Anger comes to mind when listening to pols resisting the eminently logical concept of demanding the rich to pay their fair share of taxes while government protects their asses and allows them to continue to make money as needs warrant. Defies all logic but then again, the system is gamed for the rich as it's all about the money, always has been, always will be.
US Denounced as 'Biggest Peddler of Financial Secrecy' After Pandora Papers Leak
"U.S. President Biden must match his own rhetoric on shutting down global illicit finance, and start with the biggest offender—his own country."
The leak of an enormous trove of tax haven files over the weekend offered a further glimpse into the secretive world of offshore finance—a system facilitated by the U.S. and other rich nations—and prompted calls for immediate changes to global rules that let the powerful hide their wealth, skirt their obligations, and starve governments of crucial revenue.
"This is where our missing hospitals are," Susana Ruiz, the tax policy lead at Oxfam International, said in a statement. "This is where the pay-packets sit of all the extra teachers and firefighters and public servants we need. Whenever a politician or business leader claims there is 'no money' to pay for climate damage and innovation, for more and better jobs, for a fair post-Covid recovery, for more overseas aid, they know where to look."
"The biggest blockers to transparency are the U.S. ... and the U.K., the leader of the world's biggest tax haven network."
"Tax havens cost governments around the world $427 billion each year," Ruiz added. "That is the equivalent of a nurse's yearly salary every second of every hour, every day. Ordinary taxpayers have to pick up the pieces. Developing countries are being hardest hit, proportionately. Corporations and the wealthiest individuals that use tax havens are out-competing those who don't. Tax havens also help crime and corruption to flourish."
How much?
In 2012, we published an update with a substantially more rigorous methodology: The Price of Offshore, Revisited. Here, James Henry – one of our senior advisers and the widely published former chief economist for McKinsey’s – utilises four different approaches to make the most of the available data, and provide a more robust estimate than any previous: some $21 trillion to $32 trillion.
Grifters one & all
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