 |
07.31.01. Nauseating Media. A-Letter.
THE SOVEREIGN SOCIETY OFFSHORE A-LETTER
Your Link to Freedom, Prosperity & Privacy in the Offshore World
Tuesday, July 31, 2001 - Vol. 3 No. 60
In This Issue:
* COMMENT: Fascinating But Nauseating
* OFFSHORE: Caymans Income Tax? Ansbacher Bank Scandal Grows. Oxfam's Bogus Attack. O'Neill Missed His Chance. Israeli Taxes Offshore. Gibraltar Feud Goes On.
* WEALTH: Tax Shelter Dead. Never Pay Cash for US Travel. Rich Brits Avoid Tax. Kazakhstan Kash. Thai Scam Arrests.
* PRIVACY: US Laws Kill Bank Privacy. Inside NSA. FBI Cyber Snoops. Big Brother's Roving Eyes. Snooping Down Under. Kill the Lawyers?
COMMENT: Fascinating But Nauseating
by Bob Bauman, Editor
I have been interviewed often about offshore issues by print and broadcast media journalists. The Wall Street Journal has published my opinion columns on several occasions over the years and I've had good relations with their reporters and editors.
So a few weeks ago when reporter David Cloud was recommended to me by one of his WSJ colleagues, I welcomed his phone interview and an e-mail inquiry, going out of my way to provide him with information. I made clear to him that the Sovereign Society does not condone tax evasion and explains in detail IRS ofshore reporting requirements.
For my pains here's what I got in an article yesterday, July 30: "'The heat on offshore tax havens seems to be cooling,' says Robert Bauman, a former GOP congressman from Maryland who writes a newsletter promoting offshore tax schemes." Article
LINK: http://www.msnbc.com/news/606866.asp?cp1=1
Having read this little blurb, Jack PUGSLEY, chairman of the Sovereign Society, commented: "Fascinating but a bit nauseating. Isn't it interesting how just by the choice of a single word ("schemes") a writer can pretend to be simply reporting the facts but yet cast his subject in an unsavory light."
-----
We don't need more proof that free market competition is the best economic stimulus, but here's a current example. While the OECD wants to end all "harmful tax competition," ZAMBIA's government is considering tax free zones in a last ditch effort to stop the flight of international manufacturing firms relocating to other countries in the region with more competitive investment policies.
LINK: http://allafrica.com/stories/200107300022.html
In AUSTRALIA the chairman of one of the largest companies warned Friday there would be capital flight out of the country if any government moves to increase corporate taxes.
LINK: Click Here.
And in NIZHNY NOVGOROD, top Bush administration officials urged RUSSIAN leaders to enact significant tax and legal reforms in a few political regions to demonstrate how the entire country might attract private foreign investment.
LINK (subscribers only): Click Here.
One wonders if even the OECD high tax crowd ever truly believed their phony attacks on tax havens. Probably not. But WSJ reporter Cloud did get it right when he wrote that "the tax haven issue [is] one of the clearest of many examples throughout the government where a change in White House control can mean real change in policy."
============================================================
* OFFSHORE *
CAYMAN ISLANDS INCOME TAX?
GEORGE TOWN, C.I. A growing government deficit produces talk about levying a possible income tax in this heretofore tax free haven. Will foreign investors be taxed?
LINK: http://www.tax-news.com/asp/story/story.asp?storyname=4666
The Ansbacher Caymans Bank scandal expands with new charges of massive offshore tax evasion by IRISH citizens hiding millions more in bogus offshore accounts.
LINK (slow loading): Click Here .
LINK: http://www.tax-news.com/asp/story/story.asp?storyname=4698
-----
OXFAM'S BOGUS OFFSHORE STUDY
With perfect OECD timing last year, the liberal UK think tank charged that tax havens deprive developing nations of $50 billion annually in tax revenue. The Oxfam lie is now exposed.
LINKS: NEWS - http://www.tax-news.com/asp/story/story.asp?storyname=4705 and http://www.freedomandprosperity.org/press/p07-27-01/p07-27-01.shtml
TEXT - http://www.freedomandprosperity.org/Papers/oxfam/oxfam.shtml
-----
O'NEILL MISSED HIS CHANCE
The Treasury Sec. could have told all the truth; Sen. Levin and the OECD bureaucrats want to round up the runaway tax slaves and send them back to their masters. A scorching assessment.
LINK: http://www.townhall.com/columnists/paulcraigroberts/pcr20010725.shtml
Here's the official Treasury version of O'NEILL's words.
LINK: Click Here.
-----
ISRAELI TAX COLLECTORS GO OFFSHORE
The Income Tax Authority bills millions in back taxes to offshore businessmen alleged to have evaded taxes.
LINK: Click Here.
-----
GIBRALTAR HAGGLE GOES ON
300 years after SPAIN lost The Rock to BRITAIN, the feud goes on about who should rule this leading tax haven.
LINK: http://www.tax-news.com/asp/story/story.asp?storyname=4684
***********************ADVERTISEMENT***********************
24 Hours a Day, 7 Days a Week, While You Sleep...They're After Your Money! Scam artists are reaching new levels of achievement with high-tech computer technology that lets them reach around the globe into anyone's bank, brokerage or credit card account. Regardless of security precautions, they've can pry open your personal accounts and steal your money anonymously. Identity theft is on the rise, so there's even more reason you must protect yourself. The place to start is with knowledge. That's why we've complied this report. You simply can't afford to do without it!
Click here.
============================================================
* WEALTH *
U.S. OFFSHORE TAX SHELTER VETOED
WASHINGTON. An offshore tax shelter used by wealthy Americans and corporations to avoid capital gains taxes by using foreign investment rules is shut down by the US Treasury.
LINKS: http://www.tax-news.com/asp/story/story.asp?storyname=4681
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/27/business/markets/27TAX.html
-----
NEVER PAY CASH FOR U.S. TRAVEL
A chilling account of how US airline and Amtrak train employees get DEA forfeiture awards by accusing travelers who pay with cash. Read this and act accordingly.
LINK: http://www.atlanta.creativeloafing.com/2001-07-18/news_feature.html
------
RICH BRITS OUTSMART U.K. TAXES
LONDON. The British are growing wealthier, but also smarter when it comes to avoiding taxes.
LINK: http://www.tax-news.com/asp/story/story.asp?storyname=4679
The UK Financial Services Authority broadens its anti-money laundering actions to cover many more businesses.
LINK: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,3604,529365,00.html
-----
KAZAKHSTAN KASH KONTROVERSY
A campaign to lure capital back to Kazakhstan with an amnesty for untaxed profits in foreign accounts raises complaints the government is helping to launder dirty money.
LINK: Click Here.
-----
THAI STOCK SCANDAL EXPANDS
34 Brits, 10 Americans, 10 Australians & 10 Irish, arrested as Thai authorities smashed a phony stock broker scheme aimed at investors in Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong & South Africa.
LINKS: Click Here and (slow) here.
***********************ADVERTISEMENT***********************
Discover Vitamin Cures that work in as little as 30 seconds! Now you can learn about them directly from the doctor who developed them and: * Drop cholesterol up to 134 points * Make years of arthritis pain and swelling vanish * Restore lost vision * Reverse "incurable" memory loss * Cure and prevent deadly sex organ cancer This maverick doctor even took on the FDA just to bring these cures to his patients. Learn first hand about his breakthroughs for prostate disease, asthma, migraines and more.
CLICK here.
============================================================
* PRIVACY *
KILL ALL THE LAWYERS?
The American Bar Association is considering loosening the strict rules that protect lawyer-client confidentiality, placing possible limits on secrets lawyers must keep on behalf of their clients.
LINK: http://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/31/national/31LEGA.html
-----
DRUG WAR KILLS BANKING PRIVACY
The US Congress has made every American bank account holder a criminal suspect. It's time for this madness to stop.
LINK: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01.n1383.a02.html
-----
INSIDE THE N.S.A.
A lengthy, inside look at the US National Security Agency, home of the infamous Echelon electronic spy network.
LINK: Click Here.
-----
FBI CYBER SPYING ATTACKED
The son of a jailed Mafia crime boss was the target of an FBI operation that allowed it to record every keystroke he made on his computer.
LINK: Click Here.
-----
BIG BROTHER'S EYES
Surveillance cameras are more powerful and ubiquitous. Increasingly we're all being monitored remotely by police.
LINK: http://www.deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,295013679,00.html
-----
SNOOPING DOWN UNDER:
* NEW ZEALAND: Police here may get new power to intercept all electronic messages, including e-mail.
LINK: http://www.wired.com/news/privacy/0,1848,45501,00.html
* SOUTH AFRICA: Free speech organizations appeal to the public to rally against a similar police law here.
LINK: Click Here.
============================================================
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
============================================================
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.
|
|
