Which Way’s Up?

They missed Nevada, Wyoming, Delaware . . .

It seems that the banking laws in offshore tax havens are a little too strict for some in the U.S.   Apparently you have to give your name.  But that can all be taken care of with a simply romp to  . . . .Wyoming?  That’s right.  In Wyoming you can start a shell business anonymously and start a bank account for that business, also anonymously.  From the Economist article:

For shady clients, this is a far better proposition: what their bankers do not know, they can never be forced to reveal.

Ah yes.  Well if there’s a market for such things someone should make money off of it right?  The free market at work.

Nowhere is this more prevalent than in America. Take Nevada, for example. Its official website touts its “limited reporting and disclosure requirements” and a speedy one-hour incorporation service. Nevada does not ask for the names of company shareholders, nor does it routinely share the little information it has with the federal government.

There is demand for this ask-no-questions approach. The state, with a population of only 2.6m, incorporates about 80,000 new firms a year and now has more than 400,000, roughly one for every six people. A study by the Internal Revenue Service found that 50-90% of those registering companies were already in breach of federal tax laws elsewhere.

So all this time our shady citizens were taking their money to Switzerland, while the Swiss’ shady citizens were coming back to America.  

A money-laundering threat assessment in 2005 by the federal government found that corporate anonymity offered by Delaware, Nevada and Wyoming rivalled that of familiar offshore financial centres. For foreigners, America is a particularly attractive place to stash cash, because it does not tax the interest income they earn. Thus with both anonymity and no taxation, America offers them all the elements of a tax haven.

It seems the Caymans were just a slight of hand from the rich, and Obama fell for it.

On the campaign trail, Obama several times cited a single building in the Cayman Islands called Ugland House which notionally houses 12,000 corporations. He said: “That’s either the biggest building or the biggest tax scam on record.”

What about the 400,000 corporations in Nevada?  The 1-in-6 ratio?  That’s either the most CEO infested state in the Union or its the biggest tax scam in history.

Which Way's Up? Obama, Politics Corruption, Obama, Politics, risk-free investments, taxes

"I depart, but my stain shall always remain"

Rod Blagojevich ranted live on-air for several hours in an attempt to reach the last few people in Illinois to let them know just how innocent he is.

A couple in Orland Park who had been hiding out in a bomb shelter since the end of the Cold War, finally decided it was safe to come above ground.  Hearing Blago on the radio, the Orland Park couple has been quoted as saying, “This Rod Blagnovic guy seems like a stand-up citizen.  He really needs to run for public office.”

Greg Hinz details the self-serving rant, and how much more bearable it it coming from a radio host, that from a governor.  

And Blago still thinks he’s a politician.  It’s sad really.

Which Way's Up? Politics Blago, Corruption, Politics, ridiculous

Grassley elaborated:

“Listen, what I meant was these people are the scum of the earth.  If they show their faces, I will take it upon myself to murder them in the most brutal fashion.  I have this book in my house about the Spanish Inquisition - I plan to throw it at them very hard . . . It’s a really big book.  Then whatever page it opens to - I will read it to them start to finish.  This of course will result in their not being able to stay awake.  Which is my opportunity to find the nearest National Science Foundation porn addict.  He will have his way with these dishonorable people.  Really, I’m saying the only merciful way out for these AIG executives is to kill themselves.  Otherwise, I am getting my pitchfork and torch and we will have old fashioned mob rule.  That’ll take me back.  DIE!  DIE!  DIE!”

Now excuse me, I have to get to my real job as a public access TV host:

Which Way's Up? Out of Context, Politics Corruption, Economic Meltdown, fresh faces of the GOP, Grassley, POLITICO, Politics, Republicans, Stupid

There is an entire industry devoted to this exact problem.  Many rich people step out of their bed every morning thinking, “I am rich and do not like paying taxes, who can I pay to lower my taxes?”

 The answer is anyone.  People like, Brent Bergan are featured in many an article from the heart of the housing boom.  Peter is “an attorney at Global Tax Network in Denver, which advises international corporations, individuals and small businesses on tax compliance.”  

Ah yes “tax compliance.”  That looks much nicer on the business card than “the kind of tax evasion that doesn’t get you thrown in jail”

Another guy you can pay to lower your tax bill,  Richard Cahan, insists that gone are the days where tropical tax haven can be use to evade income tax.  

Damn!  

what you find [instead] is most people setting up offshore trusts and offshore corporations for asset protection or divorce planning but no income tax evasion. They don’t want to go to jail.

So your job is to help them avoid jail?  Kind of like a mob attorney?  Let’s see I’m moving my assets around in a way that if not done exactly right . . . could land me in jail.  I better hire someone who knows how to walk the line of criminality without actually crossing it.

Please Mr. Cahan, go on.  

[My clients] come to me to ensure that their hard-earned wealth remains theirs and can be passed down to their families, as well as for legitimate and compliant offshore business planning.

Well that sounds nice.  Every American values the corporate responsibility that mega businesses to seek out “legitimate and compliant offshore business planning.”  Just make sure Mr. Cahan, that they are legitimate tax evasion methods.  I don’t want my tax evasion tainted by the scent of impropriety.  So where are you legitimately taking my money, anyhow?

many of [the legitimate offshore business planning hot spots] are the same tropical places which have gained notoriety as tax havens, and more recently, the home of flimsy corporate vehicles designed to evade taxes or conceal company debt.

I see.

Well nothing that’s made the news at least.  I don’t want to be associated with corporate crime.

Enron, for example, was recently revealed to have had 881 offshore subsidiaries, including 692 in the Cayman Islands alone, and many more in Turks and Caicos, Mauritius and Bermuda. Scandal-plagued companies like Parmalat and Halliburton used similar devices in the Cayman Islands, for one simple reason.

Tax Evasion!

Certain foreign countries have developed their own particular asset-protection laws, and they market themselves to people looking to set up offshore accounts,” says Thomas Wells, an attorney at Florida-based Berger Singerman

Right asset preservation, I keep forgetting to not call it tax evasion. Who am I preserving my assets from?  

What you find is most people setting up offshore trusts and offshore corporations for asset protection or divorce planning but no income tax evasion. They don’t want to go to jail.

I see a pissed off ex.  And from Uncle Sam getting his hands on my corporate profits, but not my income.  But wait, I’m the head of a large corporation is there anyway I can get my hands on corporate profits and put them in my bank account, but not in an income way because I heard Uncle Sam looks for that these days.

• Use a “Sham entity”

That seems like it could get a lot of people in trouble.

• You’re right.  Why don’t we just try to make middle-class people think that taxing the rich will inevitable lead to a tax on the poor?  Will that work?

Probably.

Which Way's Up? Politics Corruption, Politics, ridiculous, Stupid, taxes, the poor

Just as you thought the much too real look at the corrupt sausage factory we call Illinois Politics had come to a slimy disgraceful conclusion, the thing from the swamp has reared its  ugly head one more time.  

Now comes word that Sen. Burris, who was appointed by the well passed disgraced Blagojevich, had tried (unsuccessfully) to raise money for Blago, who in turn found a nice government job for Burris’ son.  Which leads me to ask this: What was the political gain for Blago to appoint anyone to the Senate?  Isn’t it just dragging out the disgrace and thus keeping his tarnished name in the papers?  Won’t this simply taint the jury poll against him?  Is that what he’s banking on, a ruling that he is incapable of getting a fair trial in Illinois?

My money’s on insane megalomaniac.

"I depart, but my stain shall always remain"

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