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THE SOVEREIGN SOCIETY OFFSHORE A-LETTER
Your Link to Freedom, Prosperity & Privacy in the Offshore World
Friday, December 11, 2002 - Vol. 4 No. 131
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In This Issue:
* COMMENT: What Is Conservatism?
* OFFSHORE: EU Tax Plan Fails. Swiss Firm. 10 Indicted in Offshore Tax
Scheme. Why Panama? Cherie's Bermuda Freebie. UK Apology. Backdoor
Attacks. Caymans Help. Portuguese Dead. Russian Billboards. IT Goes.
* WEALTH: Tough IRS. Insurance Wrapper Ruling. German Assets Flee Tax.
Aussie High Taxes. False Bank Fees. US Investments Popular in Europe.
High Net Worth Women Investors. Pritzker Family Billions.
* PRIVACY & RIGHTS: Bio-Passports. ID Theft. Canada Lawyers Upset.
ACLU Membership Booms. Poindexter's Pentagon Scary Plans.
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* COMMENT: What Is Conservatism?
Dear A-Letter Reader:
Your editor has a confession; as a young man I was not only a political
conservative, but also national chairman of Young Americans for Freedom (YAF) and, later, of the American Conservative Union (ACU). Bill Buckley as one of my mentors and, (shutter), I was a Goldwater 1964 delegate. For you youngsters, YAF, founded in 1960, was the vanguard of the 1964 Goldwater for president movement, creating a vibrant cadre of young leaders who graced the Reagan administration. The ACU, founded in 1965, was the senior spin-off of YAF. (Some suggested Old Americans for Freedom, or 'OAF'.)
Forty years ago our 'conservatism' meant opposing big government,
bureaucratic waste and pork barrel spending. As recently as 1992, a
friend of mine, the first Pres. George Bush spoke for me in saying:
'Each month millions of American families sit down to balance their
checkbooks. The federal government must now do the same.'
We believed that lower taxes kept government small, that cutting taxes
kept money out of the greedy hands of Washington big spenders. We
opposed welfare for corporations and for non-needy individuals alike.
Most of all, we believed in government staying out of our private lives,
respecting the rule of law and abiding by the Bill of Rights.
A few years ago we conservatives thought we were winning the battle.
But no sane American conservative can make such a foolish claim now.
Huge deficits, an unbalanced budget guarantee eventual inflation and
cheapened dollars. Billions for unneeded bailouts of airlines, insurance
companies and big businesses. Millions in pork barrel spending tacked
onto the so-called Homeland Security bill, a bureaucratic monstrosity.
And what about our liberty, freedom and rights? The USA Patriot Act
is the single greatest assault on the Constitution ever perpetrated in
US history. We suffer an incipient police state with secret spying,
searches, forfeiture, arrests and imprisonment. And here comes the Total Information Awareness program, one of many police programs that spy on American citizens, all in the false name of combatting 'terrorism.'
The hero of my youth, the late Sen. Bob Taft of Ohio, was a
conservative. When in doubt, it was said he placed the Constitution
along side a bill and then formulated his vote accordingly.
With one or two exceptions, that kind of true conservative is nowhere
to be found in Washington today, and certainly not in the White House.
That's the way that it looks from here.
BOB BAUMAN, Editor
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COMMENT LINKS:
* Rebels with a Cause: The YAF Story 1960-1967
LINK: http://www.yaf.com/rebels1.shtml
* A Conservative Stand On Civil Liberties Issues, ACU. LINK:
http://www.conservative.org/cgi-data/doc_column_keene/files/27.shtml
* What Is Conservatism? edited by Frank Meyer
LINK: http://www.acton.org/research/libtrad/meyer.html
Download pdf file of book:
http://www.conservativeclassics.com/books/WhatIsbk/BK11.PDF
* The Conservative Affirmation by Willmoore Kendall Download book:
http://www.conservativeclassics.com/books/Affirmationbk/BK16.PDF
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* OFFSHORE *
E.U. SAVINGS TAX PLANS COLLAPSE
BRUSSELS: Plan to impose cross border tax & exchange tax information fails; Luxembourg, Austria veto deal. Swiss refuse to end bank secrecy.
LINKS: http://www.tax-news.com/asp/story/story.asp?storyname=10270
http://quote.bloomberg.com/fgcgi.cgi?mnu=news&ptitle=Top Stories Europe&tp=ad_
uknews&T=news_storypage99.ht&ad=euro&s=APfet_RTLRVUgVGF4
http://www.euractiv.com/cgi-bin/cgint.exe/?targ=1&204&OIDN=1504414&-home=home
* Swiss stand firm against EU tax plans. LINKS:
http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/Swissinfo.html?siteSect=161&sid=1513702
http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/Swissinfo.html?siteSect=113&sid=1512343
* Tax competition keeps government spending down.
LINK: http://www.cato.org/dailys/12-11-02.html
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TEN INDICTED FOR OFFSHORE TAX SCHEMES
SEATTLE: Sold alleged fraudulent tax shelters, offshore IBCs, trusts.
2000 'clients' also under IRS investigation may be indicted.
LINKS: http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/12/business/12TAX.html
http://www.naplesnews.com/02/12/naples/d872928a.htm
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/134594338_taxshelter12m.html
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WHY PANAMA REMAINS A PREFERRED TAX HAVEN
Sovereign Society Council of Experts member, Derek SAMBROOK uses
the Socratic method to explain: 'Why Panama' LINK:(scroll down)
http://www.trustserv.com/Offshore Pilot - Current Issue.htm
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MS. TONY BLAIR'S BERMUDA FREEBIE
HAMILTON: Labour government curtails UK overseas territories'
freedom, but PM Blair's wife, Cherie, gets free hospitality. LINK:
http://www.theroyalgazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?Date=20021211&Category=NEWS&ArtNo=112110063&Ref=AR
* Bermuda denounces demands for S&P index ouster. LINK:
http://www.forbes.com/markets/newswire/2002/12/10/rtr819291.html
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U.K. INLAND REVENUE APOLOGIZES
LONDON: UK IR sold 600 properties to Bermuda-based company for
£220m ($347m) contrary to IR loud anti-tax haven policies.
LINKS: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/2569453.stm
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/economics/story/0,11268,858514,00.html
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BARBADOS WARNED OF O.E.C.D. BACKDOOR ATTACKS
BRIDGETOWN: Campaign against tax havens continues, warning. LINK:
http://www.barbadosadvocate.com/NewViewNewsleft.cfm?Record=11110
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FLORIDA MUST GO TO CAYMANS FOR CAPTIVE INSURANCE
Malpractice ins. costs drive hospital to offshore insurance. LINK:
http://www.tcpalm.com/tcp/pj_editorials/article/0,1651,TCP_1125_1602124,00.html
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PORTUGUESE ISLAND GETS TAX-FREE ZONE
MADEIRA gains EU approval for tax free area.
LINK: http://www.tax-news.com/asp/story/story.asp?storyname=10281
* Names of dead in GOA colony used for fake Portuguese passports.
LINK: http://www.goacom.com/news/news2002/dec/msg00021.html
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RUSSIAN BILLBOARDS HIT OFFSHORE ASSETS
MOSCOW: Offshore financial schemes denounced. LINK:
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2002/12/11/046.html
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U.S. FIRMS MOVE I.T. JOBS OFFSHORE
Information technology jobs by the thousands go offshore.
LINKS: http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1106-976828.html
http://www.tax-news.com/asp/story/story.asp?storyname=10277
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* WEALTH *
I.R.S. CONFIRMS TOUGH RULES FOR TAX CHEATS
Prosecution unlikely if cheats come clean first. LINK (free reg req):
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-wrap12dec12,0,4257399.story?coll=la-headlines-business
* Legal ways to escape US double taxation. LINK:
http://www.techcentralstation.com/1051/techwrapper.jsp?PID=1051-250&CID=1051-121102D
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* IRS TAX RULING UPSETS OFFSHORE INSURANCE, HEDGE FUNDS
Hedge funds, insurers fear IRS ruling on insurance wrappers.
LINK: http://www.tax-news.com/asp/story/story.asp?storyname=10258
* Text of IRS private letter ruling on hedge fund life insurance.
LINK: http://www.riserreport.com/Archives/rr1102.htm#PPLI
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GERMAN ASSETS FLEE NEW TAXES
BERLIN: Left-wing Socialists, Greens drive out money with tax hikes.
LINK: http://www.tax-news.com/asp/story/story.asp?storyname=10272
* AUSTRALIA keeps high tax pressure on the rich. LINK:
http://www.thewest.com.au/20021211/business/tw-business-home-sto81557.html
* FATF warns banks charging unneeded 'clearance fee'. LINK:
http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2002/dec/12/business/20021212bus1.html
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U.S. POPULAR WITH RICH EUROPEAN INVESTORS
New J.P. Morgan study shows wealthy EU citizens still love US.
LINK: http://www.thewmurchannel.com/money/1831885/detail.html
* Wealthy women investors do not match stereotypes. LINK:
http://www.bizjournals.com/southflorida/stories/2002/12/09/daily71.html
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CAN THE PRITZKER FAMILY FIND HAPPINESS?
They own 60-plus companies, $15 billion empire, a web of 2500
domestic and offshore trusts; and one unhappy young cousin's lawsuit.
LINK: http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/11/national/11HEIR.html
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* PRIVACY & RIGHTS *
G-8 NATIONS PLAN BIOMETRIC PASSPORTS
All passports must have biometric features. But can it be done?
LINK: http://www.heise.de/english/newsticker/data/jk-12.12.02-002/
* Identity theft almost impossible to avoid, but take precautions. LINK:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A1026-2002Dec2.html
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CANADA: US 'squeal-on-your-client rules' worry lawyers. LINK:
http://www.nationalpost.com/financialpost/story.html?id={CAB3C89D-88C7-4079-A130-B72440E95D51}
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* ACLU membership surges in post 9/11 world; right & left join. LINK:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=676&e=2&cid=676&u=/usatoday/20021211/ts_usatoday/4690748
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* Just what is POINDEXTER doing at the Pentagon? It's scary!
LINK: http://www.darpa.mil/iao/programs.htm
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