Tax havens: Super-rich 'hiding' at least $21tn
 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-18944097

Surprised to see the BBC sharing this with us. Those with the real money make Warren Buffet and Bill Gates look poverty-stricken

"A global super-rich elite had at least $21 trillion (£13tn) hidden in secret tax havens by the end of 2010, according to a major study.

The figure is equivalent to the size of the US and Japanese economies combined.

The Price of Offshore Revisited was written by James Henry, a former chief economist at the consultancy McKinsey, for by the Tax Justice Network.

Tax expert and UK government adviser John Whiting said he was sceptical that the amount hidden was so large.

Mr Whiting, director of the Office of Tax Simplification, said: "There clearly are some significant amounts hidden away, but if it really is that size what is being done with it all?"

Mr Henry said his $21tn is actually a conservative figure and the true scale could be $32tn. A trillion is 1,000 billion.

Mr Henry used data from the Bank of International Settlements, International Monetary Fund, World Bank, and national governments.

His study deals only with financial wealth deposited in bank and investment accounts, and not other assets such as property and yachts.

The report comes amid growing public and political concern about tax avoidance and evasion. Some authorities, including in Germany, have even paid for information on alleged tax evaders stolen from banks.

The group that commissioned the report, Tax Justice Network, campaigns against tax havens.

Mr Henry said that the super-rich move money around the globe through an "industrious bevy of professional enablers in private banking, legal, accounting and investment industries.

"The lost tax revenues implied by our estimates is huge. It is large enough to make a significant difference to the finances of many countries.

"From another angle, this study is really good news. The world has just located a huge pile of financial wealth that might be called upon to contribute to the solution of our most pressing global problems," he said.
'Huge black hole'

The report highlights the impact on the balance sheets of 139 developing countries of money held in tax havens that is put beyond the reach of local tax authorities.

Mr Henry estimates that since the 1970s, the richest citizens of these 139 countries had amassed $7.3tn to $9.3tn of "unrecorded offshore wealth" by 2010.

Private wealth held offshore represents "a huge black hole in the world economy," Mr Henry said.

Mr Whiting, though, urged caution. "I cannot disprove the figures at all, but they do seem staggering. If the suggestion is that such amounts are actively hidden and never accessed, that seems odd - not least in terms of what the tax authorities are doing. In fact, the US, UK and German authorities are doing a lot."

He also pointed out that if tax havens were stuffed with such sizeable amounts, "you would expect the havens to be more conspicuously wealthy than they are".

Other findings in Mr Henry's report include:

At the end of 2010, the 50 leading private banks alone collectively managed more than $12.1tn in cross-border invested assets for private clients
The three private banks handling the most assets offshore are UBS, Credit Suisse and Goldman Sachs
Less than 100,000 people worldwide own about $9.8tn of the wealth held offshore.

Mr Henry told the BBC that it was difficult to detail hidden assets in some individual countries, including the UK, because of restrictions on getting access to data.

A spokesman for the Treasury said great strides were being made in cracking down on people hiding assets.

He said that in 2011-12 HM Revenue & Customs' High Net Worth Unit secured £200m in additional tax through its compliance work with the very wealthy.

He said that agreements reached with Liechtenstein and Switzerland will bring in £3bn and between £4bn and £7bn respectively. "

I think we just found out DVTimes fake nick... :2 cents:

I'd expected nothing less from the elite.

This is the part of the Venn Diagram where we overlap i.e. a conspiracy that's in the British media :winkwink:

Me too, I'm sure you've also got a good idea of some of the likely suspects i.e. British Royal Family, Rockefeller's, Rothschilds, and other owners of the World Bank, Bank of England, Federal Reserve etc

they're busy creating jobs...

Let's say you're a super wealthy elite and you're just hoarding trillions in a bank account. What are you planning to do with it?

Fund wars, control elections, news, you name it.

Hookers and blow.

"Models & Bottles" all day every day.

In reality...this is possible since there was a large period of time where we didn't have such agencies like the IRS, etc. That said, I would think it would be pretty easy to track (not directly where it went to/came from) such a some of money. Sounds difficult to make such a large amount disappear.

The Rockefeller's have their so-called 'Philanthropic' Foundation, which they use to fund all kinds of agenda's. They were the ones who brought us Feminism, which was really a scam of getting twice as many people taxed and breaking down the family. They fund the Climate Change agenda, scam for global taxes. They have been major funders of the WHO i.e. vaccines to control fertility levels such as Swine Flu Vaccine and HPV. They have funded various United Nations programs (their future world government). Also Education in the USA, they said they wanted a nation of 'workers' not 'thinkers'. It's well known they they financed the NAZI's and their Eugenics programs.

They're gradually reshaping the world, along with other Elite families. :2 cents:

Back on the 10th September 2001 (the day before you know)

9/10/2001: Rumsfeld says $2.3 TRILLION Missing from Pentagon


So for them to be telling us about the Elite's secret money stash, seems like we're not far from something major wiping it out the news e.g. nuke(s)

Everyone knows about that and a decade later nothing has been done. So even if true, nothing needs to happen after this disclosure because no one will do anything about it.

One of the reasons conspiracies are so funny. Even if found true nothing will happen so why go through the effort of concealing?

The positive thing is that more and more people are starting to see the truth. The difficult thing is knowing what to do about it.

If Gentile liberals understood that pretty much every strand of modern liberalism is a Jewish scam, would they renounce it and try to create a new leftwing philosophy? Or would they continue to bury their heads in the sand and believe that they're working for the good of mankind?

High and laid.

anyone surprised rich people hide $$$ is a dumbass

Which of you hypocrites are going to deny doing everything you can to cut your taxes? :2 cents:

Surprised a government sponsored medium calls for more taxes?

I am not. I did do quiet a bit to optimize my tax payments now and in the future but at the end of the day I am fine with paying some taxes to keep the society working.

I'm sure you don't understand the lameness of your comment, but people with a few brain cells firing probably do.

Since I am obviously lacking please enlighten me or stfu.

i would, but i've seen enough of your comments to conclude you are unenlightenable. and i'll stfu when i feel like it.

Exactly. Thanks for playing.

Not reading all that.

:1orglaugh:thumbsup

cliff notes: a news medium that operates on tax money published an article on a study by the pro-taxation lobby group Tax Justice Network.

No one is paying attention to this.... nor will they. No one will make the connection that governments want every excuse to increase taxes and make eveyone think that if you go after the "super-rich", that all of their troubles will go away. Classic diversionary method.



.:2 cents:

It's hilarious you make such a fuss about someone living below poverty level not paying their fair share, and defend with all your ability the super wealthy.

Please show a quote where I made a fuss about someone living below the poverty level not paying their fair shair.





(pssssst! I'll give you a hint.... it doesn't exist!)




.:1orglaugh

Explained why some guys spend so much in cams.

they probably can buy out whole irs department lol

:1orglaugh:1orglaugh:1orglaugh:1orglaugh:1orglaugh :1orglaugh:1orglaugh:1orglaugh:1orglaugh:1orglaugh lol

Give them 30 days to claim it and pay taxes on it or take it and pay off the UD debt!



Baahahahahahahahahhahahhaha


No im not drunk.. well ok maybe a little.

haha, "job creators" is one of the slickest pieces of bullshit to ever come out of a spin machine.

That's true. All the jobs I ever had were from middle class and poor people. And when I was making 75k a year, I hired TONS of people!


(and of course we should also never think about capital accumulated in one place (ie. a bank account), that is then able to be loaned or invested to start new businesses,)



.:1orglaugh:1orglaugh

Changes nothing that I said, but sounds interesting. It's good to hire people when you're making 75k. I assume that is not sarcasm?

I know that when I hired people I was making under 30k a year. One of my brothers owns a small business right now and he is nearly broke just treading water, and he hires people. "job creators" is one of the slickest pieces of bullshit to ever come out of a spin machine. It's meant to say that it's important not to ask people making over 250k per year to pay anything more in taxes ever until the end of time. It's a political buzz word thought up by what are known as spin doctors, or spin machines. Kind of a simple thing really, and hard to deny.

It was sarcasm. How much did you pay people, if you were only making 30k? That's sarcastic also, since I'm assuming that the business actually made much more then that, and you could only afford to pay yourself 30k.

What do you think of this article?

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...318931044.html

Also, you never touched on accumulated capital. Do you think that the "uber-rich" keep their money stuffed in a mattress?

People always seem to fall for this. While the government elite are distracting you with tales of "evil rich people", they are busy growing real power for themselves, they are getting people to actually DEMAND that the political elite take more power and more control over the flow of wealth in the world. It's really amazing to me, but hey, they didn't get to be political elites by being stupid huh?

Perhaps I might suggest two books for you:

The first one you can get used for under $7

http://www.amazon.com/Economics-One-.../dp/0930073193

The second here is a link direct to it.

http://www.freedom-school.com/money/...nomy-grows.pdf

I know you are a smart guy and interested in expanding your knowledge. These two are easy reads.



:2 cents:.

All I was saying is that the phrase "job creators" is a political term created by people who specialize in framing wedge issues to the best advantage of their client. Because it is.

Whether or not more "rich" individuals create more jobs than "non rich" doesnt even have to come into play for what I said to be true if you follow me. It can stand alone.

The first article is an OPINION piece. It's like asking what I think about someone who will always vigorously advocate for only one side. I'll read it later, but for petes sake.

In Helvering v. Gregory, 69 F.2d 809, 810-11 (2d Cir. 1934) Justice Learned Hand opined,
"Any one may so arrange his affairs that his taxes shall be as low as possible; he is not bound to choose that pattern which will best pay the Treasury; there is not even a patriotic duty to increase one's taxes."
:winkwink: