be cracking down on.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 06 2017, @06:44PM
Yes
(Score: 5, Informative) by takyon on Monday November 06 2017, @04:23PM
When Lobbyists Literally Write The Bill [npr.org]
It's Common For Lobbyists To Write Bills For Congress. Here's Why [cpr.org]
Google's CEO: 'The Laws Are Written by Lobbyists' [theatlantic.com]
When Lobbyists Write Legislation, This Data Mining Tool Traces The Paper Trail [fastcompany.com]
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Monday November 06 2017, @10:09PM
On occasion, tax laws are written with advantageous options in them to encourage certain behavior... in this case, however, it seems to be the opposite: the advantage is to persons doing things we'd rather not have them do, but it's hard to change the status quo without stepping hard on wealthy toes.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 4, Informative) by c0lo on Monday November 06 2017, @11:21PM
And there's nothing to be ashamed for making money while in the position of secretary of commerce, by doing an undisclosed good business with an entity sanctioned by your own government [voanews.com].
It's just good business. [youtube.com]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 1) by Sulla on Monday November 06 2017, @02:20PM (12 children)
So pretty much everyone from Trump to Trudeau are involved in tax dodging, seems to me that includes pretty much everybody. Unsure what can be done here other than ridding ourselves of all of them, but then of course I guess the new batch of politicians would just do the same. Pretty sad article.
Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam
(Score: -1, Redundant) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 06 2017, @02:36PM (3 children)
Yep, one starts to question whether these leaks are really useful or just confirm what seems to be obvious.
It is like reading "Papers leak confirm: rain is wet".
And then you find yourself writing a shitty comment like this one, and you become depressed recursively.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 06 2017, @03:17PM (2 children)
Yeah, and everyone "knew" that the NSA was spying on Americans. It still took a leak of actual evidence before anything got done about it though.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 06 2017, @03:40PM (1 child)
Are you implying that the NSA is still not spying on Americans? Actually let me set the bar even lower, are you suggesting that their degree of surveillance has done anything but increase since 2013?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 06 2017, @10:40PM
I was hoping you'd set the bar at the level of the NSA catching tax dodges due to what they recorded in their captures, since the tax dodging is clearly illegal in many cases and the crime is already committed if the tax return fails to include any hidden income.
The IRS and NSA could really do a great job of reducing the deficit without the need of 'tax cuts'. At the very least, such a cooperative spirit could put the fear of God in many people that were just barely scratching the surface of what true tax dodges try to get away with. Then those fearful people will pay the IRS like good citizens should...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 06 2017, @02:42PM (4 children)
Well, to me that seems to include only people whose name starts with "Tru". :-)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 06 2017, @03:16PM (2 children)
Yeah, and it doesn't make sense, Alphabetically Trud* should come before Trum*. How do you explain that?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 06 2017, @03:18PM (1 child)
Reverse ordering. Because Trump always needs to come first.
(Score: 2, Funny) by baldrick on Monday November 06 2017, @03:55PM
so he grabs them by the pussy and pops a load in his grundies ?
... I obey the Laws of Physics
(Score: 2) by PiMuNu on Monday November 06 2017, @05:08PM
And, indeed, if one were to enumerate geographically it doesn't improve things much.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 06 2017, @03:50PM (1 child)
Right, except the summary does not say Trump did anything of the sort. But I know your little brain missed that part.
(Score: 2) by hendrikboom on Wednesday November 08 2017, @01:05PM
Nor did it say Trudeau did.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 06 2017, @06:54PM
what's sad is dipshits who think paying taxes to The Leech Class helps anything.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by tizan on Monday November 06 2017, @06:24PM (5 children)
a) If you believe in America First ...why are you investing in other countries
b) if you believe it is just good capitalistic process...just to make money, nothing funny happening here, then why not invest openly why go through hidden routes.....invest openly in Putin's oil companies it brings higher returns that is good enough market reason.
So why the re-routing in paradise islands...don't tell me: to boost their economy, right ?
(Score: 2) by linkdude64 on Monday November 06 2017, @07:30PM (4 children)
Because globalism rewards you for doing as much. Tax law under Obama rewarded this behavior.
Have you ever stopped to think why these countries are called "Tax Havens?"
Using context clues, it is probably because the Paradise islands have a lower corporate investment and income tax rate than the US.
So if you want investment to come back to the US, you have two options: Make the Paradise Island's tax rates higher, or make the US corporate tax rates lower.
You have no control over the first option, and you will get angry at the second, so I take it you want things to remain as they were, correct?
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 06 2017, @09:31PM
That's a red herring. For example, I could easily imagine Donald Trump to make a political talking point about why tax "reform" is needed like:
"The US Tax Code is so broken, I personally have my company have a subsidiary in Paradise Islands, so they can invest in Russian Oil to get the best returns. It's ridiculous that this is possible, and shows how broken the US Tax Code is. Under my tax plan, we're going to make US companies the best investments, and prevent the corrupt elite from stealing money from the people from shell companies."
Of course he won't. He won't even admit to doing these kinds of tricks. The real reason they do this hidden, as the GP was suggesting and you conveniently ignored, is that they know it's immoral (and sometimes even illegal), and they don't want others to know they are abusing the system.
(Score: 2) by tizan on Monday November 06 2017, @09:35PM
Good ...tax are lower in tax havens (heavens ? paradise ?) ...Then do it publicly. Who is stopping you from doing that...why hide it ...nothing illegal in it. Just do it and be proud of it. Base your business in Cayman islands really ...why not ?
(Score: 2) by tizan on Monday November 06 2017, @09:51PM
Let me propose the answer why ...people don't want to be pure capitalist and openly based their business in the Cayman's for example.
1) May be you appear un-american if you are a politician
but the real reason according to me
2) being money grabbers ...you want to get US based (financed by tax payers) incentives but not pay tax on your incomes when you can hide it.
Isn't that the reason rather than Obama gave incentive to invest abroad or the tax rate is too high ?
One has to accept one rule ...be in the US or the Cayman but not loop around and cheat the rules.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Monday November 06 2017, @10:12PM
One major problem is that of sovereign discretion over monetary policy. Really little countries like some of the south Pacific islands have been strong-armed into discontinuing tax-haven (and money laundering) activities, but the established players like the Cayman Islands, Switzerland, et. al. represent too much monetary power for the mere evil stare of the U.S. or Europe to get them to change their ways.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 06 2017, @06:52PM
if you fund the IRS you're either a coward, a dumb ass or a whore and you are guilty of sedition. fuck your "tax dodger" propaganda, you baby parts dealing, depleted uranium dumping, vaccine pumping, warmongering, veteran suiciding, property stealing, family destroying, freedom killing pieces of shit! You are not American you are a cancer on the true, dying America.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by linkdude64 on Monday November 06 2017, @07:25PM
This is what moneyed interests have been pushing for for decades. This was all done under rules that "The Global Swamp" had previously put in place, and had TPP been signed things would be much worse. However you choose to look at it, the fact is that Obama had 8 years to close these loopholes, but I never once heard him even pay lip service to nationalism or reduction of globalism in any form.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 06 2017, @08:51PM
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-41889787 [bbc.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 06 2017, @09:26PM
Bernie Sanders warns of 'international oligarchy' after Paradise Papers leak [theguardian.com]