Democrats Blast Firms Over Offshore Tax Breaks

Reuters ^ | May 18, 2002 11:15 AM ET | Reuters

[Quila]

Find out about the Channel Islands, Guernsey and Jersey, about

If these are the islands I'm thinking of, they make a lot of their money being like Swiss banks.

[The Big Econ]

Think about this statement from Jim Maloney in the weekly Democratic radio address: "They [offshore firms] still receive federal, state and local services such as police, fire and public schools," he added. "And, of course, they still rely on the protection of our courageous Armed Services, here at home, and around the world. The only difference is: they now get it all for free..." If the public services mentioned were all that needed tax financing, then this whole issue would be moot. Further, I believe that many politicians like Moloney understand, in fact, that corporate taxes will be passed on to consumers (most quickly in markets for staple goods and services). Yet, lacking integrity, these politicians provide "tax the rich" lipservice for their own political gain.

[Bush2000]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrats on Saturday said U.S. companies seeking to avoid paying millions of dollars in taxes by moving their headquarters to offshore tax havens were "unpatriotic" and called for legislation to stop the practice.

Bwahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!

[Dick Bachert]

UNTIL GOVERNEMENT -- AT ALL LEVELS -- CURBS ITS INSATIABLE APPITITE FOR THE WEALTH OF CITIZENS AND BUSINESSES HERE, THE FLIGHT OF CAPITAL WILL CONTINUE.

IF YOU WANT THIS MAN – AND MEN LIKE HIM – TO REMAIN IN CONTROL OF YOUR ECONOMIC AND PERSONAL DESTINY, CONTINUE TO TOLERATE THE CURRENT MARXIST INCOME TAX SYSTEM.

ONE MORE TIME:

IT’S ABOUT P O W E R AND C O N T R O L!!

SIGN THE PETITION AT HTTP://WWW.VOTR.ORG. Then find out how you can do more to end America’s peculiar SPRING MADNESS.

[LoneGOPinCT]

one day we wake up and find every major corporation has moved and we will wonder why.

And the saddest part is that the precendent has already been set. Yet our "Representatives" (how's that for a stretch?) just can't seem to grasp that concept.

[LurkedLongEnough]

I was ecstatic when Jim Maloney was re-districted out of my area.

His form is worse than ever with this latest hypocritical, tunnel-vision, hysterical and over-all political ploy. Here he is for dart practice:

"In his first term, Congressman Maloney authored three bills...

THAT SAYS IT ALL - the most important achievement is to "author bills"....

[Willie Green]

Once again, the democrats are using what klinton taught them. They're LYING!

Merely raising the Klintoon spectre isn't sufficient to lend credibility to any cretin who would praise tax-cheats who have renounced their citizenship as "tax-patriots".

"If ye love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude greater than the animating contest for freedom, go home from us in peace. We seek not your consul, nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains set lightly upon you; and may posterity forget ye were our countrymen."

-- Samuel Adams

[Action-America]

You would be surprised how easy it is to expatriate.  It does not, as most people believe, require a lot of money to expatriate.  A skill or business and a little startup cash is all that is really needed.  Consider that in Belize, the cost of living is only 20% to 25% of the US cost of living, depending on how you live.  That means that if you can earn $25,000 per year in Belize, you can live like a person making $100,000 per year in the US.  If you can figure out a way to earn a living on Ambergris Key, in Belize, you will have it all.  Teachers are very much needed in many haven nations.  In fact, that is one of the many reasons that our schools are going down.

The islands of Jersey and Guernsey are two of the Channel Islands known as tax havens.  Actually, as a result of OECD pressure, the Channel Islands are not nearly as favored as tax havens as they used to be.  They are, however, considered great places to live, because of their tax laws and proximity to France and England.  The countries that are currently considered to be safest, are Belize, Panama and Nevis, although others, including the new government of Bahamas, are trying to reverse laws passed under OECD pressure.

I have provided links to country info pages below, where available.  Primary haven nations for American expats are nations such as:
 

Bahamas Belize Bermuda Canada Caymans Cuba (opportunity only)

Granada Ireland Italy Mauritius Nevis (primarily banking) Panama (limited)

Singapore Solomon Islands Tahiti Trinidad & Tobago United Kingdom Western Samoa

Those are just a few.  But, it demonstrates the type of mostly stable countries where most American expats are investing and/or living.  Also, most of those countries, with one notable exception, rate higher on the various freedom scales than the good ole US of A.

I did include Panama, because some wealthy Americans, who are still here, put a portion of their money in Panama, because of the extreme secrecy of Panamanian Private Interest Foundations and the fact that it will be very difficult for the US government to make such vehicles illegal, without adversely affecting other foundations that they want to protect.  Panama also has a very large expat community that helps fund the nation, so regardless of who is running the country, it behooves them to protect those expats.

I included Cuba, because there is tons of money being made there by Europeans, while US citizens are prohibited from such investments.  It may be considered risky.  But, most investors in Cuba only invest a small portion of their wealth there.  Most investors do believe, however, that whoever is invested there when Castro dies will soon find themselves extremely wealthy.  But, that will certainly not include any American citizens.

Nevis is primarily a banking center.  It is the smaller of the two islands that form the single nation of Nevis and St. Kitts.  Nevis has very little commerce, other than banking.  St. Kitts, on the other hand, has a small banking sector and more exports.  Neither seems to offer enough to attract Americans to live there.  Until recently, Nevis was one of the very best banking centers for privacy.  But, last year, they did make some concessions to the totalitarian OECD.  Still, they rank quite high as a banking center.

Notice also, that to US citizens, even high-tax jurisdictions like Canada and the United Kingdom are considered havens.  That is because they don't tax the offshore income of their citizens, like the US does.  But, the Inland Revenue of the UK is taking lessons from the IRS, so the UK may not last long as a haven for Americans.  After all, most wealthy expats are more concerned about privacy than taxes.

The best general advice seems to be to spread your wealth around, thus eliminating the possibility of losing everything due to a single event.  But, that only works if you are not a US citizen.  Remember, as a US citizen, your money isn't safe anywhere in the world, if the government wants it.

For more information, check out Escape Artist and Sovereign Society as good starting places.  Sovereign Society offers a great report on Second Passports.  I just got the latest updated version.  It was $99 and well worth it, if you are considering going offshore or just getting a second passport for safety reasons.

Actually, Action America has long recommended that everyone should have a second passport for a variety of reasons.  If you travel a lot, consider that a US Passport is the second most dangerous passport to carry.  In fact, even in cities like Paris, you will find some very posh hotels that will not provide their best rooms to US citizens.  If you carry any other passport, except Israeli, you will be safer and get better service.  Keep your US Passport for entering and leaving the United States, but use your second passport for travel outside the United States.  It also means that it becomes much more difficult for US authorities to track your travels.

 

[Jason_b]

Here is a link for you.

taxpatriots

"...Even facing these penalties, wealthy US citizens continue to leave the US at an alarming rate. The following lists show conclusively that the exodus of US citizens and their wealth is continuing. What these lists fail to show is the increasing numbers of wealthy US citizens who are just taking their wealth and leaving the US without ever renouncing. Tax haven countries are recording significantly larger and larger numbers of US applicants for permanent residence or second citizenship every year. Those lost investment dollars represent LOST US JOBS.

Instead of reducing the number of taxpatriates, these repressive laws have actually increased taxpatriation. But, to make matters worse, they are now taking ALL of their money with them, to prevent it from being taxed for ten years. The "small flood" of taxpatriates predicted by a Forbes Magazine article, "The New Refugees" (Nov 21, 1994 v154 n12 p131(5)) is threatening to become a large flood in the not too distant future. Also see the Forbes article, "And don't come back." (Nov 18, 1996 v158, n12, p44(2)).

When big money is forced out of the US, it is the average citizen who has to make up the difference in higher taxes. The Income Tax is costing you money in more ways than you know!..."

[Action-America]

Thanks for posting that link, Jason.

That is actually an older version of the Action America web site that I sponsor and maintain.  The new site is now taking between 140,000 and 155,000 hits every month.

However, the link that you used is to the older version of the site, before we registered our domain name.  Back then, Action America was just a sub directory to my company web site.  That area is still available, but is no longer updated.

Check out the latest stuff at:

http://www.ActionAmerica.org/

I believe that I now have all but the last of the government Expatriate Lists posted there.  The correct link for the Expat Lists is now:

http://www.ActionAmerica.org/taxecon/taxpats.html

There is also some neat stuff in the "Fun Stuff" area (Quotes, jokes, cartoons, electronic Palm Beach ballots, etc.).

Thanks again for posting the link and thanks for visiting Action America.

One more thing.  Keep an eye on Action America.  I have been very busy lately and have not had time to do the research necessary for new articles, but In the next week or two, we will post a powerful article, that shows just how bad things have become, with solid evidence that the wealthy really are leaving in huge numbers.