Fugitive Tax-Slaves

What can you buy from the IRS for $50,000?

"Well, that depends very much on who you are. For the same amount of protection money, you will get very different results. Companies with expensive international law firms on retainer have an irritating tendency to take their fights to Tax Court. Much better to go after soft & clawless prey who will roll over and beg for mercy because they’ve been psychologically conditioned with a visceral reflex against doing anything as 'drastic' as renouncing citizenship to protect themselves & their families." Continue reading →

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Rather than pay ridiculous taxes, Americans renouncing citizenship

"As Americans live and work overseas, they find themselves facing onerous tax reporting requirements designed to crack down on tax evaders. However, the paperwork and reporting requirements are exhausting. For a few Americans, it is easier to renounce their citizenship and escape the burden. Americans living overseas say they are weary of the paperwork and burdensome requirements. Most countries have lower tax rates and caps, which make it more attractive to become citizens elsewhere. Some citizens only retain their American passports for travel purposes, which makes the document very expensive." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingRather than pay ridiculous taxes, Americans renouncing citizenship

Tax Havens Are Crucial if We Want to Restrain Predatory Government

"Politicians have little incentive to control spending and reform programs if they think that higher taxes are an option. So how do we control their appetite for more revenue? There’s no silver bullet solution, but part of the answer is that we need tax competition and tax havens. Politicians are less likely to over-tax and over-spend if they’re afraid that the geese that lay the golden eggs can fly across the border. In other words, tax competition is a necessary but not sufficient condition to promote good policy. And that’s why I’m willing to defend tax havens, even if it requires bringing a message of liberty to traditionally hostile audiences such as readers of the New York Times and viewers of CNN." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingTax Havens Are Crucial if We Want to Restrain Predatory Government

Scandinavian Welfare States Realize Too Many Handouts Are Destructive

"It’s hardly radical libertarianism to reduce unemployment benefits from four years to two years, but it is rather significant when even politicians realize that it’s not good – as illustrated by these powerful cartoons – to lure people into the wagon when nations need more people pulling the wagon. It's a bit depressing that Denmark actually ranks higher than the United States in the most recent Economic Freedom of the World rankings. Yes, their welfare state is too big, their tax system is a nightmare, and they are saddled with one of the world’s most expensive bureaucracies, but Denmark has ultra-free market policies in other areas." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingScandinavian Welfare States Realize Too Many Handouts Are Destructive

Turning New York City into Detroit?

"Some large cities in California already have declared bankruptcy, for instance, and you can find the same pattern of overcompensated bureaucrats and escaping taxpayers. And the same thing may happen to New York City if the next Mayor is successful in pushing for more class-warfare tax policy. But there’s a big problem with de Blasio’s plan. Rich people are not fatted calves meekly awaiting slaughter. Gelinas warns that the city would have less money if just 20 percent of rich people escaped. She doesn’t think that will happen, but she does explain that rich people can stay but take some simple steps to reduce their taxable income." Continue reading →

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Australia’s richest person Gina Rinehart would let prisoners ‘pay for freedom’

"Australia’s richest person Gina Rinehart has suggested that non-violent prisoners could pay their way out of jail and become tax-paying workers to boost the economy. In a column for the Australian Resources and Investment magazine, the mining heiress said the country needed more workers as the population ages, and getting criminals back into the workforce would bolster tax revenues. She said while some offenders might be able to pay to be allowed back into the community, others could agree to forgo their rights to vote or to a passport if they were unable to come up with the money." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAustralia’s richest person Gina Rinehart would let prisoners ‘pay for freedom’

Filling the FATCA void

"The overwhelming consensus back in the early days of the last century, was, ‘Why would an American want to leave their country?’ Yet out of today’s seven million US expats who are abroad, over one thousand this year alone have also chucked away their national identity. They have done so due to the impending FATCA rules which threaten their own financial planning continuity, cutting off access to channels of advice and financial management. The reporting restrictions to the American taxman - the IRS - that FATCA places on all non-US companies dealing with US clients are now deemed far too complex and costly for large institutions to comply with." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFilling the FATCA void

G20 countries to automatically share tax records to crack down on cheats

"Tax records will be shared around the world by 2015 as part of a G20 pledge to crack down on individual tax cheats and global corporations with complicated arrangements aimed at paying as little tax as possible. As business increasingly moves online and international, cash-strapped governments approved an aggressive timeline to adopt the automatic exchange of tax information among the G20. The deal was solidified after China, the last holdout, agreed to the plan just days before the summit in St. Petersburg. 'We are committed to automatic exchange of information as the new global standard,' states the G20 final communiqué." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingG20 countries to automatically share tax records to crack down on cheats

Germans Hide Cash in Diapers as Swiss Secrecy Crumbles

"With Swiss banks the target of an international crackdown against tax evasion, Germans who avoided taxes by keeping money in Switzerland are bringing wads of cash home and hiding it in odd places. The customs districts bordering Switzerland turned up 20 million euros of undeclared cash last year. In the Bavarian border town of Lindau, where officers once caught a man with 25,000 euros stuffed inside a gingerbread house, 2 million euros of undeclared bills were discovered last year. German border agents also hunt for stacks of papers that point to secret accounts. 'To hold a binder with lots of bank statements, that’s quite a good feeling,' said Georg Kruegers, a German customs officer." Continue reading →

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Syria and Second Passports

"You won't be any worse off by moving some of your savings into multiple friendly jurisdictions and into things that are hard to confiscate, such as physical precious metals and foreign real estate. Obtaining a second passport is also an important ingredient in the mix. The Syrian government, for example, previously refused to renew the passports of Syrians abroad it suspected of being associated with the opposition. This is not surprising and should have been completely predictable. Any government has the ability to revoke the citizenship and/or passport of its citizens at a moment's notice under any pretext that it finds convenient. Look at how the US cancelled Edward Snowden's passport by fiat." Continue reading →

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