Questions are being asked about why Americans don’t seem very prominent among those exposed in the massive Panama Papers leak. And dark suspicions exist that the leaker is Soros-funded and has deliberately shielded certain parties, in an effort aimed at discrediting Russia in particular.
In other news Squinty McLiar is unpacking his bug out bag again.
The modern American public figure is despicable. All it can do is lie, slander, and spin. Nothing it says or writes can be believed or trusted; no “commitment” it makes is worth the value of the paper it is printed on.
And why is this Soros POS not in jail?
Same suspicion with the small number of Canadians involved.
If the Canadian Media Guild is defining the “innocent” you can be sure only conservatives and businesspeople will be outed.
And guess who is coordinating the Canadian coverage…
Lost in the noise over the Panama Papers is the legal question of their eligibility as evidence in a CRA tax case. There is a parallel here with WikiLeaks.
US Lawyers for some of the Gitmo detainees tried to enter classified military reports from WikiLeaks as evidence for their defence case. The judge asked them where they obtained the reports. When informed that they had been downloaded from the Internet, he responded that this meant they had been obtained illegally and were thus inadmissible as evidence in a US court.
So, if I simply steal someone’s private tax information and then forward it to the Canadian government (i.e., CRA), can it still be used as evidence?
Let’s not lose sight of the fact that off-shore bank accounts are not illegal, conspiracy theories not withstanding.
I listened to our esteemed Prime Minister talk about clamping down on off-shore tax evasion but (oddly) he did not address the elephant in the room – on-shore tax evasion (know as family trusts) of which (reportedly) he has been a major beneficiary. I also haven’t heard much from our PM on estate taxation, another great way for the government to take from the rich.
Actually it isn’t surprising that there are no Americans listed. Who needs Panama when you have Delaware?
https://www.google.ca/?gws_rd=ssl#q=delaware+tax+haven
Uncle Joe ! … say it isn’t so !!
Your state is the CENTER of financial corruption in America ??
Personally, I think the motive is much more pedestrian. I think it’s simply meant to inflame and encourage this summer’s inevitable chaos in the streets of US cities – especially in this election year and especially within the impulsive, low information, hyper-impulsive, anti capitalist OWS hipsters punk mobs who pretend that they’re super engaged in the issues but really just like to smash things. It lends righteousness and credence to the sport of protest and riot.
Delaware is not a great tax haven because you still pay Federal tax, which is typically much higher than state tax.
Delaware is the preferred choice of corporations because they offer more protection for officers and directors than other US states AND they allow special advantages for founder shares and general share structure for public companies that favour the founders over subsequent shareholders. Over 50% of public companies in the US incorporate in Delaware.
“I listened to our esteemed Prime Minister talk about clamping down on off-shore tax evasion but (oddly) he did not address the elephant in the room – on-shore tax evasion (know as family trusts)…”
In the world of taxation, tax evasion is illegal whether it occurs off-shore or on-shore.
Family trusts represent tax avoidance which is perfectly legal.
I hadn’t heard much about the Panama Paper Problems except on social media: ‘Harper signed them”…”the crook must have deliberately arranged for his buddies to evade taxes”…ad nauseum.
All other details ignored of course.
JJM,
That was my point. A family trust provides for effective tax minimization without the need to go off-shore. While legal, it is the same as an off-shore tax haven in its effect – by not providing a fair tax return to the government. Justin Trudeau, like his father, would have benefited from such an arrangement.
Tax avoidance is fine. But the government has no right to condemn off shore tax avoidance when it clearly provides for a mechanism to avoid paying tax in its own country.
“But the government has no right to condemn off shore tax avoidance when it clearly provides for a mechanism to avoid paying tax in its own country.”
The PM apparently said this:
“The level of awareness that citizens of the world are beginning to take in regards to tax avoidance and evasion is good thing. But it’s certainly something that we will be working on together as a community of nations.”
The conflation of the terms “avoidance” and “evasion” here, coupled with the nonsense expression about “citizens of the world” (“citizens of the world” don’t pay taxes, citizens of countries do) nicely exposes what a complete and utter shallow posturer he is.
Obviously the product of somebody’s intelligence service, cleaned and vetted before release.
But fine, be predictable.
imagine, people try and keep their, THEIR, money from a rapacious greedy government and the populace that supports stealing their money, and giving it to useless bureaucrats and welfare leeches and unproductive politicians.
Did you even bother to read any of the links?
And then you said this, “Delaware is not a great tax haven because you still pay Federal tax, which is typically much higher than state tax.” and then proceeded to contradict yourself with this, “Delaware is the preferred choice of corporations because they offer more protection for officers and directors than other US states AND they allow special advantages for founder shares and general share structure for public companies that favour the founders over subsequent shareholders. Over 50% of public companies in the US incorporate in Delaware.”
Read this and try to understand what you are reading. An exerpt;
” A loophole in Delaware’s tax code is responsible for the loss of billions of dollars in revenue in other U.S. states, and its lack of incorporation transparency makes it a magnet for people looking to create anonymous shell companies, which individuals and corporations can use to evade an inestimable amount in federal and foreign taxes. The Internal Revenue Service estimated a total tax gap of about $450 billion with $376 billion of it due to filers underreporting income in 2006 (the most recent tax year for which this data is available).[i] While it is impossible to know how much underreported income is hidden in Delaware shell companies, the First State’s ability to attract the formation of anonymous companies suggests that it could rival the amount of income hidden in more well-known offshore tax havens.
Delaware ranks 46th in population among the 50 states with roughly 935,000 residents. Yet more than 1.1 million companies incorporated there as of 2014, including 65 percent of Fortune 500 parent companies.[ii] Additionally, 85 percent of Fortune 500 companies reported having at least one subsidiary in Delaware in 2014. In total, these companies reported more than 19,000 Delaware subsidiaries. In sum, 58 percent of all reported U.S. subsidiaries and 30 percent of total reported subsidiaries are housed in Delaware”
The rest at the link.
http://itep.org/itep_reports/2015/12/delaware-an-onshore-tax-haven.php#.VwfWzJXSncc
Man, for just one moment I sincerely hoped Obama would be ousted.
“A loophole in Delaware’s tax code is responsible for the loss of billions of dollars in revenue in other U.S. states.” I think that means, “Delaware has structured its tax system to allow the saving of billions of dollars which would otherwise be lost to taxes in other states.”