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

bbc.com

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

#271

Post by the_watcher »

IkmoIkmo wrote: post #181
UVB-76 wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For what it's worth, being featured in these documents is not in and of itself evidence of any wrongdoing. There are entirely lawful and legitimate reasons for making use of offshore company structures.

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.

There are still reasons to use shell corporations that are entirely legitimate, and have no moral issues whatsoever.

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

#272

Post by the_watcher »

smegel wrote: 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.

Likely a disgruntled employee, same as all the rest.

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

#273

Post by Spooky23 »

mladenkovacevic wrote: post #107
asuffield wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is no particularly strong legal basis for "freedom of press" in the UK. While recent history has had the press being largely unhindered by the government, our history is one of strict restrictions that have been gradually relaxed over the centuries. You're probably confusing us with the US, which has some constitutional guarantees.

Thanks for clearing that up. US press seems curiously absent from even covering this story. As per @mathewi the only US media companies on the #panamapapers team are Miami Herald, Univision, Fusion and McLatchy. I guess we'll see how active they'll become and what their spin will be, if any, in the coming days.

The US press situation is a standard consolidation story. They are dependent on leaks and access to officials, and have little meaningful competition to drive risky behavior.

There's a reason Fox leans republican and CNN leans democrat -- they get to avoid competition.

In a market like NYC with 4-5 papers, the Post and Daily News always try to one up each other, posting off politicians in the process.

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

#274

Post by Ankaios »

smegel wrote: 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.

  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.
Is the leak because they are adversaries, or are they adversaries (at least in part) because they are the sorts of people who would participate in the leaked behavior?

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

#276

Post by Tossrock »

Man, I'm not one to judge on appearance, but Jürgen Mossack has got to be the most stereotypical "I-am-an-evil-Nazi" face I've ever seen. I feel comfortable saying this given that his father was in the Waffen-SS.

"Mossack’s holdings, according to the files obtained by ICIJ, include a teak plantation and other real estate, an executive helicopter, a yacht named Rex Maris and a collection of gold coins."

Any bets on where those gold coins came from?

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

#277

Post by smegel »

Ankaios wrote: post #274
smegel wrote: 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.

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. Is the leak because they are adversaries, or are they adversaries (at least in part) because they are the sorts of people who would participate in the leaked behavior?

https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/716795010751049728

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

#278

Post by khuey »

mladenkovacevic wrote: post #107
asuffield wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is no particularly strong legal basis for "freedom of press" in the UK. While recent history has had the press being largely unhindered by the government, our history is one of strict restrictions that have been gradually relaxed over the centuries. You're probably confusing us with the US, which has some constitutional guarantees.

Thanks for clearing that up. US press seems curiously absent from even covering this story. As per @mathewi the only US media companies on the #panamapapers team are Miami Herald, Univision, Fusion and McLatchy. I guess we'll see how active they'll become and what their spin will be, if any, in the coming days.

Apparently they split out all the documents relating to Americans and haven't released them yet. So nothing has "hit home" so to speak for American media.

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

#279

Post by SilasX »

mcphage wrote: post #267
IkmoIkmo wrote: post #181

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.

> in legal ways that 99.99% of the rest of the population doesn't engage in This finally sounds like an industry that's ripe for disruption—Tax Loopholes For Everyone!

This x1000. It's the perfect opportunity for a startup: nation/globe sized potential, something people are willing to pay for, and accomplishes a public good: eliminating the inequality in taxation and making the effects of the tax code more readily transparent. (Though if you're too successful at that they'll rework tax systems to be more sane and less vulnerable to this kind of thing, which I would count as a victory.)

The opportunity will become more stark as taxes on high earners go up.

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