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What lies beneath: Evidence from leaked account data on offshore banking use

brookings.edu

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Re: What lies beneath: Evidence from leaked account data on offshore banking use

#31

Post by vmception »

slifin wrote: post #19
internetslave wrote: post #13

I have a conspiracy theory that there are far more rich people than we are lead to believe, also that most of us are just working to prop them up and keep them rich.

I have a conspiracy theory that Forbes created the rich list Which intentionally does not have despots oligarchs or royals to skew the conversation to a business matter which can get lost in the left/right divide

The Forbes rich list has some criteria such as from their own revenue or share prices. Basically private market generated wealth. There are exceptions and the line gets blurred really quickly, but thats their stated goal.

Re: What lies beneath: Evidence from leaked account data on offshore banking use

#32

Post by tialaramex »

TOSSAWAY_1 wrote: post #24

If the IRS knows how much money I owe why dont they just send me a bill?

1. There exist politicians who believe that forcing you to fill out the paperwork reminds you that taxes are evil. They're doing it for your own good, see?

2. There exist tax preparation companies which profit enormously from doing the paperwork for you and they'd miss out on that profit if the government just billed you.

Re: What lies beneath: Evidence from leaked account data on offshore banking use

#33

Post by vmception »

metalliqaz wrote: post #22
vmception wrote: post #15

Hey everyone, the wording dictates how you are misled. Think about the alternate title for these benign actions: Annual Report on Isle of Man financial sector Hackers breach Cayman National Bank and Trust’s Isle of Man subsidiary, the second of major breaches for this institution Post-Mortem, Cayman National Bank and Trust breach and client behavior Aggregating Customer trends sourced from hacked bank, using pytorch

misled how? "man dies after impact with car" is rightly reported as "man booked for manslaughter after hit-and-run" the technical details are perhaps not as important than the criminality that transpired

following the analogy, this article and many others like it conflate offshore with criminality while occasionally saying "although use of licensed banks in these countries is not illegal [in the host country and the client's country of residence]" and then glossing over that for the rest of the research paper, never quantifying any use case even with leaked data, all to steer your emotions.

The internet is a mirror, it tells you what you want to see. You should be most skeptical when things match your worst nightmare.

Re: What lies beneath: Evidence from leaked account data on offshore banking use

#34

Post by seanp2k2 »

TOSSAWAY_1 wrote: post #24

If the IRS knows how much money I owe why dont they just send me a bill?

Unsure why this was downvoted as other countries do this and literally TurboTax lobbies against automated filing. Because in America, companies are people, and their free speech rights include the ability to influence legislation + make donations to support that influence.

Re: What lies beneath: Evidence from leaked account data on offshore banking use

#35

Post by cle »

tialaramex wrote: post #32
TOSSAWAY_1 wrote: post #24

If the IRS knows how much money I owe why dont they just send me a bill?

1. There exist politicians who believe that forcing you to fill out the paperwork reminds you that taxes are evil. They're doing it for your own good, see? 2. There exist tax preparation companies which profit enormously from doing the paperwork for you and they'd miss out on that profit if the government just billed you.

It's because they don't actually know how much taxes you owe. They aren't omniscient (thankfully) so they don't know e.g. how much in deductions you should have.

(I agree that #2 is a big problem, but I don't think it's actually the reason we file taxes.)

Re: What lies beneath: Evidence from leaked account data on offshore banking use

#36

Post by TechBro8615 »

LorenPechtel wrote: post #6
samstave wrote: post #3

I find it odd that the IRS does a lot of heavy lifting to go after Joe-Blue-Collar but completely seems blind to the thousands of money launderers both individuals and corps. Personally, I think the entire financial system is broken and should be squashed.

The IRS doesn't do a lot of heavy lifting. The IRS does a lot of stuff that can be easily handled by a computer--matching up data from various sources to make sure it agrees. Once it needs a human eyeball, though, they do very little. It's just your Joe-Blue-Collar guy has most of his finances already reported to the IRS, anything wrong and the matching computer will catch it.

They can also hire private companies to help, like they’re doing with crypto and some chain analysis company (I forget which, maybe multiple).

It’s a bit frightening that the IRS can deputize a corporation but I guess with crypto you live by the sword, die by the sword. Maybe the dystopia imagined by crypto enthusiasts is a self-fulfilling prophecy. You get the government you prepare for?

Re: What lies beneath: Evidence from leaked account data on offshore banking use

#37

Post by koheripbal »

tialaramex wrote: post #32
TOSSAWAY_1 wrote: post #24

If the IRS knows how much money I owe why dont they just send me a bill?

1. There exist politicians who believe that forcing you to fill out the paperwork reminds you that taxes are evil. They're doing it for your own good, see? 2. There exist tax preparation companies which profit enormously from doing the paperwork for you and they'd miss out on that profit if the government just billed you.

The real reason is that Americans owe money on more income than the gov't is aware of, and if you're going to omit income, they want you to explicitly lie about it so you can be prosecuted for it.

Re: What lies beneath: Evidence from leaked account data on offshore banking use

#38

Post by maxerickson »

cle wrote: post #35
tialaramex wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1. There exist politicians who believe that forcing you to fill out the paperwork reminds you that taxes are evil. They're doing it for your own good, see? 2. There exist tax preparation companies which profit enormously from doing the paperwork for you and they'd miss out on that profit if the government just billed you.

It's because they don't actually know how much taxes you owe. They aren't omniscient (thankfully) so they don't know e.g. how much in deductions you should have. (I agree that #2 is a big problem, but I don't think it's actually the reason we file taxes.)

People mostly take the standard deduction.

(85-90% of households in recent years)

Re: What lies beneath: Evidence from leaked account data on offshore banking use

#39

Post by the_optimist »

internetslave wrote: post #13

I have a conspiracy theory that there are far more rich people than we are lead to believe, also that most of us are just working to prop them up and keep them rich.

You’ll never see rich people argue for a wealth tax, but they sure as hell will parade demanding that we raise taxes on income of the service class.

Re: What lies beneath: Evidence from leaked account data on offshore banking use

#40

Post by notyourwork »

tialaramex wrote: post #32
TOSSAWAY_1 wrote: post #24

If the IRS knows how much money I owe why dont they just send me a bill?

1. There exist politicians who believe that forcing you to fill out the paperwork reminds you that taxes are evil. They're doing it for your own good, see? 2. There exist tax preparation companies which profit enormously from doing the paperwork for you and they'd miss out on that profit if the government just billed you.

> 1. There exist politicians who believe that forcing you to fill out the paperwork reminds you that taxes are evil. They're doing it for your own good, see?

Which ones? I don't agree or disagree, but I think it's a good practice to call out politicians when we make claims they do something. That way it gives a more clear line of sight to your claim.

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