Posted on 07/13/2012 6:19:56 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Hardly anything could have been more damaging to Mitt Romney’s perpetual quest to relate to the average American than the recent revelations in Vanity Fair that he maintains personal finances in a sophisticated network of institutions across Europe and North America. Among the entities that Romney relies upon is a limited liability corporation in Bermuda and a “blocker” entity in the Cayman Islands. Suffice it to say, not the kind of thing that would endear him to a Wawa cashier.
But the most lasting damage to Romney may come from his most piddling investment of all (relatively speaking): the Swiss bank account in which he kept some $3 million until 2011. Given that Switzerland’s banking system is practically synonymous in the popular culture with secrecy and malfeasance—and attempts to outsmart the IRS—it should come as no surprise that the Obama campaign has bludgeoned Romney for keeping the account.
But what is most telling about Romney’s Swiss account might not be the fact that it was opened, but the fact that it was closed. For international plutocrats, the secret Swiss account has become increasingly passé in recent years. Indeed, what motivated Romney to close the account might not have been a political calculation, but rather an economic one.
In the last several years, the United States government has been pursuing, with some success, an unprecedentedly aggressive effort to pierce the veil of offshore bank secrecy in Switzerland. Washington’s investigations have taken a toll on the Swiss banking sector—not only in terms of fines, but also in terms of the legal framework that made Switzerland an attractive destination for the super-rich to park their money to begin with.
(Excerpt) Read more at tnr.com ...
Romney,it would seem,not being one of them.
The challenge for would-be Western tax-evaders is to find a country sufficiently isolated diplomatically (or even geographically) from the United States that it won’t feel compelled to buckle under pressure from Washington to make its banking systems more transparent.
BUT WHICH ONE? If the USA can pressure the Swiss to give up the names of American account holders, why can’t the USA do the same for other even smaller countries?
Bermuda? Isle of Mann? Cayman Islands? Bahamas? They can all be bullied into submission by the USA, like the Swiss.
I personally think the only place the USA cannot bully is Hongkong and Macao.
I’m certainly no RINOmney fan, but one second in ANY of the Obamadork’s minion’s lives would contain far more crimes than RINOmney has done in his entire life.
As for the Cretin-in-Chief, his very life is a definition of a career felony.
LLS
“Hey Mitt Romney, Nobody Uses Swiss Bank Accounts Anymore”
Who cares!??
At this point I kind’a like the idea of having a person in the WH who knows what wealth IS and how to make money!!!
This kind of bashing Mitt because of his personal, financial accumen is really BS when we currently have a President who doesn’t know s^%t from shinola about money!
The fact that Romney is being projected as the secretive one when we still don’t know what the heck Obama stands for, anything about his college life, still don’t have his transcripts, and still haven’t even seen his birth certificate pretty much puts the media bias out there for all to see. Many, however, won’t see.
RE: Who cares what the The New Republic says. I use bank accounts in Buenos Aires, Hong Kong, Cape Town, and Panama.
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The challenge for would-be Western tax-evaders is to find a country sufficiently isolated diplomatically (or even geographically) from the United States that it won’t feel compelled to buckle under pressure from Washington to make its banking systems more transparent.
BUT WHICH ONE? If the USA can pressure the Swiss to give up the names of American account holders, why can’t the USA do the same for other even smaller countries?
Bermuda? Isle of Mann? Cayman Islands? Bahamas? They can all be bullied into submission by the USA, like the Swiss.
I personally think the only place the USA cannot bully is Hongkong and Macao.
BTW, are you REPORTING the interest you make in the above foreign bank accounts in your US income tax returns?
Right on.
I have a Swiss bank account at swissquote.ch. For all I know they will still accept accounts from US Persons. The last time I looked, the pay a whopping 0.28% on savings. If you park $1 million with them that pays a whopping $2,800 a year in gross interest. The Swiss government has a 30% withholding tax on interest payments and you can get credit for that when you file your income tax return and report the interest income.
Now, I ask, how much is the income tax on $2,800? Maybe for a high earner who we would presume is trying to hide income, maybe just about the amount withheld. Apart from the fact that US Persons must report and pay tax on all income no matter where they earned it, there is no upside to having a Swiss bank account, at least for not paying taxes on it.
And why Dem pols say differently just shows how easy the truth is so malleable to them.
But there is a good reason to have a portion of your savings in another country. That is to mitigate “political risk”, which is the risk we all face that your government will run amok and destroy the value of its currency. Up until a few years ago, it was unthinkable that the US government would think of destroying the dollar, but that is now a topic of sober consideration.
We have an example right now of Argentina destroying its currency. They have seized the retirement accounts of citizens. Some US Congressmen have proposed seizing our IRA and 401k accounts.
At present, as sad as it is to say, I think my money is just as safe in Switzerland as it is in a US bank. I wish it was different, but I am not the one in control. I can only respond to the wacky policies from my own government, and I hope people will excuse me for taking lessons from history about how governments find it so easy to destroy private wealth.
RE: Who cares!?? At this point I kind’a like the idea of having a person in the WH who knows what wealth IS and how to make money!!!
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well, here’s the question -— DID Romney report the income (e.g. interest ) he made in the Swiss account in his income tax returns? If not, technically, he is evading taxes.
If he did, what’s the big deal? He still abides by the law.
NOTE: This is not to say that our tax laws aren’t stupid.
The USA is one of the few countries that taxes you on ALL income you made ANYWHERE in the world.
If you are a German living and working in the USA, you only pay taxes on your American income in America.
If you are an American living and working in Germany, you must pay taxes IN GERMANY *AND* the USA.
I’ve known of many legal immigrants from places like India, Korea and China who are technically violating US tax code because BEFORE coming to the USA, they already have homes and bank accounts back in their country which are still in existence. When they work here, they are by law required to disclose the interest and/or rental income they make from their country of origin as well.
I don’t know of any legal immigrant who does that. What’s the IRS going to do? Set up an office in India, China and Korea to catch them?
Perhaps that’s because Romney filed form TDF 90-22.1 annually with the Treasury Department, reporting all his overseas accounts, as required by US law.
” - - - Romney’s Swiss account - - - “
This is just more Axelrod Obamasmoke gleefully spread by the Liberal Agenda Media.
BTW Romney, why not talk about REALITY?
Start off with Obama’s Financial Stewardship since 1-20-09.
Things that Obama is accountable for.
You know, a bulldog approach to this Campaign.
GET SOME FIRE IN YOU BELLY!
Or, you can just keep on being tied with Obama.
I have a Swiss bank account at swissquote.ch. For all I know they will still accept accounts from US Persons.
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Assuming someone like you had $5 million deposited in that account... even a 0.28% interest is $14,000 in income.
If that person DID NOT DISCLOSE that income in his US tax returns, then he is in violation of American Tax laws.
If he did, then I don’t see what the big deal is.
The question for Romney ( and I guess you as well ) is this -— DID Romney ( and you ) disclose any interest from the account in his (your) tax form?
If so, what’s the problem?
"Unprecedentedly" is a word?
One reason for using an international bank account is to make is expensive for a litigant to get at your assets.
In fact, having an international bank account can be very expensive for litigants. Many countries require a litigant to put up a very expensive bond and use a local authorized attorney by the state.
Additionally, even if a judgement is found in favor of the suing party it is either not enforceable or limited in scope.
It isn’t just about keeping your loot from the IRS, it’s about asset protection and trust management.
And the UAE
Yes, because the IRS and US Gov't have cowed UBS and Credit Suisse into forcing the Swiss Gov't to sacrifice the independence of the Swiss banking system - so these to can continue to play with the big boys on Wall Street.
If you want real independence from the IRS, go to the Hong Kong branch of a Chinese State Bank.
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