6 Things You Should Know About the $21 Trillion the World's Richest People Are Hiding In Tax Shelters. Photo Credit: Shutterstock.com July 25, 2012 | Like this article? Join our email list: Stay up to date with the latest headlines via email. $21 trillion. That's how much the world's richest people are hiding in offshore tax havens worldwide. Or it may be more, as much as $32 trillion—the real amount is, of course, almost impossible to track. While governments slash spending and lay off workers, citing a need for “austerity” because of the slow economy, the ultra-rich—fewer than 10 million people—have stashed an amount equal to the US and Japanese economies combined away from the tax man.
James S. There's a lot of information to wade through in this report, so we've broken out 6 things you should know about the money the world's richest are keeping from the rest of us. 1. “By our estimates, at least a third of all private financial wealth, and nearly half of all offshore wealth, is now owned by world’s richest 91,000 people– just 0.001% of the world’s population,” the report says. 2. Exhaustive Study Finds Global Elite Hiding Up to $32 Trillion in Offshore Accounts. Guests James Henry economist, lawyer, board member of the Tax Justice Network, and author of the report, "The Price of Offshore Revisited. " He is former chief economist at McKinsey & Company. This is viewer supported news Donate A new report reveals how wealthy individuals and their families have between $21 and $32 trillion of hidden financial assets around the world in what are known as offshore accounts or tax havens.
The actual sums could be higher because the study only deals with financial wealth deposited in bank and investment accounts, and not other assets such as property and yachts. This is a rush transcript. AMY GOODMAN: We turn now to a new report that reveals how wealthy individuals and their families have between $21 and $32 trillion of hidden financial assets around the world in what are known as offshore accounts or tax havens. The inquiry was commissioned by the Tax Justice Network and is being touted as the most comprehensive report ever on the "offshore economy.
" SEN. £13tn hoard hidden from taxman by global elite | Business | The Observer. A global super-rich elite has exploited gaps in cross-border tax rules to hide an extraordinary £13 trillion ($21tn) of wealth offshore – as much as the American and Japanese GDPs put together – according to research commissioned by the campaign group Tax Justice Network. James Henry, former chief economist at consultancy McKinsey and an expert on tax havens, has compiled the most detailed estimates yet of the size of the offshore economy in a new report, The Price of Offshore Revisited, released exclusively to the Observer.
He shows that at least £13tn – perhaps up to £20tn – has leaked out of scores of countries into secretive jurisdictions such as Switzerland and the Cayman Islands with the help of private banks, which vie to attract the assets of so-called high net-worth individuals. Oil-rich states with an internationally mobile elite have been especially prone to watching their wealth disappear into offshore bank accounts instead of being invested at home, the research suggests. Interview: our $21-32 trillion offshore estimates. Global Elites Are Hiding More Than $4.5 Trillion In Tax Havens.
By Alan Pyke on April 15, 2014 at 8:17 am "Global Elites Are Hiding More Than $4.5 Trillion In Tax Havens" CREDIT: Shutterstock The world’s wealthiest people have long relied on Swiss bank accounts and international shell corporations headquartered in tax haven countries, but the total amount of money they’re hiding from the world’s tax officials has always been hard to pin down. One economist thinks he’s figured it out: Rich families are hiding at least $4.5 trillion offshore, according to Gabriel Zucman, and the real figure is probably closer to $6 trillion.
The estimate is based on global data on cross-border financial transactions that have always presented a puzzle to economists. For scale, $5.9 trillion is nearly twice the annual federal budget of the United States and more than a third of the country’s total debt. The new estimate comes alongside a report that 40 percent of the world’s population lives on a budget of between $2 and $10 per day.