Offshore Banking and Tax Havens Have Become Heart of Global Economy

[Jefferson23]

From Democracy Now:

snip* AMY GOODMAN: Our first guest today is the British journalist Nicholas Shaxson, author of the new book Treasure Islands: Uncovering the Damage of Offshore Banking and Tax Havens. In the book Shaxson writes, quote, "The offshore system is the secret underpinning for the political and financial power of Wall Street today. It is the fortified refuge of Big Finance." Nicholas Shaxson joins us from Washington, D.C.

AMY GOODMAN: It’s good to have you with us. OK, explain what these "Treasure Islands" are.

NICHOLAS SHAXSON: Well, my book is about tax havens, and one of the big themes of my books is—one of the big things in my book is that tax havens are much, much bigger and much more important than almost anybody realizes. Most people think of tax havens as just a bunch of shady places, perhaps out in the Caribbean, Switzerland, a couple of other places, where a few celebrity tax dodgers maybe and some mafiosi and some criminals go and put their money. And they see it as a kind of exotic sideshow to the global economy.

One of the central messages of my book—and I explore the history of this in quite a lot of detail—is that tax havens have grown so fast in the era of globalization, since kind of the 1970s, that they have now become right—they are now right at the heart of the global economy and are absolutely huge. I mean, there are 10—anywhere between 10 and 20 trillion U.S. dollars sitting offshore at the moment. Half of world trade is processed in one way or another through tax havens. It’s all around us, and it’s absolutely huge.

Part of that—part of that message is that the biggest tax havens in the world are not so much these little islands, but big, rich countries. The United Kingdom, my country, is one of the world’s most important tax havens. And right now in Washington, D.C., I’m sitting in one of the world’s biggest tax havens, as well: the United States. So, this is something we need to really reappraise, the whole geography of the system, and understand how important it is. And when we’re hearing figures of $100-plus billion lost to the U.S. taxpayers, I would argue that is just one aspect of the problem. The problem is much, much bigger. There are many, many other aspects to consider here.

JUAN GONZALEZ: Well, when you say that United Kingdom itself is a tax haven, what do you mean? And how did that develop?

in full: http://www.democracynow.org/2011/4/15/offshore_banking_and_tax_havens_have

[aquart]

1. Switzerland's okay, but how many of the islands will survive?

Gonna be some very wet havens.

[Jefferson23]

2. Disturbing the amount of money he is talking about here. n/t