Pandora Papers : Revelatations.

Pandora Papers expose how global elite, including 14 world leaders, hide wealth in secretive system to avoid taxes, accountability

"Private financial records shared with The Washington Post and media partners in more than 100 countries and territories expose vast reaches of the offshore system used to hide billions of dollars from tax collectors, creditors, criminal investigators and — in cases involving public officials — citizens around the world. The confidential trove is the largest of its kind and was obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. The Post’s coverage begins today with investigations of the hidden assets of Jordan’s King Abdullah and a Monte Carlo luxury apartment owned by a woman linked to Russian President Vladimir Putin. "

https://www.washingtonpost.com/busi...9.1O8to9WgIflMSgYea8DQxGR8pWfv0JNQDdKJacVEzMg

 

I've been reading some articles today about this. I really haven't seen anything criminal here. It mostly is stuff like they own a company that owns a company that owns some stuff. As for the elaborate tax avoidance schemes, some of them are so complicated they surely only have them because they can afford to hire people to set them up and manage them. For simple old me, it is just easier to pay you taxes and not have to deal with the stress of these arrangements (Well that and I am a middle class working schmuck)

 

Everyone who can avoid taxes does so. Nothing new there.

 

I do all I can to avoid paying taxes. My accountant finds every deduction she can. It’s all100% legal.
If some here don’t claim every deduction they legally can and try to limit your tax burdens then they are just plain old dumb, like Xoe.

 

This is why there should be a minimum tax that cannot be wiped away with deductions or losses. For billionaires, say 40%.

 

The bombshell Pandora Papers put South Dakota in unsavory company. Here's why, according to attorney Suzanne Garment.

" The so-called Pandora Papers, a giant trove of documents laying out the ways rich people use tax havens, devotes a surprising amount of space to the sparse state of South Dakota, writes attorney Suzanne Garment for NBC News THINK. The state has quietly but purposefully turned itself into a destination for elites looking to hide vast amounts of cash and assets, she writes."


https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/pandora-papers-put-south-dakota-unsavory-company-here-s-why-ncna1280761?cid=eml_nbn_20211005&user_email=31538fe77b084701975d9091aa0bbf4ef284dc0ddf7d4abb252027c596581efa&$3p=e_sailthru&_branch_match_id=857693951420692326&utm_medium=Email Sailthru&_branch_referrer=H4sIAAAAAAAAAzWO62rFIBCEn8b+M/ESY1I4lEI5rxHWS6qcRMVLQ96+9kdhYZaZ3Y9xtabyPo5B6WCvMkBKw+HDa+TpA7GJp4fdCvijutzeuhGz//YBjq3l4+H+nhH/ROzZ57qu4R+j49md6jqpa0w++Bj6liCYmAEnSDYXnFrFJbbqsIFXrIBbKPAT8407oN/e2NlsccGXu3HQAShbiJwp4k/tDeJf9jy2oMLGCKOUEIHY3IrNmz17555zKviyWykVWSZJ6CqFWclKAYhS+2R3tkxGE2N2aSZQiolOklqss1io3eEX6bJh4h8BAAA=

 

The investigation was probably another attempt to find something on Vladimir Putin, and they found nothing - yet his picture is shown prominently in such as the BBC and Guardian, and his name is mentioned over and over again even though there is nothing on him or on anyone else in his circle.

What I believe is the problem, all those criminals that left Russia so they wouldn't pay their taxes under Putin, refuse to believe that he's not a crook. After all in their minds, anyone smart has to be a crook. For them to believe otherwise would mean there is something lacking in themselves.

Nothing is more threatening to a criminal then a moral and ethical person, so they use their influence to pressure the administration to find something on Vladimir Putin to get him out of office and put in someone like themselves. That way they can put in another puppet and turn it back into a Kleptocracy - and it's all done in the name of democracy. You figure!

As one writer wrote, the big scandal here is that there are no American names mentioned, and that's because of all the loop holes we have for people to avoid taxes. It's the workers that are taxed, so when the Presidents like Biden talk about taxing the rich, they're not talking of the billionaires who make millions a year, they are talking about the wage earners who make over 200 thousand a year.

When Forbes ran for president, he wanted to eliminate all the tax loop holes and have a flat tax. But it was to no avail. There was no way the billionaires and the tax accountants and lawyers would allow any system destroy their cash cow. There are also all the religious institutions, schools, and charities dependent on people's tax deductions.

Our whole system is one big fat mess.

 

Agree.

 

As it should be. Democracy is always messy.

 

It's supposed to be orderly?

 

Yes, we are supposed to make decisions about everything for 325 million people, a huge country with lots of infrastructure, global reach in almost all aspects of life, and it should all be super easy and organized. Did I forget keep flexibility for the future?
Yes, I'm being sarcastic. Of course it's messy, That's the way it is designed to be. Anything else would turn into a dictatorship.
This is why this country is the greatest on Earth!

 

Well, unethical lawyers, tax havens, offshore LLCs, likely money laundering. Rich peeps hiding and washing money. Would most definitely attract the criminal element as well.

 

The irony if Jeff Bezos was named....

 

Isn't it amazing how journalists can often find things government investigators can't.

It leads one to wonder what government and society would be like without journalists.

 

It was the greatest on earth when we had a large middle class. People today are either wealthy or poor. No, it's not meant to be this way, because it didn't start this way. It became this way as companies lobbied for more and more tax loop holes to serve their interests. This means that it will only get worse over the years until we do end up with a dictator and he nationalizes everything.

What we need is a Congress with integrity on both sides and a will to solve the problems because it will take years to fix what took years to become what it is. I recall when their were 5 large volumes specifying our tax laws and deductions - and that was 25 years ago. Just imagine what it must be today?

To me a perfect system would be a flat tax and a tax on products. The more expensive the item the higher the tax rate. The problem though would be the companies that make the expensive items. They wouldn't want their sales to go down. Also what about the charitable deductions and the institutions dependent on them? Oy vey!

Then there's the other question: If people didn't have all these tax configurations, and trying to figure out ways to get out of paying them, how are they going to occupy their time?

​

Never thought about that.

 

Jeanette

The common thing Democrats preach is anti Corporation barbs.
The thing about them is we pay more when it costs them more.
If you want lower taxes, then do not tax corporations.

The feds invented corporate taxes in order to fool us into thinking we got a bad deal.

 

That is a national tax on sales and works well.

It is called the FAIR TAX and Congress has tried to get it approved for many years.

 

no they don't

 

They do in the U.S. Most people can't avoid them but those few who can do it every time.

 

Also when the corporations are taxed more, they leave the country and go elsewhere, so it's bad for the economy. The best thing is lower taxes and less regulations especially for small businesses so they can grow - and they should do something about the lawyers and all the litigation. That's why the companies moved out of New York City.

 

There are Americans mentioned--just not Bill Gates types. Americans usually offshore their money not to avoid taxes, but so nobody can get at it if they are sued once their business or personal shenanigans start to snowball on them. First they load up on homestead exemption maximizing assets in Texas or Florida, and everything else disappears into offshore accounts.

 

Thanks! I really enjoyed reading that post..I agree that corporations are a problem, but also the source of the wealth, or at least used to be, as you adaptly pointed out.
I still trust in the American system, but there definitely agree there is a much room for improvements. Like the tax idea too!

 

Well, I wouldn't deny people the fun of trying to avoid taxes one way or the other - it's part of human nature. It's the foundations that billionaires use to legally avoid taxes that annoys me, because who knows where they are spending that money, when it could be going towards infrastructure and creating jobs.

 

A flat tax will raise taxes on the working poor. I do not want that to happen. A national sales tax will do that too. Sales taxes are regressive. I do not care about the underclass of welfare recipients and violent street criminals. The working poor are the salt of the earth. They play the game by the rules, but they win none of the prizes.

 

Journalists are better investigators than the gov't is........... Their job is to dig deep and find out the facts. Their training is to spot a situation that demands exploring further. Investigative journalism is true detective work. It is also their job to hold the Gov't accountable by keeping the public informed of anything shady........(of which there is plenty)........