The Panama Papers

Please understand this is just one leak from just one law firm in just one tax shelter country.

Behind the Panama Papers: How the Massive Document Leak Came to Be
Forbes

Lots of JUICY links in this article.

Panama papers: Mossack Fonseca 'helped firms subject to sanctions'
BBC

Details on the North Korean connection.

Fallout Spreads From 'History's Biggest Leak'
Offshore firms unmasked in 'Panama Papers'
Newser

The links are WAY better than the article.

Do have fun.

Apparently the protest in Iceland has drawn 22-30k people so far. Something close to 10% of their total population.

Explainer: Why #PanamaPapers is just the tip of the iceberg
And how tax evasion hurts the world's poorest people.
Good article with many important links.

It will be forgotten in a week. Hey look another crisis, hhhhmmmm what was I outraged about last week.

No it won't Worm.

It is bringing down the government of Iceland.

Panama Papers: Iceland's Pirate Party Prepared to Take Power
Newsweek

It is accelerating the fall of Brazil's government.

Brazil politicians linked to offshore companies in Panama leaks: paper

And why be outraged? Personally I am amused.

Chianti I should have said it will be forgotten here in the USA.

What happened to the edit button.

Edit function was removed from P&R.

Also, Panama Papers fallout: Iceland's prime minister resigns
CNN

Just read that. I am waitind for the fallout here in the USA.

One of the things to keep in mind is that Mossack Fonseca is the fourth largest offshore law firm. The fact that Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Vladimir Putin, Petro Poroshenko, Nawaz Sharif, Ayad Allawi, Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani, Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, Hafez Makhlouf, Sigmundur Davio Gunnlaugsson, Ian Cameron, the children of Illham Aliyev and family members of Xi Jinping....it's kind of a big deal because the US does business with these politicians in some form or an other.

No to mention Lionel Messi and Jackie Chan getting caught up and exposed in all this.


Boom edit work around!

Still wondering if the guillotine will come down on David Cameron. We all know, eventually, he and his children would have benefited from it, whether he was aware of his father's dealing or not.

My worst wishes to that family.

Ragnarok is upon us! Let the false Gods(politicians) fall.
What sickens me is there will be some of us who say "so what, we all knew this was happening. nothing you can do will change it". They're just as bad as the corrupt thieving politicians in my opinion. People are too PC, too polite, too careful, too tolerant that when it is revealed to them that everything they were ever told was a lie, they say "oh dear, that's terrible" instead of getting enraged and doing something about it.

I hope they all get what is coming to them. More of this needs to get exposed since "we do know all this was happening, everyyywhere" Sadly not all are privy to evidence and what not.

Apparently, the first batch of releases doesn't include any US names because US needs deserves a release all to ourselves.

I'm sure CNN will plaster this everywhere 24/7.

WOULD SOMEONE EXPLAIN WHAT THIS IS ABOUT, WITHOUT LINKING TO ANOTHER SITE?

whether you like TYT or not...

Fake outrage over world leaders taking advantage of items allowed under international law.

Iceland has some domestic laws regarding international accounts that would affect their leadership. But nearly all activity done by this firm is legal both internationally and in the person's domestic law.

Some people here, especially the OP, doesn't understand tax law, so they think that there's tax evasion going on, which there isn't. It all depends on the country of origin and their specific handling of international income.

Only real issue released regards Iceland, and persay domestic law regarding international holdings. But that's their problem.

Obviously the writers of posted articles are trying to tie this to US citizens, but they can't because, even if a US citizen were to hold assets in a tax-friendly country (say, Panama), that US citizen would still pay taxes on income earned from that country. But they wouldn't know that, or refuse to tell people that little fact, because it doesn't sell stories.

Actually, I would be interested if any of the "Panama Papers" includes anyone from South Africa or Switzerland. There's some domestic laws against foreign investments there, although not as strict as Iceland is, apparently.

Too bad the media is refusing to release their source, the actual "Panama Papers" so to say.

Just because the laws are weak doesn't mean taxes weren't evaded. Tax inversion is a thing. It may not be illegal but it can also be considered greedy and unethical. When lawmakers are doing it while running on platforms of financial reform it enrages the people who believed the lie that the politician had a sense of egalitarianism and utilitarianism.

While it may not be shocking to those us who are cynical and jaded, it also reinforces the notion that the game is rigged.

It seems like the Labour Party is sharpening the blade. They want to know if he retained any interest in the offshore fund and want him to publicize his tax returns. It's pretty embarrassing when you claim leadership in the global fight to crack down on tax havens, to have this association come to light coupled with the fact that several of Britain's self governing territories are favored havens.

Embarrassing or simply banking on that general public is either too apathetic or too stupid to care?

I never said that King.

The vast majority of these accounts may be perfectly legal. But the most common reason for high powered world leaders to have off shore accounts is to hide money they stole.

In the case of Iceland specific reporting laws for politicians were broken.

Fixed.

Very fortunate for the Labor Party that this came 'round the bend since Cameron has been soft on how much Google owes.

EDIT: Ahhh! L-A-B-O-U-R. Labour Party. English-English, the Queen's English, yada-yada...

Please explain the ethics on this.

Why is it that paying taxes in a foreign country or your home country is considered unethical.

Remember, most countries tax worldwide income and have a foreign tax credit to offset other countries taxes paid. So, if you don't pay taxes in a different country, you generally pay them in your home country.

Also, please explain why you think the "game is rigged."

Taking advantage of tax law does not mean that you are gaming the system. If that's the case, then why do you take the standard/itemized deductions on your 1040?

Yes you did.




Do you have evidence on this?

You want to know why people have offshore accounts? Because some countries require that, in order to build or hold any of the assets in that country, they have to be a citizen in that country or any of the "friendly" countries they acknowledge. Also, you cannot transfer money out of that country without paying an export tax on it, so it's advantageous to keep that money in that country to spur further investments in that country.

Also, another reason why people keep offshore accounts is because of the law in that country is friendlier than their home country when it comes to holding assets. That is certainly the case for Russia, it's hard legally to own much in that country.

Uneducated people love attacking the rich for holding offshore accounts, for stupid reasons like "tax evasion" because it makes them (the uneducated people) think that they are "morally superior" to those (the rich) for paying their "fair share" of taxes, without realizing that any income from those offshore accounts are still taxed at either the domestic rate, the foreign rate, or a combination of the two.

In some cases, it's better to hold your investments in offshore accounts and pay the lower tax rate for said investments and have a lower domestic tax for repatriating the foreign income. In others, it's better to hold the investments in offshore accounts and pay full domestic taxes for the legal purposes alone.

There is no hiding money when it comes to offshore accounts anymore. Nearly all governments have access to most banking information, including those who's countries aren't required to release such information. Only a few countries (North Korea comes to mind) would be true tax havens for foreign investors, because NK will never allow outside information to be released from any of their companies, including banks. Only problem is, they will also not take any foreign investors either. China is somewhat the same way.

Let's also not forget (at least in the US) the penalties for not reporting the highest value of your offshore bank accounts, each account, by month. The penalty for not reporting all accounts is 50% of the maximum value of that account that year. That's right, you lose half of your offshore account that year. If you don't report for multiple years, you not only could lose the entire account, but also additional money in fines and penalties. And IRS loves to tack on interest on top of that. Some countries have just as strict penalties, some have even stricter (New Zealand law states that not only do you lose the full value of the account, you can be held liable for fraud and lose double the value on top of it, even if it's a mistake in reporting).