By Maria M. Agosto
In
what is rapidly becoming the largest tax fraud investigation in history, the
global elite and multi-national corporations stand accused of hiding behind tax
shelters worldwide and secreting assets upwards
of $32 trillion. Charges range from
facilitating tax evasion and fraud, to money laundering.
After studying 2.5
million leaked files for more than a year, the International Consortium of
Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), an independent group in partnership with
several global news outlets, revealed the names behind more than 120,000
anonymous offshore companies and trusts.
Some of the world's wealthiest, most politically influential individuals are involved. In Canada, Liberal Pana Merchant faces an investigation regarding an estimated $1.7 million her husband moved into an offshore account. Jean-Jacques Augier, the treasurer of French President Franà §ois Hollande's election campaign and Imee Marcos, a Filipino politician and daughter of the country's former dictator Ferdinand Marcos are included, as well as a Venezuelan general, international weapons dealers, and several Russian corporate executives.
In the United States, Mark Rich, a notorious tax fraud pardoned
by Clinton, and Rich's former wife are listed. US tax authorities seeking information on
suspected American tax evaders have targeted a Caribbean bank formerly co-owned
by Barclays, and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has filed
a "John Doe" summons -- a request for information on an unknown
number of unnamed people -- against US taxpayers with offshore accounts at First
Caribbean International Bank (FCI).
One method commonly used to pull off these schemes is called
transfer pricing. A shell corporation is
formed and residency is established in a nation known for its low corporate
taxes; all financial activity is reported to have occurred there. A simple entity can be created in just three
days for about $1,000. For an extra
level of protection, and an extra $500, a local "nominee director" will pose as
the public face for your entity. More than 21,500 offshore companies employ
this scheme, allowing the true owners complete anonymity.
This isn't just big business; it's huge. One five-story office building in the Cayman
Islands is home to over 18,000 corporations and the British Virgin Islands is
home to a half million.
The imbroglio that has been revealed has important
consequences other than an illegal amassing of wealth. It contributed to the introduction of
horsemeat into Europe's food chain earlier this year. And the Cypriot service
provider linked to the food scandal provided nominee services for convicted
arms trafficker Viktor Bout, who made money from some of Africa's bloodiest wars.
Incredibly, these disclosures show that well-respected
institutions such as City of London banks, HSBC and Standard Chartered, were
working with some of the most violent elements in the world. If these reports are true, the largest global financial
institutions, like Deutsche Bank and UBS, are criminal enterprises working with
a cadre of well-paid lawyers,
accountants, and other individuals, to help their patrons engage in illegal
activities.
Yet money laundering and financial secrecy are not limited
to offshore accounts. The United States, the United Kingdom, and other conventional
financial centers are central to this scandal. And while British,
American, and European banks are regularly reprimanded, they are rarely
prosecuted for handling the profits of crime. Last year, it was revealed that HSBC
enabled some of the most violent narcoterrorists in Mexico to launder
hundred of millions of dollars through the US financial system.
At this writing, a child born in the United States is already
personally burdened with $52,985.04 in US national
debt, while roughly one-quarter of the largest corporations in America are
paying no federal income taxes. In 2010,
JP Morgan Chase operated 83 subsidiaries incorporated in offshore tax havens to
avoid paying some $4.9 billion in U.S. taxes. And c ompanies use the same tax breaks to save money by
exporting jobs to other countries costing the United States five million
manufacturing jobs and the closure of more than 56,000 factories since 2000.
Were it not for the legal fictions that corporations are people and money is political speech, corporations would not have the inalienable right to speak and invest unlimited funds in our elections, keeping Congress indebted and subservient. These corporations wield their power so the wealthy and corrupt can cheat their way out of paying their fair share while hard-working people and innocents are stuck with the bill -- and the aftermath.
We
at Move to Amend say "No more!" Let's amend the US Constitution
to clearly state that corporations are not people and money does not equal
speech. It is time to bring transparency
back to our financial systems and justice to "We, the People!"
Maria Agosto is a member of the Move to Amend National team and The Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign (PPEHRC.) She can be reached at Email address removed
