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THE SOVEREIGN SOCIETY OFFSHORE A-LETTER
Your Link to Freedom, Prosperity & Privacy in the Offshore World
Tuesday, October 1, 2002 - Vol. 4 No. 100
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In This Issue:
* COMMENT: Imperial Intrigue.
* OFFSHORE: Good Log Jam. Bahamas Gab. Panama Pleads. Dominica Out Priced. Gibraltar Respite. Manx Movies. Hong Kong Woes.
Where and What Is Brunei?
* WEALTH: Weep for the IRS? DoJ Sues Tax Consultant. 'S' Valuation. Lawsuit Curbs. Debt Dodgers. Pound Vote. EU Stocks. Coors Lite. Expat Advice on Credit, Back Home Mail.
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LINK: http://www.agora-inc.com/reports/190SVJBM/W190CA05/
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* COMMENT: Imperial Intrigue.
Dateline Vienna, Austria.
Dear A-Letter Reader:
A city that could produce Schubert, Brahms, Mahler, Mozart and Beethoven, as well as nurture the likes of Freud and Hitler, has to be a great place to visit. On my first sojourn here I have found this former seat of the Hapsburg (and Holy Roman ) empires a delightful city, now that it has shaken off the political strictures of post-World War II Allied occupation. As I toured the Hapsburg's summer digs, the beautiful Schoenbrunn Palace, I could not help but think how secure these divine right monarchs must have considered themselves to be, right up until the very last. Less than a century ago Franz Josef reigned supreme, yet within a matter of a year or two it all came crashing down.
There is a clear lesson here for today's would be-divine right politicians who wield temporary power as if it were eternal, imposing their exactions on us and our fortunes, treating us as imperial serfs owing them fealty. Of course the late Austro-Hungarian empire had an abundant share of court intrigues and in 1914 the assassination of the imperial heir, Archduke Francis Ferdinand, catapulted the world into its first Great War, the effects of which are imprinted on us to this very hour.
Intrigue lives on in modern governments too, as witness the media reporting and political revisionism following the US rejection of the EU savings tax directive about which we commented last Friday. Not withstanding the fact that the chief economic advisor to the President of the United States announced that the US would not support the EU ESD, unnamed US Treasury and EU officials insisted this was still an open issue under continuing US-EU negotiations.
Also in the forefront of the wishful thinking brigade, the UK socialist Labour government launched a new round of insulting demands that Switzerland kills its traditional banking secrecy. That nonsense came even as the Swiss thanked Washington for killing the EU savings tax raid.
I invite the Treasury, EU and UK dreamers back to reality. Free subscriptions to The A-Letter are available at http://sovereignsociety.com That's the way that it looks from here. Auf Weidersehen.
BOB BAUMAN, Editor
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* COMMENT LINKS:
* G-7 Backs Away from EU Tax Plan. Reuters. LINK:
http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=
N2IECQT0GPWBSCRBAELCFFA?
type=businessNews&storyID=1508736
* Swiss banks welcome U.S. opposition to EU tax plan. LINK:
http://money.iwon.com/jsp/nw/nwdt_rt.jsp?section=news&news_id=
reu-l26256664& feed=reu&date=20020926&cat=INDUSTRY
* Swiss Angry at UK Ambassador's Conduct. Reuters. LINK:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;$sessionid$WKTZMX
UA0QYAHQFIQMGCFFWAVCBQUIV0?xml=/news/2002/09/29/
wswis29.xml&sSheet=/news/2002/09/29/ixworld.html
* US opposes plan to share savings data with EU. Financial Times. LINK:
http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=FT.com/StoryFT/
FullStory&c=StoryFT&cid=1031119662230
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* OFFSHORE *
CONGRESSIONAL LOG JAM MAY SINK ANTI-OFFSHORE BILLS
WASHINGTON: With only 2 weeks remaining before election year adjournment, anti-tax haven bills may die in the last minute rush. LINK:
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/nationworld/
orl-subizreform29092902sep29,0,5582276.story?coll=orl
-business-headlines
* But our Capitol Hill sources say the US Senate this week may consider a bill (H.R. 5063) that hurts the tax treatment of US expatriates. LINK:
http://thomas.loc.gov/
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BAHAMAS GOVERNMENT TALKS A GOOD GAME NASSAU:
New government keeps talking about consulting the offshore business sector, but when will they do something to reverse the slide?
LINK: http://www.tax-news.com/asp/story/story.asp?storyname=9520
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PANAMA PLEADS "YANKEES COME BACK!" PANAMA CITY:
Many miss the gringos and their millions. LINK:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A13405-2002Sep27.html
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DOMINICA BOOSTS ECONOMIC CITIZENSHIP FEES ROSEAU:
One of only two nations selling fast track economic citizenship raises its investment fees from $35,000 to $150,000 . LINK: http://www.ibuoffshoredominica.dm/ecocit.htm
* St. KITTS-NEVIS, the only other nation selling ECs, now is a much better bargain, says Henley & Partner of Zurich. For more, LINK: http://www.henleyglobal.com/stkittsnevis
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FREE GIBRALTAR GETS EXTENDED LEASE ON LIFE
UK Labour plans for a deal with Spain on The Rock's future delayed; Gibraltar government Nov. 7 referendum will go ahead. LINKS:
http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=FT.com/StoryFT
/FullStory&c=StoryFT&cid=1031119699639
http://www.tax-news.com/asp/story/story.asp?storyname=9530
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ISLE OF MAN GOES HOLLYWOOD DOUGLAS, IoM: Tax haven 'goes Hollywood' investments. LINK:
http://www.thelawyer.com/LawyerNews/article.asp?fn
=1-19-23-9-2002-D17D1360-E7F7-4
D46-8C70-56F3F88358FC.xml&s=1&subs=19&pd
=23/9/2002
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HONG KONG REAL ESTATE COLLAPSE CONFIRMED
Deflation continues to rock slumping economy.
LINK: http://www.tax-news.com/asp/story/story.asp?storyname=9516
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BRUNEI A TAX HAVEN?
Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei: Oil rich sultanate seeks status as an offshore financial center to augment oil as major income source. LINK:
http://quote.bloomberg.com/fgcgi.cgi?ptitle=Latest
Columns&touch=1&s1=blk&tp=ad_topright_bbco&T=markets_fgcg
i_content99.ht&s2=ad_right1_bbco&bt=ad_bottom_bbco&s=
APZOwsBTsU3VsdGFu
What's BRUNEI and where is it?
LINK: http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/bx.html
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* ADVERTISEMENT *
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To find out more, click here:
LINK: http://www.agora-inc.com/reports/120SPVOM/W120CAP5/
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* WEALTH *
WEEP FOR THE POOR OLD I.R.S.
The Washington Post gets out the crying towel for the supposedly beleaguered bureaucrats at the Internal Revenue Service. LINK:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/
A14606-2002Sep28.html
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US SUES 'TAX CONSULTANT'
TAMPA: Florida man sued by the US DoJ for promoting tax evasion.
LINK: http://tampatrib.com/Business/MGA24YSDL6D.html
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IRS CHANGES "S" CORP VALUATION RULE
Reversal hits taxpayers with huge tax liability. LINK:
http://www.bizjournals.com/milwaukee/stories/2002
/09/30/editorial3.html
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PROTECT YOUR ASSETS: GO OFFSHORE
George Will explains how Americans are getting sued to death. LINK:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A13848-2002Sep27.html
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MAJOR NATIONS HELP WORLD DEBTORS DODGE PAYMENT
New 'sovereign bankruptcy' plan bails out stupid bank loans. LINKS:
http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=FT.com/StoryFT/FullStory&c
=StoryFT&cid=1031119728796
http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=FT.com/StoryFT
/FullStory&c=StoryFT&cid=1031119756293
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/28/international/28MEET.html
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BRITISH LABOUR EDGES TOWARD EURO REFERENDUM LONDON: Blair eyes a national vote on dumping the pound sterling. LINK:
http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=FT.com/StoryFT/F
ullStory&c=StoryFT&cid=1031119753699
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EUROPEAN STOCK EXCHANGE REFORMS BRUSSELS: EU financial markets get a needed dose of freedom. LINK:
http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=FT.com/StoryFT/
FullStory&c=StoryFT&cid=1031119700427
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COORS LITE HEADED
Joe Coors believed now indicted con man's promise of 75% weekly returns; $40 million invested in bogus bond trading scheme. LINK:
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/business/article/0,1299
,DRMN_4_1443340,00.html
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ADVICE FOR OFFSHORE EXPATS
* Getting your credit ratings in good order. LINK:
http://www.iht.com/search.php?id=72078&owner=(IHT)&date=
20020927171155
* The best way to get your mail from back home in the USA.
LINK: http://www.iht.com/articles/68607.html
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