The ultra rich dodge taxes on 20+ trillion dollars. In other news, water is damp.

[Theseus32]

So yeah. One week after libor we have this little chestnut.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/jul/21/offshore-wealth-global-economy-tax-havens

>tl;dr it turns out that in addition to treating the global lending system as their personal *****, the ultra rich, with the assistance of global banks, have've managed to successfully dodge quite literally trillions of dollars of taxes. This is in every nation on earth. This also means the wealth divide between the rich and the poor is WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY bigger than we thought.

92,000 people control over 9 trillion dollars, which they have paid NO taxes on. To anyone. And that's not counting mansions, yachts, art, etc. This is not money they're spending, investing, hiring, or paying taxes on. They're not buying things with it. This is money doing nothing to help anyone, just sitting in invisible tax havens. To put it into perspective, there's nearly more money NOT a part of the global economy than there IS part of the global economy. Estimates are coming in that the amount may well be over 30 trillion untaxed.

Again, to put it in perspective, this isn't a contributing factor to what caused the global economic meltdown, this is the CAUSE of the global economic meltdown. Don't get me wrong, the rampant bribery and corruption of every level of every government on earth helped loads, but the cherry on the effluvia cupcake is the fact that .0001% of people on earth have literally been bleeding the global economy to death, when they're not raping it for their golfing buddies, that is.

Discuss.

 

[Theseus32]

To further put it into perspective, if this money had been being taxed, if these shelters had been eliminated, there would be no debt crisis in africa, spain, greece, the UK, the US or anywhere else on earth.

 

[crepesack]

Ah, the American dream.

 

[Pinkamena]

It's sad that this is the state of the world. As the world becomes more and more connected, and mulitnational, billion-dollar companies starts to dominate the market, fewer and fewer people gets more and more power and money. Unless something happens to the western consumerist lifestyle, I don't see it changing. I think eventually, companies will get more power than the government, sort of like the banks have (at least in USA).

 

[FalloutJack]

Oh, I can't wait for the annex, and the inevitable cry of the formerly-rich shouting "You can't do this!" falling on deaf ears.

 

[Vegosiux]

Unless something happens to the western consumerist lifestyle, I don't see it changing.

Such as, the people who actually make up the bulk of that consumerism being able to spend less and less, and the economy stalling as a consequence and the spiral that follows? Like, what currently seems to have started and will end up rather badly if it's not solved properly.

 

[Pinkamena]

Unless something happens to the western consumerist lifestyle, I don't see it changing.

Such as, the people who actually make up the bulk of that consumerism being able to spend less and less, and the economy stalling as a consequence and the spiral that follows? Like, what currently seems to have started and will end up rather badly if it's not solved properly.

Yeah. It will eventually moderate itself, the world cannot support this.

 

[Lionsfan]

It was just a couple weeks ago, and I don't remember who, but some celebrity/entertainer gave up her US Citizenship just to avoid paying taxes. It's pretty angering sometimes

 

[Rowan93]

That money's locked up, so comparing it to GDP is silly. When you say "to put this in perspective", you should try saying things that actually do give people a good perspective on things.

I mean, yeah, it is sickening to see this much money being hidden away when it should be taxed to pay for important things, and curbing the excesses of these people is also probably a good idea, but exaggerating things to prove your point just makes it look weaker.

 

[Lucem712]

Nope, don't talk badly about our job creators! I don't care if they hog the money in swiss bank accounts, if we even think 'bout taxing a larger portion of their wealth, I'm pretty sure it'll start an apocalypse.

On a semi-related note, I remember having a small debate about healthcare and someone being upset that they were 'taking from the rich and giving to the poor', and like its a bad thing.

 

[Rowan93]

That money's locked up, so comparing it to GDP is silly. When you say "to put this in perspective", you should try saying things that actually do give people a good perspective on things.

I mean, yeah, it is sickening to see this much money being hidden away when it should be taxed to pay for important things, and curbing the excesses of these people is also probably a good idea, but exaggerating things to prove your point just makes it look weaker.

They could pay off the entire debt of the USA and still have $5-16 trillion left over.

And? This is where most of the people with the most money keep most of their money - of course it's a lot!

But it's not $20 trillion annually, it's just $20 trillion sitting there, and the difference between those two is pretty huge. GDP is annual, so it shouldn't be compared to GDP.

 

[yeti585]

You think the value of a dollar would raise with this much money taken out of the economy. But, it seems the US dollar (at least) is growing weaker and weaker (no I do not have any numbers on this, but constantly rising fuel prices is a good way to show it). You know your fucked when supply and demand doesn't even work anymore.

 

[Worgen]

Maybe we should set a limit on what a single person or family can have, any higher than that and we sent out a team of raptors to bite their asses or some bloodthirsty accountants.

 

[Rowan93]

That money's locked up, so comparing it to GDP is silly. When you say "to put this in perspective", you should try saying things that actually do give people a good perspective on things.

I mean, yeah, it is sickening to see this much money being hidden away when it should be taxed to pay for important things, and curbing the excesses of these people is also probably a good idea, but exaggerating things to prove your point just makes it look weaker.

They could pay off the entire debt of the USA and still have $5-16 trillion left over.

And? This is where most of the people with the most money keep most of their money - of course it's a lot!

But it's not $20 trillion annually, it's just $20 trillion sitting there, and the difference between those two is pretty huge. GDP is annual, so it shouldn't be compared to GDP.

You complained about them comparing it to GDP so I thought this was a more apt comparison.

Eh, okay.

 

[Worgen]

Maybe we should set a limit on what a single person or family can have, any higher than that and we sent out a team of raptors to bite their asses or some bloodthirsty accountants.

And then we reach the point where families who make any more money than the limit lets them own hide it from the state, putting us in the same situation.

I don't have a solution to all this, by the way. I'm just going to sit here and poke holes in everyones theories, just to emphasis just how fucked we are.

That is the beauty of it, it gives real incentive for the govt to hire the best accountants it can and get all that extra dosh.