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Thread: loopholes for the rich - we'll see how far this gets ...

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    Banned Melonie's Avatar
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    Default loopholes for the rich - we'll see how far this gets ...

    (snip)"Sen. Levin: Shut Down Giant Swiss Bank UBS
    Investigation Reveals Secrecy Tricks Allegedly Used by Swiss Bankers
    By BRIAN ROSS, AVNI PATEL, and RHONDA SCHWARTZ
    July 17, 2008

    Federal regulators should consider revoking the US banking license of the giant Swiss Bank UBS because of its role in helping wealthy Americans evade billions of dollars in taxes, Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) told ABC News today.

    "I don't think that any bank that goes to the extent that UBS has gone through to avoid doing what their agreements with the United States require them to do, should be allowed to continue to do business unless they clean up their act," Levin said.

    UBS's role in arranging "undeclared" accounts for an estimated 19,000 US citizens was one focus of a hearing by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, chaired by Levin today. The role of the LGT bank, owned by the royal family of Liechtenstein, was also investigated.

    Levin said UBS practices resulted in its U.S. clients maintaining undeclared Swiss accounts that collectively held "$18 billion dollars in assets that have been kept secret from the the IRS."

    "They wanted secrecy. UBS gave them secrecy," Levin said.

    Levin revealed a list of "secrecy tricks" he said the UBS bankers used to carry out their tax haven schemes.

    The list includes code names for clients, using untraceable pay phones, encrypted computers, fake trusts, counter-surveillance training, and shredding files.


    Levin said UBS hid behind Swiss bank secrecy laws to hide its misconduct, and offered services in the US it was not licensed to provide.

    UBS is the world's largest private bank catering to wealthy individuals.

    One of its bankers, Bradley Birkenfeld, has already pleaded guilty in the US to tax evasion and fraud and is cooperating with federal prosecutors in Miami.

    In a plea agreement, Birkenfeld detailed how he said he had been trained by UBS to help wealthy Americans evade taxes.

    In one case, Birkenfeld told prosecutors he purchased diamonds using a US client's Swiss bank account and smuggled the diamonds into the United States in a toothpaste tube. (snip)

    UBS is already under investigation by the IRS, the FBI, and the Securities and Exchange Commission, Levin said.

    In a statement, UBS said it "has been working diligently with US and Swiss authorities" to provide information to US investigators.

    The statement noted that information about tax fraud 'is not protected by Swiss bank client confidentiality," suggesting it may turn over the names and account details of US citizens who had once been promised secrecy. (snip)

    Levin said he was "skeptical' about claims from UBS and the Liechtenstein bank that they are changing their practices.

    He called for passage of new laws to end tax haven abuses.

    "Tax havens," said Levin, "are engaged in economic warfare against the United States and honest, hardworking American taxpayers." (snip)


    we'll see how much co-operation Senator Levin receives from his fellow democrats in congress about passing laws that would ACTUALLY force 'rich' Americans to pay anywhere near the levels of taxes that 'official' tax rate tables say they should be paying (and that democrats are proposing to increase) !

    At any rate, these hearings are exposing the ease of tax avoidance available to 'rich' Americans to the general public for the first time in mainstream media. Of course it remains to be seen whether the general public bothers to 'connect the dots' regarding the actual ability of the IRS to tax the 'rich', or the effect on 'middle class' tax rates when the 'rich' are easily able to avoid paying billions of dollars worth of taxes such that the gov't must make up the difference from those that it CAN tax !

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    Default Re: loopholes for the rich - we'll see how far this gets ...

    No.......................

    Switzerland has not been a haven as it was since the 90's. If the Fed has any (just one iota) of evidence someone is using a swiss bank to hide money, the swiss bank will turn over all info.

    The feds want all the info and then see if there is any wrong doing.

    There have been a lot of laws passed in the last few decades so that off shoring is not what it once was.

    If you are going on another 'get the rich rant', what about http://www.stripperweb.com/forum/sho...d.php?t=120681. hmmm, some strippers seem to be cheating the system. We need to get the IRS to get all info from all clubs, et. al., and be proactive in finding abuse, right?

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    Banned Melonie's Avatar
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    Default Re: loopholes for the rich - we'll see how far this gets ...

    ^^^ true for the 'little guy', but not true for the 'uber-rich' - at least not until the UBS investigation ^^^ You might want to do some research on 'private banking' for 'qualified investors' !


    If you are going on another 'get the rich rant', what about . hmmm, some strippers seem to be cheating the system. We need to get the IRS to get all info from all clubs, et. al., and be proactive in finding abuse, right?
    actually the IRS is already doing this, thanks to last year's special congressional appropriation which established an IRS 'targeted enforcement unit' for Adult Businesses !

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    Default Re: loopholes for the rich - we'll see how far this gets ...

    Quote Originally Posted by Melonie View Post
    ^^^ true for the 'little guy', but not true for the 'uber-rich' - at least not until the UBS investigation ^^^ You might want to do some research on 'private banking' for 'qualified investors' !
    The UBS investigation is a load of crock. They issued a list with some 19,000 people (alleged americans) going as far back as the '70's. But they can only confirm 100 accounts as being held by americans. What the IRS is whining about is unregulated entities, i.e. loopholes. They are on a witch hunt.

    Also, the info came mainly from someone who stole the info and sold it to Germany and several other countries. At first, the US refused to use the info because it was gained unlawfully. Theie about face surprises me.

    I know all about private banking. You can also use tax lawyer firms and such, it's not limited to 'banks'. Heck, the lawyers come up with new interpretations and loopholes. The ways they can come up with for getting out of paying a few dollars surprises me.

    Quote Originally Posted by Melonie View Post
    actually the IRS is already doing this, thanks to last year's special congressional appropriation which established an IRS 'targeted enforcement unit' for Adult Businesses !
    I'm sure the appropriations will be used for 'research' and 'investigations'.

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    Default Re: loopholes for the rich - we'll see how far this gets ...

    If you want to know how the rich are getting a free ride in this country, you seriously need to read Free Lunch by David Kay Johnston. It contains example after example of how our nation's wealthiest are using their financial influence to squeeze hundreds of billions in free money from our govt - local, state, and federal - thru deregulation and subsidies.

    Here's just one of hundreds of examples from the book. Warren Buffet got $100 million in taxpayer money out of the city of Buffalo by promising to build a new call center that would supposedly create a bunch of new jobs, then threatened to take his business elsewhere if they didn't pay up. 1) It only cost him $40 million to build it, so he pocketed $60 million in free money, 2) He built it so far from the city that the people who would take those kind of jobs cannot get there affordably, 3) No new jobs were created because another nearby call center closed down, which Buffet (and not the city) knew was going to happen.

    This is not a joke. The same thing is happening all over the country in city after city, and includes everything from free office buildings, to free ball parks, to free golf courses, all being built free for the wealthy at tax payer expense. It's nothing but the newest fad inwhite collar scams.

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    Default Re: loopholes for the rich - we'll see how far this gets ...

    ^^^ excellent post !!!

    I would also add that, on the other side of NY State, Advanced Micro Devices is now working a deal which will cost New York taxpayers $243,000 in subsidy / grant / tax abatement money for every single new job the proposed new AMD chip plant has promised to provide. IMHO New York would have been farther ahead to simply hand this tax money to unemployed people ( = $25,000 per year for ten years for every unemployed person who might ... might ... eventually be hired at the proposed new AMD chip plant !) rather than hand it to AMD's uber-rich bondholders who would otherwise face the possibility of major losses .

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