Between The Lines - James S. Henry: Findings of the Tax Justice Network’s New Report, “The Price of Offshore Revisited.” (Week Ending July 19, 2013)

Award-winning Investigative Journalist Robert Parry (1949-2018)

Award-winning investigative journalist and founder/editor of ConsortiumNews.com, Robert Parry has passed away. His ground-breaking work uncovering Reagan-era dirty wars in Central America and many other illegal and immoral policies conducted by successive administrations and U.S. intelligence agencies, stands as an inspiration to all in journalists working in the public interest.

Robert had been a regular guest on our Between The Lines and Counterpoint radio shows -- and many other progressive outlets across the U.S. over four decades.

His penetrating analysis of U.S. foreign policy and international conflicts will be sorely missed, and not easily replaced. His son Nat Parry writes a tribute to his father: Robert Parry’s Legacy and the Future of Consortiumnews.

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The Resistance Starts Now!

Between The Lines' coverage and resource compilation of the Resistance Movement

"The man who predicted Trump presidential win now says Trump impeachment could happen," AM Joy with Joy Reid, MSNBC, Jan. 21, 2018
"Sketchy Kazakh money finds its way into Trump dealings," The Rachel Maddow Show, MSNBC, Jan. 15, 2018
"Red flags seen in many Trump real estate deals," The Rachel Maddow Show, MSNBC, Jan. 15, 2018
"Secret Money: How Trump Made Millions Selling Condos To Unknown Buyers," BuzzFeed, Jan. 12, 2018
"The Scandals of Donald Trump: Presidential Edition," The Atlantic, May 15, 2017
"Here's what we know so far about Team Trump's ties to Russian interests," Washington Post's ongoing compilation
"What Comey Was Investigating, Explained," The Moscow Project, Center for American Progress

"Donald Trump's Financial Ties to Russian Oligarchs and Mobsters Detailed In Explosive New Documentary from the Netherlands," Dutch TV documentary, Alternet.org, May 12, 2017
Ongoing compilation of Trump's creeping authoritarianism," MotherJones.com
Full resource list ...

SPECIAL REPORT: "The Resistance - Women's March 2018 - Hartford, Connecticut" Jan. 20, 2018

Selected speeches from the Women's March in Hartford, Connecticut 2018, recorded and produced by Scott Harris

SPECIAL REPORT: "No Fracking Waste in CT!" Jan. 14, 2018

Jen Siskind Jennifer Siskind, local coordinator for Food and Water Watch, describes the campaign to stop fracking waste in Connecticut, which so far has led to fracking waste bans in 34 towns around the state. Interviewed by Richard Hill on Mic Check, WPKN Radio, Bridgeport, CT

SPECIAL REPORT: "Resistance Round Table: The Unraveling Continues..." Jan. 13, 2018

Lindsay Kanaly The panel discusses Trump's long history of racism and the Republican voter suppression juggernaut confronting Democrats leading up to the 2018 elections. Special guest: Lindsay Kanaly, a lead organizer of the Women's Marches planned for Jan. 20, 2018. Panel: Scott Harris, Ruthanne Baumgartner and Richard Hill on Resistance Roundtable, WPKN Radio, Bridgeport, CT.

SPECIAL REPORT: "Capitalism to the ash heap?" Richard Wolff, Jan. 2, 2018

Richard Wolff, Economics professor Richard Wolff declares U.S. capitalism to be beyond repair and suggests the need for a radical alternative. Interviewed by Richard Hill

SPECIAL REPORT: Maryn McKenna, author of "Big Chicken", Dec. 7, 2017

Maryn McKenna, investigative journalist and author of Big Chicken, talks about the widespread use and dangers of antibiotics in commercial poultry, beef and fruit production. Interview by Bill Duesing, Richard Hill and Guy Beardsly on WPKN's Organic Farm Stand.

SPECIAL REPORT: Nina Turner's address, Working Families Party Awards Banquet, Dec. 14, 2017

Nina Turner, president of Our Revolution, talks about the fight ahead for progressives as she receives the Working Families Organization Award for Exceptional Leadership Towards Advancing Progress. The event was held in Meriden, CT. Produced by Richard Hill.

SPECIAL REPORT: Mic Check, Dec. 12, 2017

Working Families Party of CT talks strategy and issues for 2018.
Lindsay Farrell, executive director of the Working Families Party of Connecticut, discusses the state's electoral landscape and lays out the issues and strategies that could lead to progressive victories in 2018. Interviewed by Richard Hill.

SPECIAL REPORT: Resistance Roundtable, Dec. 9, 2017

Disturbing developments in the Trump/Republican Agenda
Focus on the tax bill, destruction of our public lands, North Korea and Trump's private CIA. Panel: Scott Harris, Ruthanne Baumgartner and Richard Hill. Special guest: Jo Macallero of Rise and Resist.

SPECIAL REPORT: On Tyranny - one year later, Nov. 28, 2017

Professor Timothy Snyder, author of the highly acclaimed resistance manual On Tyranny, discusses his book and offers a fresh assessment of the state of our beleaguered republic. Timothy Snyder, history professor at Yale, is introduced by Stanley Heller, administrator of Promoting Enduring Peace, a Connecticut-based organization that sponsored this event at the United Church Parish House in New Haven on Nov. 28. A brief interview with Snyder conducted by WPKN radio producer, Richard Hill, follows his talk.

SPECIAL REPORT: Mic Check, Nov. 12, 2017

Lynne Ide, director of program and policy with the Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut, talks about the current state of health care coverage in Connecticut. Interviewed by Richard Hill, WPKN radio producer

SPECIAL REPORT: Resistance Roundtable, Nov. 11, 2017

Focus on the Republican tax plan, the just-released autopsy on the Democratic Party, and Internet censorship by Google, Facebook and Youtube. Including an interview with Hilary Grant, a lead organizer with Action Together Connecticut, who discusses the local results of the recent election, with hosts Richard Hill, Scott Harris and Ruth Baumgartner WPKN producers

SPECIAL REPORT: Rainy Day Radio, Nov. 7, 2017

Two leaders from Redneck Revolt, an anti-racist, anti-capitalist movement, talk about their work organizing with white working class people in Suffolk County, New York. Interviewed by Richard Hill, WPKN radio producer

SPECIAL REPORT: Rainy Day Radio, Nov. 7, 2017

Bruce Gagnon, coordinator for the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space, describes the extent of -- and motives underlying -- the vast US network of military bases around the globe. Interviewed by Richard Hill, WPKN radio producer

SPECIAL REPORT: Resisting U.S. JeJu Island military base in South Korea, Oct. 24, 2017

Joyakol, South Korean peace activist and singer, discusses the crisis on the Korean peninsula and focuses on the resistance to the U.S. huge military base being constructed on Jeju Island. The event was sponsored by the Greater New Haven Peace Council and this audio was recorded by Richard Hill, WPKN producer.
Joyakol discusses Americans' biggest misconceptions about the conflict between North and South Korea and the U.S., Interview by Richard Hill, WPKN producer.

SPECIAL REPORT: John Allen, Out in New Haven

John Allen, founding director of the New Haven Pride Center, Connecticut, talks about his new LGBTQ television show, Out in New Haven, which presents a range of political and cultural issues to the community. Interviewed by Richard Hill on WPKN's Rainy Day Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2018.

2017 Gandhi Peace Awards

Promoting Enduring Peace presented its Gandhi Peace Award jointly to renowned consumer advocate Ralph Nader and BDS founder Omar Barghouti on April 23, 2017.

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THANK YOU TO EVERYONE...

who helped make our 25th anniversary with Jeremy Scahill a success!

For those who missed the event, or were there and really wanted to fully absorb its import, here it is in video

Jeremy Scahill keynote speech, part 1 from PROUDEYEMEDIA on Vimeo.

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Between The Lines Presentation at the Left Forum 2016

"How Do We Build A Mass Movement to Reverse Runaway Inequality?" with Les Leopold, author of "Runaway Inequality: An Activist's Guide to Economic Justice,"May 22, 2016, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, The City University of New York, 860 11th Ave. (Between 58th and 59th), New York City. Between The Lines' Scott Harris and Richard Hill moderated this workshop. Listen to the audio/slideshows and more from this workshop.

Listen to audio of the plenary sessions from the weekend.

JEREMY SCAHILL: Oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker "Dirty Wars"

Listen to the full interview (30:33) with Jeremy Scahill, an award-winning investigative journalist with the Nation Magazine, correspondent for Democracy Now! and author of the bestselling book, "Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army," about America's outsourcing of its military. In an exclusive interview with Counterpoint's Scott Harris on Sept. 16, 2013, Scahill talks about his latest book, "Dirty Wars, The World is a Battlefield," also made into a documentary film under the same title, and was nominated Dec. 5, 2013 for an Academy Award in the Best Documentary Feature category.

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Report Finds Super Rich Around the World have Avoided Paying Taxes on More Than $21 Trillion of Hidden Wealth

RealAudio MP3

Posted July 10, 2013

Interview with James S. Henry, lead researcher for Tax Justice Network report, "The Price of Offshore Revisited," conducted by Scott Harris. This interview was previously broadcast in the program posted on Aug. 1, 2012

During last year’s presidential election one of the central debates between Democrats and Republicans – between President Obama and GOP nominee Mitt Romney, was over how much should the nation’s wealthiest citizens have to pay in federal taxes. On that issue polls found most voters in favor of letting the Bush era tax cuts lapse for the wealthy, while retaining tax cuts for families earning $250,000 dollars and under annually. But a July 2012 report undertaken by the Tax Justice Network paints a disturbing picture of tax avoidance, finding that the super rich in the U.S. and around the world are hiding at least $21 trillion in offshore accounts, avoiding paying millions of dollars in taxes in their home countries.

In their report titled, "The Price of Offshore Revisited," the Tax Justice Network found that the wealth hidden in tax shelters is equivalent to the United States and Japanese economies combined. While the public is familiar with tax havens in banks located on far off exotic islands, the report found that UBS, Credit Suisse, and Goldman Sachs are among the top private banks managing offshore accounts for the world’s wealthiest people.

The authors of the report, relying on data from the World Bank, the IMF, the United Nations, central banks, the Bank for International Settlements and other sources, concluded that the impact of unpaid taxes is staggering, where global financial inequality is much greater than originally estimated and growing. Between The Lines’ Scott Harris spoke with the lead author of the report, James S. Henry, a former chief economist with McKinsey & Company, who summarizes his investigation, tax cheating’s effect on inequality and how governments can reform banking regulations to capture billions in lost tax revenue.

JAMES S. HENRY: Well, the headline number is $21 trillion of offshore private financial wealth – that's bonds, stocks, as well as bank deposits on alternate investments like hedge funds. It doesn't include so-called non-financial assets like real estate, art collections, yachts and intellectual property. There's an important offshore market there as well. Most of the city of London is actually owned offshore at this point through offshore companies. But what we're focusing on here is just financial wealth. Much of this is concentrated in the hands of about 10 million people at most around the planet. And the growth of the activity has been accounted for by a relative handful of major international banks which have made it a business to help the wealthiest people on the planet take their money out of their home countries, invest it abroad tax-free and use a variety of schemes to defend it against taxation.

The havens that we all hear about – the so-called "Treasure Islands" like the Caymans, Bermuda, the Bahamas and Panama and Jersey – these are really to be thought of mainly as conduits in this system. The real destination havens for this capital and the place that actually ends up being invested are the major financial centers of the world. New York, London, Zurich and Geneva, Belgium is another one, Lichtenstein. These are places that people actually end up investing their capital. Nobody wants to have their funds sitting in Tortola or Bahamas for very long. So they use shell companies that are registered in places like Cayman Islands or Bahamas and then the ultimate investments are made in these major countries.

BETWEEN THE LINES: James, briefly please tell our listeners a little bit about how these offshore tax havens contribute to income inequality, in the United States, particularly.

JAMES S. HENRY: Well, I think if it is possible for the wealthy to basically go back to the 1920s and roll back the clock to the days before really progressive income taxation, effectively legislating themselves a tax cut by taking funds offshore. It's hard reduce your tax rate below zero; those practices are things that ordinary folks have a hard time keeping up with. So small business has a hard time, for example, taking advantage of the off-shoring of intellectual property that companies like Google, Microsoft and Pfizer and other leading technology companies have used. They basically park their intellectual property in Bermuda or Ireland and then pay themselves royalties that are not taxed. And then they come back to the U.S. government and ask for a tax break when they repatriate all these profits they've off-shored back to the United States. So that's in the corporate world and that's separate from the price of offshore revisited. We're talking there about corporate and this is about individuals. But there's a lot of ways in which this haven architecture has been abused and affects the distribution of wealth. One of them is on the corporate side. On the individual side, it's basically an invitation to the more aggressive members of the wealthiest class to hide money offshore and to not report it in the home country and basically avoid any tax burden at all. Effectively, there's a lot of Romneys out there, and he's just one of many folks, probably not even the most aggressive in terms of this practice.

BETWEEN THE LINES: What's been the reaction to this report? And are there any viable solutions here in terms of reining these tax shelters through international treaties or such? I wish it was simple, but I'm sure it's not. You'll probably tell me that.

JAMES S. HENRY: We've seen a tremendous response from all over the globe. We've had inquiries from India, Russia, journalists in Argentina, Chile. This is a global story. It's kind of unprecedented, the response we've had, and I've been studying this field since the 1980s. I wrote my first piece on this in 1986. And I've been waiting for any kind of interest on the part of policymakers. What to do about it? There are many things we can do to clamp down on the worst abuses. We can have automatic information reporting, which the United States has with its friends in Canada and UK, but it doesn't extend now to Mexico.

The Mexican finance minister asked Tim Geithner to help share the same information on Mexican investors that he was giving to the Canadians and he got no response. You know that automatic information reporting on offshore earnings is an important step forward. I think that regulating pirate banking and the kind of misbehavior of the big banks here is something we ought to consider.

And then, it may be possible to get people to agree on a minimal tax while we're waiting for tougher enforcement, just a .5 percent of what's parked in the banks now would generate enough to pay the entire foreign aid bill from the OECD. So at least we'd get something from all the offshore tax evasion, the drug money, all the dirty money that's sitting in these offshore accounts while we're waiting for tighter enforcement.

James S. Henry is a former chief economist with McKinsey & Company and lead author of the Tax Justice Network report, "The Price of Offshore Revisited." Find links to the report and related articles at TaxJustice.net.