Tax Haven Solution: Turn the Money into Confetti

Oners in Canada, increasing numbers of which seem to be opting to live in the criminal overworld, like their counterparts in the United States and elsewhere, are moving money out of the Canadian economy at an alarming rate.

www.thestar.com...

Canadian corporations and individuals quadrupled the amount of money they transferred into tax havens last year, pouring almost $40 billion into the tropical islands and European duchies that shield funds from Canadian taxes, newly released statistics show.

It was one of the biggest years ever for “investment” in tax havens — more than four times greater than the $9 billion sent offshore in 2014. The total amount of wealth held in the 10 most popular tax havens now sits at $270 billion.

“The problem is bigger than it has ever been,” said Dennis Howlett, executive director of Canadians for Tax Fairness, which took foreign direct investment numbers from Statistics Canada to calculate the use of tax havens.

. . .

Canada’s top two destinations for foreign direct investment are the United States and the United Kingdom. But rounding out the top five are three tax havens: Barbados, Luxembourg and the Cayman Islands.

“There might be a few resorts and golf courses (in those countries) but most of this money is not actually invested there,” said Howlett. “It goes through the tax haven and gets reinvested elsewhere. The returns on those investments are reported in places like Barbados, where there are hardly any taxes.”

Howlett says tax treaties exacerbate the problem. Canada has signed tax treaties with 92 countries, nine of which are considered tax havens.

“Tax treaties with tax havens do more harm than good,” said Howlett. “They actually facilitate use of tax havens because they allow the repatriation of profits tax free.”

This kind of thing is hard for an ordinary person to comment on, but shouldn't these tax avoidance maneuvers be outlawed?

Money movements leave a trail.

After they are outlawed the government should just refuse to honor Canadian funds that are determined to have skirted the tax turnstile.

Anything traced to a tax haven account should no longer be honored by Canadian banks.

Eff em all. Turn the money into confetti.

a reply to: ipsedixit

Surely it would be wise to make all forms of offshore money storage a treason offence, punishable by life behind bars?

Should be that way as it is. Bloody traitorous dogs.

Just make a one country, lets just say a new world order, and there wont be an offshore place to place the money, problem solved

a reply to: TrueBrit

I agree.

There is a good documentary on the Cayman Islands, on YouTube, that says the Caymans were set up as a tax haven by the British Parliament!!!

It's astonishing. Suicidal.

"I say old chaps, would you mind committing suicide for the benefit of the wealthy? Well done chaps! Many thanks. Now piss off and die in squalor like the butt licking cretins that you are."

a reply to: Indigent

And who pray tell will be in charge of that country? The tax havens are the NWO my friend.

I'm not sure if this is the video I saw but it looks like a good one on the same subject.

I've been poor or working class my whole life, so I don't understand when big money numbers are in play.

Is it their money they are moving?
Did the come about the money illegally?
Has it been taxed once already?
Should the government also be able to tell the lower classes how to spend/store/invest?

Little things like that confuse me about these subjects.

a reply to: 200Plus


Its not illegal, it's using the laws that are in place to avoid paying as much tax as possible.
Canada signed tax agreements with 9 tax haven countries so it's their own damn fault.

a reply to: Bluntone22

According to the spokesperson for Canadians for Tax Fairness, part of the overseas money is not illegal, but as much as 100 billion dollars could be in undeclared bank accounts, which are illegal.

originally posted by: 200Plus
I've been poor or working class my whole life, so I don't understand when big money numbers are in play.

Is it their money they are moving?

That's a loaded question. When bank robbers hide money, is it their money that they are hiding?

The best way to put it is that it is money that they control. How they got control of it is an open question, but much of this money undoubtedly originates in legal enterprises.

Has it been taxed once already?

Tax regimes vary, but most of this money probably has not been taxed. One gets into the complications of the tax system. Governments can have multiple turnstiles through which money flows as it meanders through the economy.

The turnstiles are there for a reason, whether you like the reason or not. Avoiding the turnstiles has been allowed to those in a class to afford expert tax avoidance advice. At that point one gets into the gray area, where avoidance can turn into tax evasion.

Should the government also be able to tell the lower classes how to spend/store/invest?

In my opinion the law could regulate many aspects of life in helpful ways that were not intrusive or oppressive. That might be one of them. Providing universal access to legal counsel might be another.

Little things like that confuse me about these subjects.

A confused citizen is a good citizen, in the eyes of the few at the top, I think.

I'd like to make it clear that I am not advocating a joint US/Canada naval bombardment of the Cayman Islands, or the resumption of the blitz on London, but surely there must be ways to squeeze these Cayman banks and those of other tax havens and to put the whole sordid lot of them out of business for good.

a reply to: ipsedixit


I honestly didn't mean for it to be a loaded question.

When I asked if it was their money I meant had they earned it and already paid at least one tax one it.

I'm American, we are taxed when we earn money, when we invest money, when we spend money (unless we really need the item then it's extra taxed called excise), taxed for having a house, taxed for having a car (unless it's a really nice car - that's an extra tax too), taxed for driving a car, we have sin/blue taxes, and then taxed when we die.

I really can't fault anyone for taking their money out of that loop if they could.

a reply to: 200Plus

You are a victim of a formidable propaganda line that is directed at the ordinary person, one that dupes the ordinary person into believing that the wealthy and the corporations are just like the ordinary person and should be taxed in a similar way.

It is very easy to make that case. People hear it and think that it is reasonable. They go along with very moderate to low tax rates for the wealthy and for corporations.

Few people remember that the last time America was great was the period after the war, up to the early 1960s, when the top tax rate was above 90%.

Personally, I think a high top tax rate promotes economic growth, contrary to what a lot of slothful oners would have you believe. It's like with plants. Stress them and they work harder, bloom more.

These rabidly greedy, snobbish psychopaths are fundamentally insane. If you taxed them at the rate of 99.999%, they would still become billionaires and keep piling the money higher and higher, because they are just like Donald Trump. Kookoo.

Currently the oners, being inherently lazy, due to their insanely low tax rates, after they've made their fortunes, squirrel the money away in offshore shelters. They take it out of the American economy altogether.

If they were taxed appropriately, you would be taxed appropriately too, and would be happy to pay your taxes.

They are traitors and should be treated as such and their families. I am fully convinced there is a plan to bring the US and Canada to third world level. They have to tear down hundreds of years of progress and take because there a no new territories to plunder.

It wouldn't work, but I feel ya. Only the rich can afford tax 'havens', the poor never see the money taken as 'tax'.

" You don't 'pay tax', the government takes it. When you get your paycheck, its already gone. Thats not a tax, thats a jack." -- Chris Rock (paraphrased)

The only way they can prevent this in the future is to Electronic transfer the corporate tax at point of sale. When the register goes cha ching, the government gets their cut, by wire, right there. The same 'cut' everyone else pays. After all, Corporations are people too, right?

Edit:

a reply to: ipsedixit

Not only should it be illegal, if caught, they should be fined 50% of their out of country investment! Just think how much tax dollars the country has lost!

a reply to: WeRpeons

Absolutely.

It's gone way beyond "taking candy from a baby". The oners have gotten to the point where they are scratching their heads trying to find some new way in which the general population has not already been violated and stolen from, so they can get right to doing it.

originally posted by: TrueBrit
a reply to: ipsedixit

Surely it would be wise to make all forms of offshore money storage a treason offence, punishable by life behind bars?

Should be that way as it is. Bloody traitorous dogs.

Another one that conflicts me.

On the face of it, i wholeheartedly agree. However, when you consider this link

it does put another spin on it. If less than half the population is responsible for the entire UK income tax bill, i kind of don't begrudge them moving SOME (not all) off shore.

Again though, on the flip side, when there is such a disparity between the haves and have nots it is difficult to defend.

I don't know a good answer that is not very intrusive. Capital controls is one of those terrible ideas, usually one in place when a country is collapsing

Few people remember that the last time America was great was the period after the war, up to the early 1960s, when the top tax rate was above 90%.

No, This quote needs to be killed with a stake. Rich people are smart and know what to do, see tax havens. All that 90% tax rate did was make rich people very clever. Businesses paid for all the rich people's expenses.

America will never see another time of the 50's-60's a partially hard currency, last industrial man standing, ethnocentric, mono-cultural, men were actually men, etc.

a reply to: Flavian

One of the problems with the type of analysis at your linked article is that money in the economy has aspects of a "zero sum" game.

When one says that the rich are paying 50% of the taxes paid in the country, it begs the question, "Where did they get the money to pay that 50%?" Presumably they got that money from the general population in trade. So the general population paid those taxes through the rich.

That may sound glib, but it serves to introduce a lot of question marks around the movement of money in the economy. Are prices exorbitantly large? Is the labor force under pressure from the oligarchy to work for low wages?

It gets tricky. I think it would be very naive to believe the oligarchy, the wealthy business class or the old money when they cry, "Have pity on me. I'm a poor little overburdened rich boy."