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G-20 eyes database to fight tax evasion
Nikkei ^ | feb 8 2014 | Nikkei

Posted on 02/08/2014 1:36:29 AM PST by Vince Ferrer

TOKYO -- The world's leading economies will try to outfox tax dodgers by pooling information on offshore bank accounts.

Later this month in Australia, finance ministers and central bank chiefs from the Group of 20 are expected to agree on such an arrangement, which officials aim to have in place by the end of next year.

The proposal would create a common set of rules for sharing information on bank accounts held by nonresidents in Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries.

Financial institutions would input such data regularly into an online network accessible to tax authorities, which would gain instant access to account holders' names, account balances, transactions, and more.

The difficulty of tracking down the people behind offshore accounts has hampered efforts to combat tax evasion. Existing bilateral tax agreements have netted a number of hidden troves, including, in 2011, some 2.5 billion yen (around $30 million) in assets in a Swiss bank, part of the estate of a top Japanese executive of one of Europe's premier fashion houses. But with information normally passed between authorities on CD-ROMs, sometimes only once every two years, the hunt has been slow.

Until now, if Mrs. Watanabe had $1 million stashed in a U.S. bank account, Japanese authorities would have been hard-pressed to find it until the fictional housewife made a transfer. With the new system, they would be able to see an up-to-date account balance at the first sign of wrongdoing.

China and other emerging-market G-20 members are expected to take part in this arrangement. So is the U.K., which would likely bring the Cayman Islands and other overseas territories notorious as tax havens within the scope of the information sharing.

But the new rules would impose an extra reporting burden on financial institutions. Moreover, some countries may resist revealing every detail of nonresidents' bank accounts. How well such a system would work would depend partly on how many countries took part.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Japan; News/Current Events; United Kingdom
KEYWORDS: australia; china; europeanunion; g20; japan; switzerland; unitedkingdom
The surveillence state being built is not about terrorism, it is about money. The NSA already monitors all electronic money transactions. Build this database, and have an electronic only currency, and the outdated concept of private property dissappears. From then on what is in your electronic bank account will be "yours" only in the sense that on most days, the government will allow you access to it. On special occasions, though, they will take what they need.
1 posted on 02/08/2014 1:36:29 AM PST by Vince Ferrer
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To: Vince Ferrer

so.. groups of people getting together in order to plan ways of getting other peoples money. that about sum it up?


2 posted on 02/08/2014 1:41:17 AM PST by sten (fighting tyranny never goes out of style)
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To: sten

If countries start collaborating to confiscate money, then there is no “outside” anyone can flee to. They are the property of their country.


3 posted on 02/08/2014 1:43:11 AM PST by Vince Ferrer
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To: Vince Ferrer

facepalm is all I got


4 posted on 02/08/2014 2:03:13 AM PST by SpaceBar
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To: Vince Ferrer

That’s when people start to trade good and services underneath the table.


5 posted on 02/08/2014 3:03:20 AM PST by Jonty30 (What Islam and secularism have in common is that they are both death cults)
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To: Vince Ferrer
We are rapidly heading to a global tax, a global government, and a global electronic currency. The next global financial crisis will put the lever into 5th gear.
6 posted on 02/08/2014 3:13:32 AM PST by SkyPilot
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To: sten

I think I would add.. and exempting themselves from every law to gain and retain even more riches for themselves.


7 posted on 02/08/2014 3:13:45 AM PST by momincombatboots (Back to West by G-d Virginia.)
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To: sten

Politicians are exempt!


8 posted on 02/08/2014 3:35:21 AM PST by ronnie raygun (zippy the a##clown sez..............................)
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To: Vince Ferrer

G-20 More One-Worlder bullcrap


9 posted on 02/08/2014 4:32:40 AM PST by ZULU (Magua is sitting in the Oval Office. Ted Cruz/Phil Robertson in 2016.)
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To: Vince Ferrer

This is why private electronic encrypted currencies like Bitcoin must be crushed.


10 posted on 02/08/2014 4:59:20 AM PST by theBuckwheat
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To: Vince Ferrer

Interesting to think why Bitcoin is allowed to exist and grow, and if it becomes a major currency how then governments will find a way if possible to crack into its information database.


11 posted on 02/08/2014 5:32:42 AM PST by Hostage (ARTICLE V)
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To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Berosus; bigheadfred; Bockscar; cardinal4; ColdOne; ...

Thanks Vince Ferrer.


12 posted on 02/08/2014 6:03:19 AM PST by SunkenCiv (http://www.freerepublic.com/~mestamachine/)
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To: Vince Ferrer

The expression “Render unto Caesar” must drive them nuts, because it *limits* what Caesar owns to Caesar’s currency. If you do not deal in Caesar’s fiat currency, but another one, then Caesar’s control is illusory.

To clarify this, it can be simply said that “anything in abundance can be used as a currency”.

Socialists and communists *bitterly hate* abundance for this very reason, because an alternative currency strips them of wealth and power over others.

Obama can print “Obama bucks” all he wants, but if people are willing to trade using anything Obama does not control, Obama bucks quickly become worthless *compared* to that other thing.

Everybody will want to save that other thing, and spend Obama bucks on anything to anyone who will take them. This is known as Gresham’s Law in economics. And pretty soon, nobody will take Obama bucks, and they become inflated, then worthless.

For this reason, government is almost desperate to control any form of alternative currency. Look at how uncomfortable they are with BitCoins. But the truth is that BitCoins are a first generation effort. Subsequent generations will be mostly out of sight, and as much as possible, out of reach, of government control.


13 posted on 02/08/2014 8:32:50 AM PST by yefragetuwrabrumuy (WoT News: Rantburg.com)
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To: Vince Ferrer
Bitcoin short-circuits all of their schemes.

Bitcoin ain't going away.

14 posted on 02/08/2014 8:38:01 AM PST by E. Pluribus Unum (The only way women can "have it all" is if men aren't allowed to have anything.)
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To: sten

It’s a thieves guild.


15 posted on 02/08/2014 7:39:56 PM PST by 1010RD (First, Do No Harm)
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