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Panama Papers: Mossack Fonseca leak reveals elite's tax havens

bbc.com

221–230 of 452 posts

Re: Panama Papers: Mossack Fonseca leak reveals elite's tax havens

#221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What about non billionaires? These arrangements aren't overly expensive and are very much suitable for perfectly "ordinary" people.

My friend was/is engaged in tax evasion that HMRC have now declared as tax evasion and they'll be taking all that money for the last 5 years, thank you very much. He/she said the same thing as you are saying now. The difference between you and the billionaires is that they can afford to make an offer, a la google to the UK. You are just going to be completely screwed when they come knocking on the door.

[deleted]

Re: Panama Papers: Mossack Fonseca leak reveals elite's tax havens

#222
post #216

When the first three leaders named are the top 3 enemies/adversaries of the US/Britain - Putin, Xi and Assad - my own little conspiracy canary started chirping. And the Icelandic PM? The one who really annoyed Britain by defaulting on their debts? Makes me wonder who orchestrated the leak.

https://panamapapers.icij.org/20160403-panama-papers-global-...

> In 2013, U.K. leader David Cameron urged his country’s overseas territories — including the British Virgin Islands — to work with him to “get our own houses in order” and join the fight against tax evasion and offshore secrecy.

> He could have looked no further than his late father to see how challenging that would be.

> Ian Cameron, a stockbroker and multimillionaire, was a Mossack Fonseca client who used the law firm to shield his investment fund, Blairmore Holdings, Inc., from U.K. taxes.

I doubt it was anyone related to David Cameron if that is what you are thinking. ;)

Re: Panama Papers: Mossack Fonseca leak reveals elite's tax havens

#223
post #202
post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it remarkable, or is it completely expected for propaganda? I've been visiting the US for 6 months now, and the only time I hear anything about the outside world is when (China/Russia/NorthKorea) are doing something bad, or their citizens lives suck, or rarely when a social program in a developed country (UK, Europe) goes a little wrong (over budget or whatever). Interestingly, the fact that hundreds of millions o…

I really feel like this is an unnecessarily melodramatic comment. I can't tell if you're being serious about American news only reporting things that make America look good but that's certainly not true in my experience. Mainstreams outlets (NYT/WSJ/etc.) have different biases on their editorial boards but they are more than willing to report negative news about the US and mundane current events from around the world…

> I can't tell if you're being serious about American news only reporting things that make America look good

I'm being serious.

Other countries I've lived in spend a lot of time in their media comparing their own country to other countries that are doing very well, or are doing something better than them, such that they can learn from that and make their own situation or system better.

When you only compare America to countries doing much worse, you never get that.

The American sentiment of "we are the best" has been seriously harmful in the last ~20 years because it means there is no drive to improve anything. In fact, I notice it's very "un-American" to even suggest changing/improving things.

Hypothetically, even if a given country were the best at something, that's not a reason not to improve it.

Re: Panama Papers: Mossack Fonseca leak reveals elite's tax havens

#224

Hilarious that BBC, a broadcaster paid for by British tax payers, has a subheading in that article titled "Russian connection" describing various dealings of Russian characters who are "close associates" of Putin and an equally sordid "Iceland connection" but not even a mention of David Cameron's father's tax evading schemes listed in the documents which the people of Great Britain should be vastly more interested in…

It is remarkable that this breaking story focuses on Russia, Iceland and unfriendly/anti-Western dictators (Mubarak, Gaddafi, al-Assad). And apart from Cameron's father: - Pamela Sharples, member of the House of Lords - Michael Ashcroft, former Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party and former member of the House of Lords - Michael Mates, former Member of Parliament And in the EU: - Giuseppe Donaldo Nicosia, busin…

> - Stavros Papastavrou, former advisor to the current Greek Prime Minister

He is a Nea Dimokratia member and was advisor of the previous government (Samaras'), not Tsipras' current one.

Re: Panama Papers: Mossack Fonseca leak reveals elite's tax havens

#225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd replace wrongdoing with illegal. If you ask me, if you're a billionaire and you're not willing to pay taxes and spend 0.0001% of your wealth on the expertise to reduce your tax bill by 99%, in legal ways that 99.99% of the rest of the population doesn't engage in, then by all means that's wrongdoing to me and I think most would be with me on that. Of course it's not necessarily illegal.

What about non billionaires? These arrangements aren't overly expensive and are very much suitable for perfectly "ordinary" people.

The cost isn't in setting them up. The cost is in defending the structures in court when some tax authority feels you're "cheating" the game. Tax authorities lose plenty of cases however, so as long as you didn't do anything illegal and you can afford great lawyers to see a case through, you're good.

Re: Panama Papers: Mossack Fonseca leak reveals elite's tax havens

#226

Hilarious that BBC, a broadcaster paid for by British tax payers, has a subheading in that article titled "Russian connection" describing various dealings of Russian characters who are "close associates" of Putin and an equally sordid "Iceland connection" but not even a mention of David Cameron's father's tax evading schemes listed in the documents which the people of Great Britain should be vastly more interested in…

It is remarkable that this breaking story focuses on Russia, Iceland and unfriendly/anti-Western dictators (Mubarak, Gaddafi, al-Assad). And apart from Cameron's father: - Pamela Sharples, member of the House of Lords - Michael Ashcroft, former Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party and former member of the House of Lords - Michael Mates, former Member of Parliament And in the EU: - Giuseppe Donaldo Nicosia, busin…

> Miguel Arias Cañete, wife of a current Spanish minister and European Commissioner

Nope. It's the man himself, not his wife.

Re: Panama Papers: Mossack Fonseca leak reveals elite's tax havens

#227
post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This was leaked to journalists, not dumped on the web (similar to the Snowden leaks) so no, almost certainly not.

Lets hope for a proper leak from some whistleblower inside the media.

leakception

Re: Panama Papers: Mossack Fonseca leak reveals elite's tax havens

#228
post #216

When the first three leaders named are the top 3 enemies/adversaries of the US/Britain - Putin, Xi and Assad - my own little conspiracy canary started chirping. And the Icelandic PM? The one who really annoyed Britain by defaulting on their debts? Makes me wonder who orchestrated the leak.

https://panamapapers.icij.org/20160403-panama-papers-global-... > In 2013, U.K. leader David Cameron urged his country’s overseas territories — including the British Virgin Islands — to work with him to “get our own houses in order” and join the fight against tax evasion and offshore secrecy. > He could have looked no further than his late father to see how challenging that would be. > Ian Cameron, a stockbroker and…

[deleted]

Re: Panama Papers: Mossack Fonseca leak reveals elite's tax havens

#229

We could solve this "problem" by simply eliminating taxation, and moving to a stateless society[1] and an across the board model of self-government[2]. [1]: http://www.daviddfriedman.com/Academic/Order_without_the_sta... [2]: https://www.theadvocates.org/

Of course, there is the minor issue of "simply" convincing everyone to embrace anarchy, or "simply" disposing of everyone who doesn't.

Re: Panama Papers: Mossack Fonseca leak reveals elite's tax havens

#230
post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is remarkable that this breaking story focuses on Russia, Iceland and unfriendly/anti-Western dictators (Mubarak, Gaddafi, al-Assad). And apart from Cameron's father: - Pamela Sharples, member of the House of Lords - Michael Ashcroft, former Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party and former member of the House of Lords - Michael Mates, former Member of Parliament And in the EU: - Giuseppe Donaldo Nicosia, busin…

Is it remarkable, or is it completely expected for propaganda? I've been visiting the US for 6 months now, and the only time I hear anything about the outside world is when (China/Russia/NorthKorea) are doing something bad, or their citizens lives suck, or rarely when a social program in a developed country (UK, Europe) goes a little wrong (over budget or whatever). Interestingly, the fact that hundreds of millions o…

Have you tried watching or reading the news at all while you're here? This comment reads like someone imagining what American media might be like.
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