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THE SOVEREIGN SOCIETY OFFSHORE A-LETTER
Your Link to Freedom, Prosperity & Privacy in the Offshore World
Tuesday, December 10, 2002 - Vol. 4 No. 129
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In This Issue:
* COMMENT: Naked Bureaucrats
* OFFSHORE: Swiss Tax Refuge. Liechtenstein Troubles. Malta Works. Manx Money Matters. Cloudy Gibraltar. Open Books. Bermuda Blues. Are Canadians Superior to Americans?
* WEALTH: EU Savings Tax Wilts. US Treasury Snow Job. CFP Fights IRS. British Elite. Captive Competition. Offshore Drivers. &P No.
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COMMENT: Naked Bureaucrats
Dear A-Letter Reader:
Last Friday, faithful readers will recall, I went off on one of my anti-European Union tirades denouncing its many depredations against Switzerland and that nation's traditional banking secrecy.
I offered the opinion that the EU had lost the battle against the Swiss and suggested "the stripped pants EU diplomats go back to their plush offices and lick their considerable wounds." Well, spelling has never been my forte, and WM from London, UK caught me with my pants down: "I'll bet you meant 'striped pants EU diplomats.'I've got this mental picture of these distinguished looking men sitting around, naked from the waist down, licking the stripes made by a cane lashing."
Well cane lashing the EU is not a bad idea, but now you see what one 'p' too many can do.
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Worse still, in reporting on the imposition by Tony Blair's Labour government on the UK overseas territories of all sorts of EU tax rules, I referred to 'Antigua' when I meant 'Anguilla.'
Patrick in Antigua, who said he's been 'an avid reader and fan' of ours, set me straight on the fact that his island nation has been happily independent from the UK for 21 years, thank you. My reply: "It was a careless act and I apologize. We Americans are notoriously ignorant about other nations, but I knew better." Those Caribbean islands may be specks on the map, but they have a right to their national pride.
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And on Friday I also mentioned my admiration for Bank Julius Baer's Raymond Baer of Zurich and his forthright statement in defense of financial privacy. Low and behold, the weekend saw a spate of Baer articles (see below) which I share with you forthwith.Keep those e-mails coming, mistakes or no. We value your response.
That's the way that it looks from here.
BOB BAUMAN, Editor
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* COMMENT LINKS:
* Antigua & Barbuda:
LINK: http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ac.html
* Anguilla.
LINK: http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/av.html
* Change, New Face of Private Swiss Banking; Bank Julius Baer. LINK:
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/06/business/worldb
usiness/06BAER.html
* Tough times for Swiss private banks. LINK:
http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/swissinfo.html?siteSect=
105&sid=1498665
* Bank Julius Baer, Zurich. LINK: http://www.juliusbaer.com/
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* OFFSHORE *
SWITZERLAND: HAVEN FOR TAX REFUGEES
ZURICH: If they have enough wealth, a foreign 'tax refugee' can work a deal and residency in very private Switzerland. Here's how. LINK:
http://news.sify.com/cgi-bin/sifynews/news/content/news_fullstory_v2.jsp?article_oid=12201617&page_no=1
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LIECHTENSTEIN IN TROUBLE
VADUZ: A third of the principality's economy flows from the financial sector and it's in trouble; what to do? LINK:
http://quote.bloomberg.com/fgcgi.cgi?mnu=news&ptitle=Top Stories Europe&tp= ad_uknews&T=news_storypage99.ht&ad=euro&s=A
PfLP6xa1TGllY2h0
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MALTA WORKS TO BE OFFSHORE CENTER
VALETTA: These low-tax islands fear joining the EU, with good reason.
LINK: http://dw-world.de/english/0,3367,1430_A_688616
_1_A,00.html
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ISLE OF MAN IN WORLD SPOTLIGHT
DOUGLAS: Manx insurance companies were used by crooks as an unwitting conduit for money laundering; $8.75m seized. LINKS:
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/06/international/americas /06LAUN.html
http://www.accountancymag.co.uk/DisplayFullNewsItem.asp?
ItemKey=5062&SectionKey=
http://www.washtimes.com/national/20021208-59300635.htm
* Manx banks step up 'know your customer' enforcement.
LINK: http://www.newsmann.com/updocs/BanksmajorKYCcup.gif
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GIBRALTAR FUTURE CLOUDY
Speculation over UK-Spanish deal, EU pressures goes on.
LINK: http://www.tax-news.com/asp/story/story.asp?storyname
=10215
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CARIBBEAN NATIONS OPEN BOOKS
Financial centers sign TIEAs with US, champion transparency. LINK:
http://www.industryclick.com/magnewsarticle.asp?newsarticleid
=2510029&magazineid=289&SiteID=2
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BERMUDA IN THE NEWS
HAMILTON: Island braces for more American political attacks. LINK:
http://www.theroyalgazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?Site=R G&Date=20021206&Category=BUSINESS&ArtNo
=112060042&Ref=AR
* USA Patriot Act kills offshore dollar accounts at Bermuda banks. LINK:
http://www.theroyalgazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?Date=
20021209&Category=BUSINESS&ArtNo=112090024&Ref=AR
* 8,000 expatriate workers reach record levels. LINK:
http://www.tax-news.com/asp/story/story.asp?storyname=10211
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IS CANADA REALLY ABOVE THE U.S.A.?
'It's not our fault we're morally superior to US.' Toronto Star. LINK:
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?GXHC_gx_
session_id_=5b854edc16f9b625&pagename=thestar/Layout/A
rticle_Type1&c
=Article&cid=1035775286060&call_page=S_News&call_pagei
d=968332188492&call_pagepath=News/News
* Canada's richest people are getting poorer. LINK:
http://www.newswire.ca/releases/December2002/08/c
1026.html
* Trouble in Cayman Island's 'Little Canada' 2500 expat community.
LINK: http://www.canoe.ca/EdmontonNews/es.es-1
2-09-0014.html
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* WEALTH *
E.U. SAVINGS TAX ON LAST LEGS
BRUSSELS: Austria, Belgium, Luxembourg may block compromise. LINK:
http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=FT.com/S
toryFT/FullStory&c=StoryFT&cid=1039366545834
* Swiss keep quite about last ditch talks. LINK:
http://www.ananova.com/business/story/sm_722427.html?
menu=
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SNOW JOB? NEW U.S. TREASURY SECRETARY
WASHINGTON: For 2 years free market activists have fought the entrenched bureaucrats at Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service.
LINKS: http://www.tax-news.com/asp/story/story.asp?stor
yname=10232
http://biz.yahoo.com/rf/021209/economy_team_snow_12.html
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C.F.P. TESTIFIES AGAINST I.R.S. PROPOSAL
Quinlan opposes Clinton foreign interest reporting scheme.
LINKS: http://www.tax-news.com/asp/story/story.asp?story
name=10221
http://www.freedomandprosperity.org/Papers/hrng12-05-02
/hrng12-05-02.shtml
http://www.freedomandprosperity.org/update/irsreg/irsreg.shtml
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BRITISH ELITE SLIPPING
LONDON: How Britain's 'establishment' has changed. LINK:
http://www.economist.com/opinion/displayStory.cfm?story
_id=1477598
* Duchess of Kent quietly sells off Gainsborough paintings. LINK:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,854022,00.html
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U.S. STATES COMPETE FOR OFFSHORE CAPTIVE INSURANCE
South Carolina, Vermont give Bermuda, Caymans run for the money.
LINK: http://www.newsre.com/index.asp?layout=story&doc_
id=18679
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GOING OFFSHORE? GET AN INTERNATIONAL DRIVERS LICENSE
LINK: http://www.iht.com/articles/79434.htm
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ANTI-OFFSHORE COMPANY MOVES FAIL
S&P rejects states' request to remove offshore companies from index.
LINKS: http://www.wmtw.com/Global/story.asp?S=1039596
http://www.sacbee.com/content/business/story/5483360p-
6466870c.html
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