Tax havens: Super-rich 'hiding' at least $21tn

[VonMatterhorn]

LOL... It always amazes me how stupid people are. We love to fight to have less taxes, less government. In reality, 99% of people will never be able to take advantage of these benefits. How many of these ultra rich people do you think are posting on RFD?

We will never be as rich as these ppl so why do we defend them? People who have enough money to be able to hide money in other countries are rich, not middle class.

We need to go after these people! Even if you think the government is abusing your money do you think that the ultra rich hiding their money will help the rest of us? NO... Do you think the average middle class person has enough time/money to make it worth it to hide their money? No... only the rich do.

What benefits?

Just saying you can't blame people (rich or poor) for trying to avoid taxes when they don't see it being spent well. I don't know about you but I certainly don't like to throw money in a bottomless pit.

[Syne]

You're telling me if you had money you wouldn't try to keep as much of it as possible through any legal loophole available to you?

After I reached an amount of money where I couldn't possibly spend it in my lifetime, the whole idea of hoarding even more money in tax havens would strike me as somewhat unimportant.

[Syne]

IDRC if the rich are hiding their money. It's still not going to help having bad decisions made by our government.

It's also not going to cure cancer.. Wait, why are we making false equivalencies again?

[uber_shnitz]

After I reached an amount of money where I couldn't possibly spend it in my lifetime, the whole idea of hoarding even more money in tax havens would strike me as somewhat unimportant.

Well who dictates you can't? There's ridiculously expensive things out there and some people will buy them simply because they can (otherwise they wouldn't exist).

I'd blame the loophole laws that allow tax havens to be abused more than the people actually just playing the system.

[Syne]

Right, and everyone (including Buffet and Gates) is pretty much saying, 'fix the loopholes'. It's just not happening for whatever reason.

[Heero01]

What benefits?

Just saying you can't blame people (rich or poor) for trying to avoid taxes when they don't see it being spent well. I don't know about you but I certainly don't like to throw money in a bottomless pit.

LOL... you think that a person worth a couple million dollars, hiding their tax money will help you in ANY way?

Think of it this way: (lets assume we have a trash government)

1. We pay taxes (X) because we are not rich enough to hide our money
2. Rich person (who contributes alot to taxes) hides money (Y) because they feel it is being insufficient
3. Government now has only (X) to spend (efficently or not) rather then (X +Y).

You see what I mean now? you are claiming that people should be allowed to hide their money should they desire, when in reality 99% of us posting on this forum will NEVER BE RICH ENOUGH FOR IT TO BE WORTH IT... So essentially you are giving rich people permission to hurt the rest of us collectivly...

Sorry for my horrid explanation... Cant really explain it any better then that.

[Hitman21]

Of course not. People have the right to change the government if the current one is abusing money

Just remember that hiding the money offshore is perfectly LEGAL, there not breaking the law. There are probably people on rfd hiding money, where is the outrage toward them?

[dealstime]

It will slowly trickle down.Cannot understand this obsession with people hoarding money they never make use of.

[OMV]

Just remember that hiding the money offshore is perfectly LEGAL, there not breaking the law.

Hiding money offshore is not legal in Canada. You're supposed to declare foreign assets above $100k to the CRA in your tax return.

[Hitman21]

Hiding money offshore is not legal in Canada. You're supposed to declare foreign assets above $100k to the CRA in your tax return.

It should be legal though

[UrbanPoet]

I always thought super rich people found 100% legit/legal ways to do this.

[king_george]

I always thought super rich people found 100% legit/legal ways to do this.

A lot of posters can't distinguish between tax evasion and avoidance. They think that offshore holdings are evasion and therefore illegal.

I'd like to know if someone was going to go after someone, exactly what could be done since what they're doing is legal.