Offshore Banking and Tax Havens Have Become the Heart of Global Economy

As millions of Americans prepare to file their income taxes ahead of Monday's deadline, Democracy Now! interviews British journalist Nicholas Shaxson about how corporations and the wealthy use offshore banks and tax havens to avoid paying taxes and other governmental regulations.

"Tax havens have grown so fast in the era of globalization, since the 1970s, that they are now right at the heart of the global economy and are absolutely huge," Shaxson says. "There are anywhere between $10 and $20 trillion sitting offshore at the moment. Half of world trade is processed in one way or another through tax havens." Shaxson is the author of the new book, Treasure Islands: Uncovering the Damage of Offshore Banking and Tax Havens.

Read the entire interview transcript

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Comments

[lipps]

11:35 PM on 04/18/2011

If taxes were not so high there would be no need to evade... Cut the debt by reducing spending on everything. We have way to big of a government for too small of a private sector providing the funds. Too many parisites.

[brutha]

09:29 AM on 04/19/2011

Companies will always evade taxes, even if they are at 0.5%. And the bigger the company the more they will do to evade taxes.

[marinatha]

08:51 PM on 04/18/2011

One world govt.and one world religion.However the one world govt has been on thier lips since reagan era.Here it comes.... Oh but first the whole world economy must hit the skids.The play is about to begin lets us take our seats.

[themodernleader]

11:50 PM on 04/17/2011

  Given our refusal to grow our economy, any indifferent observer must conclude that our debt is too large to repay.  Instead of going the world-shattering road of the Weimar Republic, we should suddenly put in place a public banking system and greenback currency and disown the debt of the Federal Reserve and fiat currency and promise to pay back the national debt in FED Reserve currency at a future unspecified date.  Then we will need torebuild our economy because our credit will be worthless.  But we will be self-sufficient, self-determination----out from under the corrupt, internationally controled  banks and foreign mercantelism.
   Without such a sensible banking change, we will enter bankruptcy proceedings, massive unemployment and unprecedented poverty and a deranged citizentry not unlike the citizens of Germany in 1929.  That was the year of the start of a human originated plague that killed at least 65 million people and brought untold suffering and misery to tens of millions more.  It almost brought to the human race a new dark age of human enslavement across the world. With in that context, creating a little pain for forrowers and lenders most of whom are wealthy, doen't sound at all bad.  We should encourage the mislead nations of overwhelming debt throughout the world to follow our lead.

[ringo3khan]

01:01 PM on 04/18/2011

You obviously didn't get the memo; "we will enter bankruptcy proceeding­s, massive unemployme­nt and unpreceden­ted poverty and a deranged citizentry not unlike the citizens of Germany in 1929" is all part of the plan.

[glowdotor]

08:45 PM on 04/16/2011

Good.

[johnnymainstreet]

03:34 PM on 04/16/2011

If a person makes a small mistake on their tax return, the interest and penalty far exceeds the original tax obligation. Yet, Bankers and Corporations have had the laws either remove entirely or simply rewritten for their own benefit. The USA could solve most of our budget problems simply by collecting the taxes that are being evaded by these off shore havens. Wonder why they don't do anything about it? Probably because most of our politicians and elected officials also have accounts off shore.

[mountainweb]

07:18 AM on 04/17/2011

The day that Wall Street bought Obama, and most of the Congress and Senate, the hand writing was on the wall, no one wanted to admit what was going on. An amazing number of democrats fall into the "wealthy" category that they pretend to want to tax. Sadly, they can raise a "tax" on the wealthy that will only generate a small fraction of the "target" because the tax lawyers have already moved their money into "tax free" investments or off shore. Both political parties have to share blame for the scam that our current tax system really is...

[moAb]

11:24 AM on 04/16/2011

...capitalism being hung with a rope of it's own making (paraphrasing KM)...thanks to the money mongering bankers, accountants, lawyers, and politicians...selling the rest of US citizens down the river...and add to the list the US Supreme court with the Citizen's United decision which pretty much sealed the deal...Obama silent on the issue...so many traitorous minds at work under the guise of capitalism and Adam Smiths 'invisible hand' coupled with patriotism...the hits just keep on coming...

[wmnorton]

11:34 AM on 04/16/2011

To change this you need a constitutional Amendment. I woudl suggest the following:



No one may collect more to obtain an office than the office pays. Congress may provide additional funds. No one may contribute for a candidate for office who can not vote for that candidate.

[mountainweb]

07:27 AM on 04/17/2011

Capitalism is not the problem, corporate and personnel greed is at the root of what you see going on in this country. In non capitalist countries, open bribery is a standard way of doing business, its more under the table in this country. Seen it in the form of racial "set asides", where a certain percentage of government business is "set aside" for certain minorities to buy their votes with non compete bids. If you have ever worked overseas, you will see that capitalism that we have, is far better than the socialist dictatorships that many shallow minds in this country promote.

[blackranger]

08:56 AM on 04/17/2011

so tell us which "socialist" countries have people that are worse off than this one? The middle class is totally disappearing, we don't even have basic healthcare for all. I suspect that you see only one class in this country for the most part. Traveling in Europe or working there is not for the average American these days.

[RRK70]

04:32 PM on 04/17/2011

no economic system in a pure form exists in reality.  The idea that the US is a capitalist free market economy is a fine "theory" but in reality it is not more a capitalist free market economy than a socialist or communist country being purely socialist or communistic.

Economies of scale, monopolies, regulation, subsidies, etc.  

Do you really think oil/energy production or pharmaceuticals operate along lines of free market principles?  Do you think the cost of healthcare isn't influenced by insurance companies and the AMA?

People need to start paying less attention to philosophical terms and take a pragmatic look at what works and what doesn't.

[Floridaval]

10:50 AM on 04/16/2011

We need to change the tax laws and fine companies (and individuals) severely who are found to use these tax havens.

[Pembrokelib]

10:24 AM on 04/16/2011

Why is this not on the front page? Most people are unaware of the enormity of the problem caused by the greed of bankers and of Wall St. Over a trillion dollar saving could balance the budget! This post should be featured on the most widely read site on Huffpost and discussed by the President on national TV. Why are not more people angry? This is blatant tax evasion and should be illegal.

[NoRealNews]

11:22 AM on 04/16/2011

Why is this on the front page? We know already know that answer. Why isn't the meeting of China, Russia, India and Brazil to establish a new global reserve currency on the front page? You would think that even scheduling the meeting wold be of grave concern to warrant coverage but this doesn't even get back page after the meeting. Perhaps we now know what the real purpose of the Obama visit to Brazil was about. I'm sure they didn't discuss the issue.

[Pembrokelib]

12:04 PM on 04/16/2011

I'm afraid that you are right. I have always depended on the NYTimes, which I read daily, but now I'm not so sure.

[Leakman]

08:01 AM on 04/16/2011

The real reason we started the revelotionary war was to gain economic freedom from the East India Company. Who major stockholder were the Queen, royalty, and rich friends. That is why are Constitution doesn't mention corporations and the states had the right to control them. Then along came crooked, self-serving members of the Supreme Court overturning those rights. States need to re-enact legislation concerning corporate charters once again. Yeah, right.

[becky bradshaw]

07:41 AM on 04/16/2011

The budget crisis at the federal, state, and local level have been created artificially with these tax avoidance tactics. Companies like General Electric and Exxon, and ultra-wealthy individuals are included.

This is another example of international trade bankrupting America. If we can't control this multinational abuse, then we must close the borders to most financial transactions.

[blackranger]

09:00 AM on 04/17/2011

If the republicans gain more control, there will be fewer and fewer taxes to cheat on. That is their solution to this problem.

[youngmike1345]

02:54 AM on 04/16/2011

Ask congress!?

Mike

[realitytrumpsbull]

01:20 AM on 04/16/2011

Well, the US Navy does have a serviceable oceangoing fleet, and if it's discovered that these places are being deliberately used for systematic tax evasion, then the government is probably fully capable of going and dealing with the situation.  Of course, then the question comes about how many people IN government might have a disqualifying conflict of interest of some kind, in dealing with this issue....?

[Robert Cantor]

10:57 PM on 04/15/2011

extra-territorial financial empires.

[RRK70]

04:36 PM on 04/17/2011

corporate  neo-feudalism.  Or perhaps it is corporate neo-colonialism.

[Robert Cantor]

05:00 PM on 04/17/2011

Endo-Colonialism

http://afterthefuture.typepad.com/afterthefuture/2011/01/word-of-the-day-endo-colonialism.html

in a meta political feudal framework. They draw the boundaries of the fifes