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American Billionaire's Hiding their wealth to avoid paying taxes .. Unusual or Unique ? UBS doesn't think so?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/nov/12/ubs-useconomy-tax-fraud The department of justice alleges that 20,000 American clients have been systematically using Swiss bank accounts to conceal $20bn of assets from the Internal Revenue Service. So my question is this.. A) Why haven't they made the list of American offenders public? B) Why haven't there been charges... against them? if that was one of us we'd have everything we owned seized... is there a two class system at work here ? of course it is illegal to hide income? are you all kidding or just dumb enough to actually believe that.. RICO act, racketeering, that's what they grabbed the mob bosses back in the day with.. you can't hide income it's illegal.. capital gains=income. Absolutely this breaks laws and again, if you or I were engaged in this we would be sitting in prison. I can't believe I'm getting hammered at on this????? are you people crazy? so it's ok for the extreme rich to avoid paying taxes, but those lazy good for nothing working stiffs that bought houses without fixed interest rates are the bane of our civilization ?

Public Comments

1. Smart I'd say. I worry more about the illegal immigrants over here sucking from each U.S. tax paying citizen before I worry about the few elite hiding their money.
2. Switzerland has something known as "privacy".
3. conservative republicans think income tax evasion is "patriotic".
4. They haven't been held accountable because Bush has been in office.
5. Who wouldn't want to hide their income from Hussein and his merry band of thugs in congress?
6. "Why haven't they made the list of American offenders public?" Because doing that doesn't break any laws, it is a loophole. It's unethical, but not illegal. "Why haven't there been charges... against them?" It's not breaking any laws.
7. The Rich people are just protecting their wealth, Afterall they did earn it by providing either goods or services to millions of people. NoBama is crazy enough to believe that he can pay for his crazy spending schemes by just taxing the rich. He'll learn the same Lesson that Nixon and many other presidents did. When the Rich are told there going to get taxed more, they hide or donate a lot of money to charity. Just Say No to NoBama and his washed-up socialistic schemes.
8. This isn't just Americans, it's endemic in the EU too. The Swiss have relaxed many of their laws now, so that it is easier to investigate; which is why the smart rich folk are using the Cayman Islands and other off-shore banks to hide money. It's illegal in Europe and America, but there are few prosecutions. It's not unusual at all, to answer your main question.
9. Taxes were never to be as high as what they are today. Most people pay around 35% of their income. Top tax bracket is about 50% of their income. I don't blame them one bit for hiding their money. It's not the government's money.
10. "is there a two class system at work here ?" But of course. And it's only going to get worse. Then we are REALLY going to be s@rewed.
11. Yes, there is a two class system at work. While the American people are absorbed with fighting each other over race, abortion, guns, gender, civil rights and the "war on terrorism", there has been a constant and concerted class war in this country. The rich have gotten obscenely richer, while the rest of us have gotten robbed. But very few people notice or care. As long as they can afford to drive their fancy cars (bought on credit), live in a fancy house (mortgaged to the hilt) and dress in nice clothes (bought with a credit card), they don't much care about the rest.
12. Loads of empircal data shows that when you raise taxes, the focus shifts from compliance to avoidance. You act surprised that people would make efforts to shelter their income from confiscatory taxes... why? How about I come to your house and start taking stuff. Think you will hide it from me before I come back the next time?
13. Don't know for sure but do we have 20,000 billionaires? People avoid income tax in all walks of life.It is called money laundering. If they had hard evidence they would all be caught.
14. When will all the people learn that the RICH will NEVER NEVER NEVER EVER EVER be hurt by Politics? Only the little guy gets the shaft, regardless of how LOUD and BOASTFUL the DEMS talk about "punishing the rich".
15. Speculation is one thing, Proving it in court is something else. The fact is the IRS got slaped with some new regulations about disclosure of tax filings due to over-zealous tax collection practices of the past.
16. "I can't believe I'm getting hammered at on this????? are you people crazy? so it's ok for the extreme rich to avoid paying taxes, but those lazy good for nothing working stiffs that bought houses without fixed interest rates are the bane of our civilization ?" Welcome to the Bizzaro world of YA politics.
17. Clearly if there have been official charges brought against the Bank/Banker... there is proof regarding the "Dead Beats" ... Dystopian Rejecter eh'? well I guess this subject was tailor made for you... here is America the Beautiful steadily being turned into "America the welfare state" Dystopia ????? absolutely!
18. Answer A: because those using offshore tax havens have the law makers in their Rol-a-Dex. Answer B: see answer A. If you would like to do some reading on the subject get David Caye Johnston's "Perfectly Legal", it won the Pulitzer for investigative journalism. The issue with people hammering you is a perfect example of the "dumbing down" of the public. Americans who have no understanding of the tax system who are getting screwed first by the wealthy who are reducing the salaries and the goods and services to the public then turn around and stick them with the tax bill. If Americans would stop thinking that they know what is going on and start investigating deeper than corporate sponsored cable news there would be a chance for the country.