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07.27.01. Creeping Information Exchange. A-Letter.
THE SOVEREIGN SOCIETY OFFSHORE A-LETTER
Your Link to Freedom, Prosperity & Privacy in the Offshore World
Friday, July 27, 2001 - Vol. 3 No. 59
In This Issue:
* COMMENT: Creeping Information Exchange
* OFFSHORE: Liechtenstein Trust Chaos. Belgian Tax Loopholes. Bulgaria Welcomes Cash. Bahamas Obeys FATF. Belize-Ashcroft-UK Again. Barclays Caribbean Bank Merger. Hang Seng Blue Chips Turn Red. Pacific Havens Defy OECD Deadline.
* WEALTH: Bermuda Bonanza. Aussie-US Treaty Hurts. WTO Hits FSCs. US Estate Tax Non-Repeal. Thai Stock Fraud. IRS Anti-Fraud Web Site. Understanding the Coming Euro. Panama Tax Shelters Available.
* MONEY LAUNDERING: Government Spies. Bush Reviews ML Laws. Euro May Clean Criminal Cash. Swiss, Philippines Increase Efforts.
COMMENT: Creeping Information Exchange et al
by Bob Bauman, Editor
A newly negotiated US-United Kingdom tax treaty announced this week could replace a 1975 treaty by 2003 if both nations ratify the document. Under the new treaty for the first time the UK can provide the US IRS with bank account and other financial information about US citizens who are not resident in the UK, but who bank, do business or have assets there. This would help the IRS track down assets of US tax exiles living in third countries. The UK taxes only residents, rather than all UK citizens, so it doesn't chase Brits living abroad for taxes, as does the US, where the worldwide income of all citizens is taxed.
LINKS: http://www.tax-news.com/asp/story/story.asp?storyname=4642
Full treaty text in pdf file form available for download at
LINK: http://www.inlandrevenue.gov.uk/pdfs/ukusa_dtconvention1.pdf
As we have noted before, the OECD's phony "tax harmonization," torpedoed by the Bush administration, sought to impose G-7 high taxes on the world by insisting all countries have similar high tax rates. As the US-UK treaty shows, information exchange achieves the same goal by allowing a taxpayer's home country to tax economic activity in another nation. Daniel MITCHELL of the Heritage Foundation, a leader of the anti-OECD battle, has just published a detailed analysis of this OECD worldwide information exchange scheme. We urge you to read it carefully in order to understand the wider implications at stake here, for YOU and for financial privacy and freedom in general. A must read at,
LINK: http://www.heritage.org/library/backgrounder/bg1460.html
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Our comments (July 24) comparing the G-7 tax hounds and Genoa protesters produced a response from Roger GALLO, the man behind one of the most visited offshore web sites on the Internet, http://www.escapeartist.com Roger notes "there is another perspective to the street protests. The students make the point that large multi-national corporations have a disproportionate control over many smaller nations and their peoples. Their point is absolutely correct." Having always feared concentrations of power that threaten liberty, The A-Letter agrees.
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RON PAUL REMINDS US. The one true libertarian Member of the US Congress makes clear the implications for national sovereignty in the Milosevic trial.
LINK: http://www.antiwar.com/rep/paul6.html
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U.S. PASSPORTS: All you need to know (with LINKs) about obtaining or renewing a US passport, or travel visas for any foreign nation.
LINK: Click Here.
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* OFFSHORE *
LIECHTENSTEIN: WHO CAN YOU TRUST?
VADUZ: Tuesday we reported Liechtenstein's broad cooperation on mutual legal assistance requests from other nations.
LINK: http://www.tax-news.com/asp/story/story.asp?storyname=4571
Now comes word that trustees of thousands of trusts here are in chaos trying to meet a promise to reveal clients' confidential information by a fast approaching deadline. The disclosure was part of little known deal to get the principality off the FATF money laundering blacklist.
LINKS: http://www.news.li/news/meld5.htm and http://www.tax-news.com/asp/story/story.asp?storyname=4636
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BELGIUM AS TAX HAVEN?
BRUSSELS. If you're a rich EU citizen and you play your tax loopholes right, you can save a bundle by moving to high tax Belgium, (where leftist government hypocrites loudly back EU 'tax harmonization.')
LINK: http://www.tax-news.com/asp/story/story.asp?storyname=4614
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BULGARIA WELCOMES YOUR CASH
SOFIA. Simeon Saxe-Coburg, formerly King Simeon II, sworn in as prime minister, promptly appeals for foreign investment.
LINK: Click Here.
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BAHAMAS 51st U.S STATE?
NASSAU. Having complied with OECD, FATF and US Treasury orders to eviscerate its offshore laws, The Bahamas now requires reporting to the government all cash transactions exceeding $10,000, including travelers checks, bearer shares, postal and other money orders.
LINK: http://www.tax-news.com/asp/story/story.asp?storyname=4584
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BELIZE IN LORD ASHCROFT ROW AGAIN
LONDON. The UK Labour government continues to pressure BELIZE to abolish tax breaks for offshore investors. Highly unlikely!
LINK: http://politics.guardian.co.uk/conservatives/story/0,9061,527034,00.html
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BARCLAYS CARIBBEAN MERGER
KINGSTON, Jamaica. CIBC West Indies Holdings, subsidiary of Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, and Barclays UK merge to create 1st Caribbean International Bank with $10bn in assets.
LINK: http://news.ft.com/ft/gx.cgi/ftc?pagename=View&c=Article&cid=FT34VM7XIPC&liv
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CHINA DOMINATES HK's STOCK MARKET
HONG KONG. The blue chip Hang Seng Index is growing very Red.
LINK: Click Here.
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PACIFIC HAVENS DEFY O.E.C.D. DEADLINE
Led by the Cook Islands, Pacific tax havens wont be pushed around by artificial OECD deadlines and demands for commitments.
LINK: http://www.tax-news.com/asp/story/story.asp?storyname=4646
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* WEALTH *
BERMUDA BONANZA
HAMILTON, Bermuda. After tightening up financial and money laundering laws, this British overseas territory is cashing in on its traditional corporate tax free status. Accenture (aka Anderson) Consulting leads the US offshore parade to this mid-Atlantic tax haven.
LINKS: Click Here and (scroll down) http://www.accountingweb.com/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=53449
And it looks like the US Congress wont plug the "Bermuda insurance loophole" used by many US insurers to escape US taxes.
LINK: http://www.tax-news.com/asp/story/story.asp?storyname=4645
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AUSTRALIAN-US TAX TREATY COSTS BIG
Under a double tax treaty with the US, Australian businesses operating in the US are hit with a 15% US withholding tax on repatriated profits. Solution? Move to the NETHERLANDS, so James Hardie Industries' taxes are cut 30%, raising profits by AU$30 million (US$15.3 million).
LINKS: http://www.tax-news.com/asp/story/story.asp?storyname=4640 and Click Here.
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W.T.O. HITS US F.S.C. RULES
The WTO rules US foreign sales corporation tax breaks are illegal subsidies that must end, a victory for EU complainers.
LINK: http://www.tax-news.com/asp/story/story.asp?storyname=4620
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AMERICAN ESTATE PLANNERS FRENZY
Bush's supposed estate tax repeal really is only a one year repeal.
LINK: http://www.tax-news.com/asp/story/story.asp?storyname=4617
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MAJOR THAI STOCK FRAUD BUST
BANGKOK. Police arrest 30 Brits in connection with a major global stock selling scam worth £100 million.
LINK: Click Here.
And the US IRS has a new web site designed to alert taxpayers and tax practitioners to tax scams and fraud schemes.
News LINK: http://accounting.smartpros.com/x30469.xml
IRS fraud web site: http://www.treas.gov/irs/ci
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IF YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND THE EURO...
A Perth newspaper, The Western Australian, provides one of the best and most comprehensive explanations of the euro's advent and what it means financially and otherwise. Interesting read at,
LINK: http://www.thewest.com.au/20010725/business/tw-business-home-sto17309.html
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PANAMA TAX SHELTERS
Want to know more about PANAMA's friendly attitude towards offshore investors and one shelter, forestry, in particular? Click here,
LINK: Click Here.
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GOLD PRICES LEFT IN THE DUST
South African platinum & palladium prices are leaving gold behind.
LINK: Click Here.
***********************ADVERTISEMENT***********************
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Please click here LINK: http://www.taipanonline.com/0719new/
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* ANTI-MONEY LAUNDERING *
GOVERNMENT SPIES ON YOUR CASH
Short, succinct and to the point; a devastating indictment of the US-FATF money laundering attack on your financial privacy.
LINK: Click Here.
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BUSH REVIEW OF ANTI-M.L. LAWS
American banks applaud as the US Treasury reviews inane and costly cash reporting laws with hope of reasserting financial privacy.
LINK: Click Here.
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EURO CONVERSION MAY CLEAN DIRTY CASH
Organized crime could reap huge illegal rewards during the confusion of the E664bn (US$578bn) change over on January 1st.
LINK: Click Here.
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SWISS STEP UP DIRTY MONEY FIGHT
ZURICH. The Swiss parliament may create a new central anti-money laundering unit to quell criticism of a lax dirty cash policy.
LINK: http://www.tax-news.com/asp/story/story.asp?storyname=4637
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PHILIPPINES EXPAND MONEY CLEANING RULES
MANILA. Anxious to get off the FATF blacklist, the Philippines SEC brings stock brokers under anti-ML laws.
LINK: http://www.inquirer.net/bus/2001/jul/25/bus_2-1.htm
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THE SOVEREIGN SOCIETY OFFSHORE A-LETTER. E-mail to: info@sovereignsociety.com. * SUBSCRIBE FREE or send to a friend at LINK: http://www.sovereignsociety.com
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THE SOVEREIGN SOCIETY Ltd., 5 Catherine St., Waterford, Ireland. TEL: 353-51 844 068 FAX: 353-51 304 561. Copyright (C) 2001. All domestic & international rights reserved.
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