Trillions upon trillions in offshore tax havens

If you are saying the IRS values this at $65 million but would not accept a value of $65 million if the family claimed that for a tax write-off after a donation, then yes I agree that's a big problem. It doesn't quite say that in the article, though.

Sorry for being suspicious, but an evil gubmint story that Fox has been hyping (first google link) isn't the first place I normally look for accuracy.

IRS isn't known for accuracy either. This is like a Steelers-Ravens game. I hate them both, want both to lose yet keep checking in on it.

Rich people's problems. Boo ufcking hoo.

no kidding. this is nothing compared to poor folks who win nice boats or cars in sweepstakes (or on Oprah), then get socked with a huge tax bill once they notice the fair market value counts as income on their tax form. At least these folks still have over a half-billion dollars worth of goods that may even go up further in value - not just some poor-resale-value Ranger bass boat or a Pontiac.

Yeah, but they should find out about this when they get the prize. My son won free concert tickets on the radio and had to provide his SSN before he got them. (Are they really going to report a $75 prize to the IRS? Maybe if he wins $600 worth of stuff?)

Sorry to be all on-topic here but there was an NPR/Planet Money piece on the radio about how easy it is to set up confidential offshore shell companies and bank accounts.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2012/07/27/157421340/how-to-set-up-an-offshore-company

Of course, what they DON'T tell you is you have to trust this new 'board of directors' with a shedload of your money. It's not quite how it seems.

Nevertheless, I agree... the system needs to be changed.

Not necessarily. Just because a person is on the board doesn't mean that they are signers on the bank accounts. And if these boards did things like that, the businesses that set this up for people wouldn't stay in business very long.

If they're just board members, sure, but then you have a hard time claiming you're not in a position of influence. If they're on the board of directors and have control, (the safest for tax purposes), they could, theoretically, do anything they want including changing signatories on bank accounts and, don't forget, if you have a dispute with them you could be forced to go to court in their jurisdiction... it's a bit late then to try and ask your own courts to step in, particularly when the only reason you've done it is to evade tax.

I know a couple of people who have looked into it and it can be risky no matter HOW careful you are. Having said that, you're right... if they did it they'd have problems getting any more business of that sort.

I think the point is, though, that most of the tax avoidance schemes don't use anything as clever or sophisticated as wholly foreign boards of directors. They often use relatively simple methods of moving profits abroad which, if enough money was directed at stopping it and we used aggressive means to get it back again, we could stop. As it is they're often allowed to get away with it.

The Middle Class Is More Charitable Than The Rich

Which tells us again, that tax breaks for the rich basically go to Cayman Islands, not to the local soup kitchen or the local stores.

"let the eagle soar..." thank you for whoever reminded me of this.... now i need a beer to get this off my head....Maybe Romney can deign tell us how much (if any) of his charity was given to non-Mormon church endeavors...

I thought this part was particularly noteworthy...

Yet another reason not to live in a gated community.

If the only things you see are well cared lawns and nice cars, the world is OK, they do not need your charity....

#%@^$#@$# welfare queens, having nice houses and stuff, living off my taxes...

And religious conservative people give more money than we secular Liberal people do, I still do not like religion.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/21/opinion/21kristof.html?_r=1&hp

But Religious people do it because they "MUST" give Tithes and other contributions to their churches. Liberal secular people usually do not have to but they still do... It was also discussed in the article...

So be it, donating is not perfect for sure, but if it helps the hungry then is ok right, I bet they do not care if it is a government program pushed by a liberal or a 10% forced donation from a church.

I do have to say my "group" does not come lat place so that is good.

From the article I posted above.


A few good lines from the NYT article.

And I guess if we were all poor gay religious we would give lots of money to charity

Yeah, they feed people...

I thought Touchdown Jesus was struck by lightning.

Wait?! What happened to Tim Tebow???

Exaclty and the article said as much

Personally I prefer Museums over churches any day of the week, but I am not a religious person.

I mean I find Religion as the world biggest scam, so there is that.

I can take you down to a inner city mission that my church and half a dozen others support.

They have a food pantry, indigent medical / dental / optical care, an after-school homework/tutoring program (since most of the area's kid's parent's work 2 jobs or 12-16 hour days), various and sundry counseling services a utility assistance program, job placement assistance, and a clothing thrift shop.

They've renovated the house across the street for a middle/high school hang out house as a gang diversion, have renovated a dozen neighborhood houses as Habitat for Humanity houses, bought and renovated the quad apartment next door for transitional counseling and just bought an auctioned off school building from OKC public for redevelopment as a community center.

Is it fair to single out the LDS for a few ornate houses of worship when almost all religions have them?

There are two images. Only one is of an LDS church.

That is, by definition, not singling them out.

@Mr. Warmth,

I should have been more specific... I didn't mean to imply that all Christian churches are actually For profit operations in disguise.. But my personal experience tells me that unfortunately a big percentage are. That does not mean that there are tons of good people there doing what Jesus actually told them to do.

Wasn't taken that way. You will find both, but as with the Chick-Fil-A meme, it's not as if any of the Chick-Fil-A detractors spent any time out at the service points they were chiding "Christians" for not lining up at to see if there were any there, you know, serving. But that doesn't drive facebook rage.

Nor will you usually find any media out at those places, documenting the needs, unless it's around Thanksgiving/Christmas to do their "feel-good" spots. The need is year round. But that doesn't drive news ratings either.

The only way you can ever know how involved or not involved a particular congregation or group is or isn't involved in their community is to be involved in it. If it is, dive in. If it's not, work to change that or leave it to wither.