Vocal Voices

So far the one certain crime, in the so-called Panama Papers scandal, is the theft and distribution of a Panamanian law firm’s private property, its confidential documents.

With the U.S. government railing this week against the Pfizer -Allergan deal, even the media might notice that the world’s convoluted tax codes actually incentivize people legally to hold certain assets offshore, in the U.S. case $2 trillion in U.S. corporate profits. Yet David Geffen, a Pritzker heiress (and relation of President Obama’s secretary of commerce), British Prime Minister David Cameron’s late father, and Iceland’s now-ex PM are all being treated as criminals on no evidence.

Then the next cracker

All governments devote primary attention to extracting resources from their subjects, not always in a manner consistent with the spirit of law and due process. The Obama administration has engaged in statistical sleight-of-hand to create a false impression of racial discrimination by auto lenders for the purpose of extracting cash settlements. The DuPage County sheriff’s office created an illegal cigarette-trading sting but never filed criminal charges and ended up pocketing $400,000 in illicit profits. Numerous U.S. police agencies have exploited “asset forfeiture” laws to take money from citizens against whom no crime has been proved or even alleged. The IRS code is incomprehensible and impossible legally to comply with, which means audits can be largely arbitrary extraction events. The Boston lawyer Harvey Silverglate, in his book “Three Felonies a Day,” shows that every American is a criminal waiting for the federal government to determine if he or she should be prosecuted or shaken down.

And yet America’s is rightly considered one of the more transparent and law-abiding governments.

Think it's only the US? The UK introduced S660A and then re-opened company accounts and went after back taxes for years on accounts which they had previously accepted. Tens of thousands paid, but it drove the creation of the PCG (professional contractors group), who banded together to fight the tax man. The tax man Lost Every Single Case the PCG fought but each individual did not have the ability to fight it. Finally the Law Lords killed the interpretation in 2007 and the government decided to find another way to shaft the 450,000 contractors in the UK.

Notably the Conservative government has shelved this new (shafting), legislation, for the foreseeable future.

Or the customs "deciding" that legally bought and duty paid goods in the EU were "contraband" and stealing peoples goods and vehicles. Only to lose the case in court and have to pay compensation. Which never really covers the cost of the loss.

Most people who just work and pay their taxes never fall into these issues. Then again, most people don't actually pay the income tax burden of the country. It is one of the reasons I have taken the position I have re: Cameron and the press over the Panama issue.

Strange, isn't it?

The Panama papers are a 'bad' theft of information because they cover the sensitive commercial procedures of private companies'.

The Snowden and Wkileaks 'papers', however, are 'good' because thy are against the procedures used by government agencies.

Talk about double standards.

Actually they didn't say "bad" they said that the only illegal act, so far, to come out o0f the leak was the actual theft of the documents themselves.

Snowden is a different point. What Snowden revealed was both illegal and damaging activities by the US and the UK against their allies, their people and their enemies.

In the first case, the majority of the activities revealed are either legal under international our country laws, or a detailed study of the documents needs to be done in order to determine if any illegal activity has occurred.

In the second case the documents themselves are evidence of illegal activity which is far, far, worse than a few billion, or even trillion, in offshore holding.

Theft is theft.

What those 'thefts' disclose is neither here nor there: they are thefts.

What Cameron has done is not illegal, we all know that, but we also know that he and his family have played the avoidance game to their advantage at a time when he was railing against such manoeuvres.

He cannot have it both ways ... unless the Establishment closes ranks, as they are doing.

I still don't see the avoidance game.

He paid tax on the dividend paid by his offshore investment vehicle.

When he chose to sell the shares he and Sam split the benefit (£20k) and gained on the CGT exemption. Just as people choose to split their tax affairs to avoid paying tax. Perhaps that should be banned too??

I reiterate. When he took dividend on the International fund set up by his father, he PAID the tax on it. He did not try to hide it or use the international location to avoid or evade taxes.

The hair being split here is so fine you need an electron microscope to see it, but the mountain being built over it is made of sand and is, eventually, like all sand mountains, going to collapse.