Biggest leak in history of data journalism just went live, about corruption. Edward Snowden Twitter

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US corporations have $1.4tn hidden in tax havens, claims Oxfam report (theguardian.com)

US corporations have $1.4tn hidden in tax havens, claims Oxfam report
Charity analysis of the 50 biggest US businesses claims Apple have $181bn held offshore, while General Electric has $119bn and Microsoft $108bn



The report singled out British overseas territories such as Bermuda for their popularity with US firms seeking to slash their tax bill by ‘profit-shifting’.
14 April 2016 00.01

US corporate giants such as Apple, Walmart and General Electric have stashed $1.4tn (£980bn) in tax havens, despite receiving trillions of dollars in taxpayer support, according to a report by anti-poverty charity Oxfam.

Tax havens don’t need to be reformed. They should be outlawed | Richard Brooks

The sum, larger than the economic output of Russia, South Korea and Spain, is held in an “opaque and secretive network” of 1,608 subsidiaries based offshore, said Oxfam.

The charity’s analysis of the financial affairs of the 50 biggest US corporations comes amid intense scrutiny of tax havens following the leak of the Panama Papers.

And the charity said its report, entitled Broken at the Top was a further illustration of “massive systematic abuse” of the global tax system.

Technology giant Apple, the world’s second biggest company, topped Oxfam’s league table, with some $181bn held offshore in three subsidiaries.

Boston-based conglomerate General Electric, which Oxfam said has received $28bn in taxpayer backing, was second with $119bn stored in 118 tax haven subsidiaries.

Computing firm Microsoft was third with $108bn, in a top 10 that also included pharmaceuticals giant Pfizer, Google’s parent company Alphabet and Exxon Mobil, the largest oil company not owned by an oil-producing state.

In defence of ‘tax havens’: offshore banking is not the same as dodgy dealing | Nigel Green

Oxfam contrasted the $1.4tn held offshore with the $1tn paid in tax by the top 50 US firms between 2008 and 2014.

It pointed out that the companies had also enjoyed a combined $11.2tn in federal loans,

 

[Glocktogo]

US corporations have $1.4tn hidden in tax havens, claims Oxfam report (theguardian.com)

US corporations have $1.4tn hidden in tax havens, claims Oxfam report
Charity analysis of the 50 biggest US businesses claims Apple have $181bn held offshore, while General Electric has $119bn and Microsoft $108bn



The report singled out British overseas territories such as Bermuda for their popularity with US firms seeking to slash their tax bill by ‘profit-shifting’.
14 April 2016 00.01

US corporate giants such as Apple, Walmart and General Electric have stashed $1.4tn (£980bn) in tax havens, despite receiving trillions of dollars in taxpayer support, according to a report by anti-poverty charity Oxfam.

Tax havens don’t need to be reformed. They should be outlawed | Richard Brooks

The sum, larger than the economic output of Russia, South Korea and Spain, is held in an “opaque and secretive network” of 1,608 subsidiaries based offshore, said Oxfam.

The charity’s analysis of the financial affairs of the 50 biggest US corporations comes amid intense scrutiny of tax havens following the leak of the Panama Papers.

And the charity said its report, entitled Broken at the Top was a further illustration of “massive systematic abuse” of the global tax system.

Technology giant Apple, the world’s second biggest company, topped Oxfam’s league table, with some $181bn held offshore in three subsidiaries.

Boston-based conglomerate General Electric, which Oxfam said has received $28bn in taxpayer backing, was second with $119bn stored in 118 tax haven subsidiaries.

Computing firm Microsoft was third with $108bn, in a top 10 that also included pharmaceuticals giant Pfizer, Google’s parent company Alphabet and Exxon Mobil, the largest oil company not owned by an oil-producing state.

In defence of ‘tax havens’: offshore banking is not the same as dodgy dealing | Nigel Green

Oxfam contrasted the $1.4tn held offshore with the $1tn paid in tax by the top 50 US firms between 2008 and 2014.

It pointed out that the companies had also enjoyed a combined $11.2tn in federal loans,

Direct from the Oxfam home page:

Corporations are hiding their profits in offshore tax havens, costing the world’s poorest countries $100 billion every year. This costs you, too.

They never explain how offshoring costs the poorest countries $100B. For example, the 25 smallest economies in the world have a combined annual GDP of less than $20B. It takes the bottom 42 to equal $100B, and that includes countries like Leichtenstein and Monaco.

If you take the poorest countries based on purchasing power parity (ppp), the bottom 11 countries have a combined GDP of $101B. Take out the anomaly (#2 Democratic Republic of Congo at $39B) and exclude #15 Ethiopia ($61.5B) and you cover the entire GDP of 17 (out of 19) of the poorest countries with $98B.

Is Oxfam saying big business is stealing the entire GDP of the poorest countries listed? Pointedly, who's business? Apple? General Electric? Walmart? Microsoft? How have they shorted these countries?

Let's examine one of the most plundered countries in the world, the aforementioned Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). It's the 2nd largest country in Africa, home to 79 million people and rich in natural resources. Yet they make the 2nd lowest per capita income in the world at $729 per year. Why?

Originally colonized by King Leopold of Belgium, indigenous slavers sold people to developing nations while Leopold plundered the resources for himself. Belgium itself ran the DRC from 1908-1960, when the locals established independence. That only lasted 5 years before Belgium and the US ran a coup, because communism. Of course the titular figurehead (Mobutu) was as corrupt as the day is long. He was kept in play until the Cold War petered out and he'd outlived his usefulness. As usual, nature abhors a vacuum and they've been in civil war mode ever since. China is currently the majority recipient of the DRC plunder.

So who should pay? And in a nation of strongmen and institutionalized corruption, who should they pay? Once paid, will it do anything beyond padding the coffers of the local warlords? That's the problem with pie in the sky humanitarian organizations like Oxfam. They only see the poverty and assume we're to blame because we're not poor.

The success of a country relies on several things. Natural resources (luck) play a significant role, but far more important is culture. Culture is driven by need and desire. You need to survive but you want to thrive. Some cultures manage this better than others. Nowhere is this on display more than the difference between Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Outside investment requires stability and drive. If you don't have it, they won't come. You can't just sit on your ass with your hand out and ever expect to thrive. Not only that, you can't even hold your head up with the knowledge you can even survive without a handout.

 

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IRS Urges Americans: Come Clean Now, Before We Read Panama Papers

U.S. officials revealed to NBC News that they have taken part in two global meetings about the Panama Papers to plan how to use the huge trove of leaked documents to catch criminals — and urged Americans to come clean now before illegal activity is discovered.

Last week's discussions in Paris and Washington between IRS and Treasury officials and their counterparts from around the world are the first evidence of U.S. involvement in the growing international coalition eager to analyze and use the data about more than 214,000 offshore companies listed by Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca.

some of the world leaders that have accounts in Panama papers.

IRS Urges Americans: Come Clean Now, Before We Read Panama Papers

 

[Glocktogo]

IRS Urges Americans: Come Clean Now, Before We Read Panama Papers

U.S. officials revealed to NBC News that they have taken part in two global meetings about the Panama Papers to plan how to use the huge trove of leaked documents to catch criminals — and urged Americans to come clean now before illegal activity is discovered.

Last week's discussions in Paris and Washington between IRS and Treasury officials and their counterparts from around the world are the first evidence of U.S. involvement in the growing international coalition eager to analyze and use the data about more than 214,000 offshore companies listed by Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca.

some of the world leaders that have accounts in Panama papers.

IRS Urges Americans: Come Clean Now, Before We Read Panama Papers

I still don't see the usefulness here? Perhaps you can explain it?

 

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Mossack Fonseca has already stated they took very few American clients. so IRS could be blowing smoke, but don't think so.
imagine all the damage if say IRS and/or an ex-wife finds a butt-load of hidden assets ...

there's some 214,000 offshore companies listed by Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca. that's a LOT of digging ..

 

[Glocktogo]

Mossack Fonseca has already stated they took very few American clients. so IRS could be blowing smoke, but don't think so.
imagine all the damage if say IRS and/or an ex-wife finds a butt-load of hidden assets ...

there's some 214,000 offshore companies listed by Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca. that's a LOT of digging ..

Wanna bet they can sift through those 214,000 company's accounts quicker than they can "find" Lois Lerner's "lost" mails?

 

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We are the investigative journalists who worked on the Panama Papers AMA!

submitted 2 hours ago * by SZ_investigativx2

Hello Reddit,
over a year ago, an anonymous source contacted the Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) and submitted encrypted internal documents from Mossack Fonseca, a Panamanian law firm that sells anonymous offshore companies around the world.

Ultimately, SZ acquired about 2.6 terabytes of data, making the leak the biggest that journalists had ever worked with. The source wanted neither financial compensation nor anything else in return, apart from a few security measures. The Süddeutsche Zeitung decided to analyze the data in cooperation with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). In the past 12 months, around 400 journalists from more than 100 media organizations in over 80 countries have taken part in researching the documents.

We are three of them, and very happy to finally be able to talk about the work we did in the last year!

For further information on the Panama Papers: Panama Papers - All articles by Süddeutsche Zeitung

Answering your questions today:

• Frederik Obermaier, Investigative Reporter, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Twitter: @f_obermaier
• Bastian Obermayer, Investigative Reporter, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Twitter: @b_obermayer
• Vanessa Wormer, Data Journalist, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Twitter: @Remrow

Proof: SZ Investigativ on Twitter

If you have information for us, please contact us at investigativ[at]sz.de or via our PGP Key: Public Key Server -- Get "0xe98f78d8cc45d096 "

One small favor before we start: Due to legal matters and in order to protect our source, we might not be able to answer all of your questions. But we’ll try our best to give you a look behind the scenes and tell you how we worked on the Panama Papers.

 

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orangejulius 2067 points 13 hours ago

Is there any information in there about Americans that would alter the course of the Presidential election? And if so—what is it/ who is it?

• permalink
• SZ_investigativ[S] 2338 points 13 hours ago
  
  that would alter the course of the Presidential election?
  
  As far as we know - no. But: we are still digging.
• We are the investigative journalists who worked on the Panama Papers AMA! • /r/IAmA

 

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Unlocking Mossack Fonseca
The key’s in Sin City
Thinking of investigating a firm mentioned in the Panama papers? Read on
Apr 16th 2016 http://www.economist.com/printedition/2016-04-16

WITH numerous governments already announcing probes into the “Panama papers” and others preparing to do so, Mossack Fonseca, the law firm from which the hoard of documents about offshore companies was leaked, will be receiving lots of inquiries in the coming months. Until now, getting information on clients of law firms in Panama has been about as common as ice-skating on the Canal. But sleuths may soon find it a lot easier, thanks to a court ruling in, of all places, Las Vegas.

http://www.economist.com/news/finan...gating-firm-mentioned-panama-papers-read-keys

 

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another large database compromise ... https://it.slashdot.org/story/16/04...onfig-error-exposed-93m-mexican-voter-records
https://it.slashdot.org/story/16/04...onfig-error-exposed-93m-mexican-voter-records
MongoDB Config Error Exposed 93M Mexican Voter Records (csoonline.com) 62
April 22, 2016

A 132 GB database, containing the personal information on 93.4 million Mexican voters has finally been taken offline. The database sat exposed to the public for at least eight days after its discovery by researcher Chris Vickery, but originally went public in September 2015. Vickery, who works as a security researcher at Kromtech, discovered the MongoDB instance on April 14, but had difficulty tracking down the person or company responsible for placing the voter data on Amazon's AWS. He first reached out to the U.S. State Department, as well as the Mexican Embassy, but had little success. The database contains all of the information that Mexican citizens need for their government-issued photo IDs that enable them to vote. Along with their municipality, and district information, the database records include the voter's name, address, voter ID number, date of birth, the names of their parents, occupation, and more. [...] Given that the database has been online since September 2015, it isn't clear how many people have accessed the records. Additionally, the actual owner of the account hosting the data remains unknown.