The “Panama Papers” Are About Criminals

[bemildred]

While everybody talks about “tax havens,” calling these locales crime havens is a far more accurate description.

Yes, the “Panama Papers” have generated discussion about multinational corporations using holding companies registered in tiny islands from Bermuda to Vanuatu. The function of these companies is to help the corporations avoid taxes.

Aided by clever (and no doubt highly paid) lawyers and accountants, such activities may just be legal, even if this raises some ethical questions.

Problematic as that is, major corporations have many ways to try and avoid their tax liabilities, well beyond using tax havens.

http://www.theglobalist.com/the-panama-papers-are-about-criminals/

[Jefferson23]

1. Thieves, enabled to the hilt. K&R

[bemildred]

2. About Frank Vogl Frank Vogl is co-founder of Transparency International ...

I have not had a high opinion of Transparency Intl., and I'm not sure I do now, but it's interesting that he's connected.

I love all the talk about how there are legitimate reasons to have internation accounts. There are, I had one once, my Dad's inheritance, such as it was, but I reported it in my name, and paid tax. And then I got rid of it because it was a pain over that little money.

The issue here is secrecy, unreported money.