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THE SOVEREIGN SOCIETY OFFSHORE A-LETTER
Your Link to Freedom, Prosperity & Privacy in the Offshore World
Tuesday, October 15, 2002 - Vol. 4 No. 106
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In This Issue:
* COMMENT: Hold Your Nose.
* OFFSHORE: EU-Swiss Deadlock. UK Loophole Survives. Channel Islands. 30,000 Irish Suspects. FATF Blacklist. Vanuatu Dropped. Hong Kong Diminished. Labuan Meeting. US Taxpatriates List. Expats Plan Ahead.
* WEALTH: Taxes Up Again. Income Tax Evil. US-Canada Union?
Montreal Lawyer's Trial. British Pound Sterling Lives On.
* PRIVACY & RIGHTS: Ron Paul on War. Belgium's Digital ID Plan.
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* COMMENT: Hold Your Nose.
Dear A-Letter Reader:
I was first elected to the US House of Representatives in a special election held in August 1973. My predecessor had committed suicide, mouthing a shotgun and pulling the trigger with his feet. He was depressed because his congressional campaign had been exposed as having taken thousands of unreported dollars from the Committee to Re-Elect the President (CREEP), then Atty. Gen. Mitchell's 1972 slush fund for Pres. Nixon's campaigns.
I was young Maryland State Senator and my opponent in the special election was twice my age and looked three times as old, red faced and blustery, a very unattractive old style politician. I only narrowly defeated him in a very low turn out of voters. People had been watching the sordid Watergate hearings on TV for weeks. I would campaign in a barber shop or store and people would point to the Watergate TV show on the boob tube and ask: "Are you one of those?"
The entire campaign obviously presented a distasteful choice for many voters fed up with scandal, corruption and politics as usual. The dilemma was summarized in a weekly newspaper editorial endorsement that viewed both me and my opponent, then endorsed me under the headline: "Hold Your Nose and Vote."
I resurrect this ancient history simple because, three weeks from voting in the US national elections on November 5th, I have the same feeling of disgust about the choices I and other Americans are being offered. My own Republican Party runs rough shod over civil liberties and constitutional protections in the name of an illusory 'security' as it racks up record budget deficits. The inarticulate Democrats seem totally lost. Both are marching as to war, having replaced basic principles with a pollster's weathervane.
Nevertheless, I will hold my nose and vote. To do otherwise would be to abdicate one of the few liberties I still have left to exercise. As Winston Churchill reminded us many years ago: 'Democracy is the worst form of government, except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.'
That's the way that it looks from here.
BOB BAUMAN, Editor
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* OFFSHORE *
EU-SWISS DEADLOCK ON TAX INFORMATION EXCHANGE
After a week of EU fulmination, the Swiss stand firm in support of traditional bank secrecy. Is a face saving compromise possible? LINK:
http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=FT.com/StoryFT/FullStory&c=
StoryFT&cid=1033848949163http://www.eubusiness.com/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=93171&d=
101&h=240&f=56&dateformat=%25o%20%25B%20%25Y
http://dw-world.de/english/0,3367,1431_A_654673_1_A,00.html
* US experts slam EU for intemperate, unjust attacks on Swiss.
LINK: http://www.tax-news.com/asp/story/story.asp?storyname=9653
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U.K. NON-DOMICILE TAX LOOPHOLE STILL ALIVE
LONDON: Wealthy foreigners living in the UK still remain tax free.
LINK: http://money.guardian.co.uk/news_/story/0,1456,811428,00.html
* Auditors investigate UK offshore tax haven sale; Labour government denounces tax haven use; uses it for £2b Inland Revenue property deal.
LINK: http://www.observer.co.uk/business/story/0,6903,810768,00.html
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CHANNEL ISLANDS
* Financial Times survey gives JERSEY offshore services high marks.
LINK: http://www.tax-news.com/asp/story/story.asp?storyname=9664
* Guide to GUERNSEY offshore services published.
LINK: http://www.tax-news.com/asp/story/story.asp?storyname=9659
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IRISH TAX COLLECTORS TARGET 30,000 PEOPLE
IRISH Revenue finds 13,500 allegedly bogus offshore bank accounts.
LINK: http://www.tax-news.com/asp/story/story.asp?storyname=9671
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FINANCIAL ACTION TASK FORCE REVISES BLACKLIST
FATF also announces future joint actions with IMF. LINKS:
http://www.vortexcentrum.com/members/wmlro/wmlro1035.htm
http://www.vortexcentrum.com/members/wmlro/wmlro1037.htm
* Nieu, Marshall Islands removed from blacklist. LINK:
http://pacific.bizjournals.com/pacific/stories/2002/10/07/daily93.html
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KPMG DROPS VANUATU GROUP
Accounting firm nervous over link to Pacific island. LINK (scroll
down): http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,630-441685,00.html
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HONG KONG LIBERTIES LOST UNDER COMMUNIST RULE
And local opposition seems muted to new curbs on freedoms.
LINK: http://www.iht.com/articles/73335.htm
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OFFSHORE INSTITUTE MEETS IN LABUAN
A first for Pacific area offshore financial center. LINK:
http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2002/10/11/business/l
ofsacon&sec=business
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CARIBBEAN NEWS:
* OECS ministers discuss area economic strategies.
LINK: http://www.tax-news.com/asp/story/story.asp?storyname=9651
* GUATEMALA, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC corruption warning. LINK:
http://usinfo.state.gov/cgi-bin/washfile/display.pl?p=/products/washfile/latest&f
=02101004.llt&t=/products/washfile/newsitem.shtml
* PUERTO RICAN corporate tax break confusion in US Congress. LINK:
http://www.puertorico-herald.org/issues/2002/vol6n41/WashUpdate0641-en.shtml
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AMERICAN 'TAXPATRIATES' LIST
IRS publishes names of ex-US persons who renounce citizenship.
LINK: http://www.frissell.com/taxpat/taxpats.html
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* ADVERTISEMENT *
ARE YOUR OFFSHORE ASSETS REALLY SAFE?
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LINK: http://www.agora-inc.com/reports/190SMNML/W190CA55/
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* WEALTH *
TAXES KEEP GOING UP AND UP
OECD reports government took 44% of GDP in EU nations, and 31% in the US, in each case a growth of 2% over the last decade. LINKS:
http://www.tax-news.com/asp/story/story.asp?storyname=9660
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/2319071.stm
* THE INCOME TAX IS EVIL
Frank Chodorov's classic essay on state confiscation of wealth.
LINK: http://www.mises.org/etexts/rootofevil.asp
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US-CANADA INCOME GAP SUGGESTS UNION
OTTAWA: Closer ties, fewer barriers could equalize income. LINK:
http://canada.com/national/story.asp?id=%7B16A1575A-7E09-43A3-92EC-AA
B079A262EA%7D
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LEADING CANADIAN LAWYER ON TRIAL
MONTREAL: International stock fraud; London, Bermuda, Liberia. LINK:
http://www.canada.com/montreal/specials/business/story.html?id=%7BD39B0E9
F-45D0-4A84-BD35-3A575E0271BB%7D
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BRITISH STAND BY POUND STERLING
LONDON: No switch to the euro seen anytime soon. LINK:
http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=FT.com/StoryFT/FullStory&
c=StoryFT&cid=1033848944856
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* PRIVACY & RIGHTS *
U.S. REP. RON PAUL SPEAKS FRANKLY ABOUT WAR
Transcript of appearance on Moyer's PBS "NOW" show. LINK:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/763331/posts#startpaul
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BELGIUM PLANS DIGITAL I.D. CARDS FOR CITIZENS
BRUSSELS: A radical change in citizen-government relationship.
LINK: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/2295433.stm
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