The “Panama Papers” Are About Criminals
While everybody talks about “tax havens,” calling these locales crime havens is a far more accurate description.
Yes, the “Panama Papers” have generated discussion about multinational corporations using holding companies registered in tiny islands from Bermuda to Vanuatu. The function of these companies is to help the corporations avoid taxes.
Aided by clever (and no doubt highly paid) lawyers and accountants, such activities may just be legal, even if this raises some ethical questions.
Problematic as that is, major corporations have many ways to try and avoid their tax liabilities, well beyond using tax havens.
The major thrust of the revelations from the “Panama Papers” is not concerned with tax avoidance and major multinational corporations. Focusing on these aspects is a diversion from far more sinister concerns.
The prime function of most of the enablers working with secretive shell companies – those armies of lawyers, accountants, agents and brokers – is to aid and abet criminals.
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