From badger’s comment, which deserves its own post:
For further incontrovertible evidence of the stunning hypocrisy of the US Treasury and IRS re FATCA vs. the well known homegrown and entrenched US domestic tax havens like VP Biden’s home state of Delaware, see;
Jack Townsend’s blog http://federaltaxcrimes.blogspot.ca/2013/11/nyt-op-ed-on-delaware-wyoming-nevada-as.html
Saturday, November 2, 2013
NYT Op-Ed on Delaware, Wyoming & Nevada as Haven for Criminal Activity (11/2/13)
“John A. Cassara, a former IRS CI agent, wrote this op-ed http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/02/opinion/delaware-den-of-thieves.html?hp&rref=opinion&_r=0 in the New York Times: Delaware, Den of Thieves? (NYT 11/1/13)…….”
Says the author of Delaware, Den of Thieves?:
In the years I was assigned to Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or Fincen, I observed many formal requests for assistance having to do with companies associated with Delaware, Nevada or Wyoming. These states have a tawdry image: they have become nearly synonymous with underground financing, tax evasion and other bad deeds facilitated by anonymous shell companies — or by companies lacking information on their “beneficial owners,” the person or entity that actually controls the company, not the (often meaningless) name under which the company is registered.
From only the first few comments:
Delaware shouldn’t be singled out as unique regarding nondisclosure of owners. What is somewhat unique is that, like Wyoming and Nevada, it does not tax corporate income.
AND
As an attorney who has been involved with commercial matters, I can assure you that it is very easy to set up an LLC in Nevada, Wyoming or Delaware without scrutiny. The same is true of a number os US states.
THe second aspect of this that can facilitate criminal activity is the ease with which people can get fraudulent drivers licenses in some states. (Criminals usually need some ID at some time.) In some states, it is far to easy to obtain a fraudulent drivers license.
Another from the comments:
When I was a university student in California, back when the legal drinking age there and in most of the US was 21, it was common knowledge that it was absurdly easy to get a mail-order driver’s license with a false birth date (over the age of 21 of course) from New Jersey.
Lots of states in the US have all sorts of lax laws that permit people to circumvent the law, whether on minor or serious matters. No idea whether New Jersey subsequently tightened up their laws, but I knew classmates who had fake NJ licenses (I never got one, I was too straight-laced for that).
@Schubert,
Perhaps counterfeit CLN’s will become the new counterfeit drivers licenses.
Guess I will wander over to Townsend’s blog and put up a comment…
I dont see a way to comment on the NY Times web site …. how does one do this? This is a good reason to Ban and Repeal FATCA now.
Love the graphic here;
caption says: “Cartoon photo of the IRS shark, it only eats law-abiding citizens”
http://www.independentsentinel.com/irs-sent-hundreds-of-checks-to-one-address-in-china-but-never-noticed/
‘IRS Sent Hundreds of Checks to One Address in China But Never Noticed’
November 9, 2013
By Sara Noble
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2013/11/07/identity-theft-tax-fraud-lithuania/3466663/
“The Internal Revenue Service sent 655 tax refunds to a single address in Kaunas, Lithuania — failing to recognize that the refunds were likely part of an identity theft scheme. Another 343 tax refunds went to a single address in Shanghai, China.”……
…and article says of the IRS:
Kathryn Keneally is the US Assistant Justice Secretary for Tax Matters and has responsibility for prosecuting Swiss banks for accepting US citizen deposits. A Swiss journalist asked her about the tax haven, Delaware, in this weekend’s SonntagsZeitung (SoZ):
SoZ Journalist: “When I went to Washington, the train rolled through Delaware …”
K. Keneally: “(laughs) I also know that, because I live in New York.”
SoZ Journalist: “. . . the U.S. state where 750,000 offshore companies are located, where many circumvent tax obligations in their countries of origin. The US does not clean this up, because it’s not about its own tax dollars.”
K. Keneally: “We sweep before our own door. Recently, we went to court to enforce at the request of Norway a John Doe summons request for information. We do that when it’s appropriate.”
Today’s Tages-Anzeiger has an article about how Delaware and other US tax haven states are not regulated in spite of efforts by the Obama Administration. An excerpt:
“For the fourth time since 2008, reform-minded congressmen tried this year to regulate tax havens such as Delaware and thus to make the country less vulnerable to money laundering. Although Barack Obama as a senator had promoted exactly such a change in the law, he has let it lie as president. Leading senators and money laundering experts are increasingly frustrated. “I’m sick that our government wants to encourage other countries to stricter rules against tax evasion, but in their own country the US government does not do anything,” said John Cassara, a former CIA agent who worked in the areas of money laundering and terrorist financing.”
Comments on Kathryn Keneally’s silly response:
1) She is a liar to say that US government has cleaned up its tax haven issues.
2) She dodged the bullet by switching the topic to the John Doe summons for Norway, which were directed at accounts held at US banks and not at US state tax havens like Delaware.
3) As a liar and hypocrite, she fits in the Obama Administration well.
Articles:
http://www.sonntagszeitung.ch/wirtschaft/artikel-detailseite/?newsid=267260
http://www.tagesanzeiger.ch/wirtschaft/geld/USSteueroasen-entgehen-der-Kontrolle/story/15372935
Kathryn Keneally’s title is US Assistant Attorney General (and not US Assistant Justice Secretary, which is an incorrect translation).
Why will the US not consider leading by example before releasing FATCA on the rest of the world? It is blatant hypocrisy and US entitlement / looking like, claiming their right to be the dictator of the entire financial world. If they will not change to Residence-Based Taxation as the rest of the world, there is no level playing field, no fairness, NO RECIPROCITY from FATCA law — reciprocity that will benefit any other country.