So the Indians are pissed about all the funds shuffled away into Swiss banks. I used to really enjoy that the Swiss banks offered privacy and anonymity in a world where there isn’t much left. But I’m having trouble with that. Criminality, such as money laundering and storing money for Jihadist groups, is starting to loosen those rules.
There’s a bigger problem. Taxes. Now, I’m not a huge fan of taxes. My local roads suck. I would pretty okay with paying a few dollars to get those fixed. I would pay that and I’d probably get annoyed when the road crews blocked up the roads fixing the roads. But after that, I would be pleased. Unfortunately, those aren’t the taxes I’m talking about.
I’m talking about rich people and corporations hiding funds offshore so they don’t have to pay taxes on them. In spirit, it doesn’t bother me. In practical terms, I can’t help thinking how much better our country would be if that wasn’t happening. We could make up every budget shortfall. We could have true universal higher education, or even universal health care. We could everything! Universally!
But that’s not happening. Offshore accounts aren’t the only problem. You’d be shocked and a little sick on what people can do with an LLC. So basically you just start this little entity known as an LLC, put your money in, and buy up properties so you don’t have to pay taxes on the money. You don’t have to declare that money for (I believe) it’s 90 days, in which you can shift the money around and into a different property, etc and so on, so you never end up paying taxes on your money. And that’s just a tiny tip of it. Also if you get divorced, if you hide your money in an LLC then you don’t have to share it with your spouse! What a great way for rich people to screw over EVERYBODY.
So here we are. Rich people protecting their money from taxation simply because they can, while everybody else gets to shoulder the tax burden. When they talk about closing loopholes, it’s that sort of thing. It’s all very legal and it shouldn’t be.
Destroyer of Exoplanets 