Free Republic

Although they have only 1 percent of the world's inhabitants, they hold a quarter of United States stocks and nearly a third of all the globe's assets. They're tax havens: 70 mostly tiny nations that offer no-tax or low-tax status to the wealthy so they can stash their money. Usually, the process is so secret that it draws little attention. But the sums - and lost tax revenues - are growing so large that the havens are getting new and unaccustomed scrutiny. For example: When London's Tax Justice Network (TJN) reported a month ago that rich individuals worldwide had stashed...

Nations join forces on tax avoidance An international task force to combat tax avoidance is to be set up by the US, Australia, the UK and Canada. The task force, which is expected to be based in New York, will focus on tax avoidance schemes employed by business and take joint action against such schemes. News of the plan, which is expected to be confirmed by ministers soon, emerged as the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank began in Washington. Senior tax officials from the four countries involved have been meeting over the past two days...

<p>WASHINGTON - More than 60% of U.S. corporations didn't pay any federal taxes for 1996 through 2000, years when the economy boomed and corporate profits soared, Tuesday's Wall Street Journal reported, citing the investigative arm of Congress.</p> <p>The disclosures from the General Accounting Office are certain to fuel the debate over corporate tax payments in the presidential campaign. Corporate tax receipts have shrunk markedly as a share of overall federal revenue in recent years, and were particularly depressed when the economy soured. By 2003, they had fallen to just 7.4% of overall federal receipts, the lowest rate since 1983, and the second-lowest rate since 1934, federal budget officials say.</p>

FORT WORTH - Richard Simkanin, the Bedford businessman who cloaked his opposition to the federal income tax in the patriotic language of the Founding Fathers, pleaded guilty Tuesday to failing to collect and pay taxes on his employees' wages. In an unusual move in a plea bargain, federal prosecutors required Simkanin, 59, to post on his Web site the plea documents and, later, the judge's sentencing order. Simkanin was asked to do that because he previously used his Web site to publish anti-government rhetoric, prosecutors said. Simkanin, the owner of Arrow Custom Plastics, had been a thorn in the side...

In 1995, Edwards set up a professional corporation that became an issue in his Senate Campaign. Edwards was the sole employee and sharholder of the corporation, which derived its income from his legal fees. He paid himself a salary of $600,000 in 1996 and $540,000 in 1997, according to personal financial disclosure statements that Senate candidates must file. At the same time, he collected at least $5 million each year in dividends from his corporation. Edwards was required to pay Medicare taxes on his salary but not on the dividends from his "S" corporation, saving the 2.9 percent Medicare tax...

Former Enron, WorldCom and Arthur Andersen Workers and Thousands of Working Men and Women Call on Business Leaders for Accountability NEW YORK, July 30 /PRNewswire/ -- "American consumers can shop with more assurance of quality and safety at their corner grocery store than American investors have when they shop for equities in our stock market," AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said in a sweeping address today as he called for business leaders and government to curb "crippling greed" with a five-point action plan. Outside the New York Stock Exchange and surrounded by more than a thousand workers, including laid-off Enron Corp.,...