Links Sep 14

Profits elude bankers to the rich in booking India Reuters
Sep 13 - "A large chunk of Indian wealth goes undeclared. Tax authorities say billions of dollars in funds have been deposited by Indians in Swiss bank accounts and other tax havens." A wealthy Indian businessman points out that he is he is "approached by private bankers 'all the time'."

VDIS scheme on disclosure of black money in the offing Economic Times
Sep 14 - Proposals for a special voluntary disclosure scheme "gained momentum recently when captains of industry and business met Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and impressed on him the need for encouraging disclosure of unaccounted money kept in tax havens which could be used to fund infrastructure projects in the country."

U.K. Probe of HSBC Clients Said to Widen Over Swiss Tax Dodge Bloomberg Businessweek
Sep 13 - Furthering a probe into UK taxpayers' previously secret accounts with HSBC Geneva, the UK's Revenue and Customs HMRC will write to an additional 4,500 clients of the London-based bank, giving them the choice of making a full disclosure or face investigation.Investigations stem from data passed on by a former bank employee.

See also:
UK: Rich tax dodgers are paying back six times more than two years ago Telegraph
Sep 13 - HMRC's "elite elite High Net Worth team ... recovered £162m from the ultra wealthy people that it deals with. Two years ago, these same individuals were handing over just £25m in tax."

Obama Channels Economic Frustration With $447 Billion Plan to Boost Jobs Bloomberg
Sep 9 - The administration considered and rejected a temporary repatriation holiday that would allow companies to return overseas profits without paying corporate income taxes on the proceeds. The White House concluded that it wouldn’t have as great an impact on job growth as the new hiring incentives,

Does a company's responsibility to society start with paying its taxes? Social Enterprise Network
Sep 9 - On the culture of corporate tax dodging. "Even Google, whose motto is "Don't be evil", does not seem to count avoidance of tax as bad. Google has managed to avoid paying $3.1bn (£1.9bn) in the last three years by moving most of its foreign profits through Ireland, Netherlands and Bermuda."

Inside the SC Johnson vs. David Cay Johnston dispute on corporate taxes Politifact
Sep 13 - On Reuters columnist David Cay Johnston questioning the corporate tax strategies that have allowed the manufacturing giant to avoid paying even one dollar of Wisconsin corporate income tax -- not just for one year, but nine years running. Short version of the story: David Cay Johnston got it right.

Fight brewing over U.S. offshore profit taxation Citizens for Tax Justice
Sep 13 - A very useful overview of debate on the territorial tax system.

Inequality of wealth and income helped cause our current economic problems San Francisco Chronicle
Sep 11 - ""Yet the rich are now being bitten by their own success. Those at the top would be better off with a smaller share of a rapidly growing economy than a large share of one that's almost dead in the water."