Obama uses executive action to combat tax evasion – Express

Barack Obama announced on Thursday night, since early on Friday in Lisbon, a campaign of the US tax authorities to combat tax evasion, following the scandal Panama Papers, which broke out in early April by the hand of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), which the Express is a partner.

Among the series of initiatives announced by the White House yesterday, it includes an executive action of the American President close the legal loopholes that are exploited by foreign nationals in the United States, along with a request from the administration to the Republican-led Congress to approve new federal laws to combat the massive tax evasion by large companies, politicians, millionaires and criminals which is set to open the investigation of the ICIJ.

Although it is anticipated that, this being an election year, there are obstacles in the House of Representatives and the Senate for approval of the proposals outlined by the House White, the measures are “the most comprehensive response to date,” the revelations of Panama Papers, referred to “the Guardian”, another of more than 100 partners ICIJ.

“in recent weeks, revelations of so-called Panama papers – millions of confidential documents that reveal the use of offshore anonymous-front companies – brought the issue of illegal tax activities and tax evasion to the agenda, “the White House said in a statement. “The Panama Papers underlines the importance of the efforts that the United States has embarked on a domestic level, and the efforts we made with our international partners to work on these shared challenges.”

Obama was an early leader world to respond to the revelation of 11.5 million internal documents Mossack Fonseca, a society of Panama lawyers who help big companies and millionaires-create front companies in tax havens, often to hide assets and money and not have to declare them to tax services of their countries. “There is no doubt that the problem of global tax evasion is a huge problem,” he said at the time told reporters. . “The problem is that many of these things [revealed by Panama Papers] are according to the law, are not illegal”

Among the measures proposed are:

• an “immediate executive action” to combat money laundering, terrorist financing and tax evasion, implementing stricter transparency rules
• new Treasury rules to close loopholes that allow foreigners to hide their financial activities , property and wealth behind anonymous entities in the uS
• stricter rules of “due diligence” to banks that manage money on behalf of their clients

Although the universe of companies and customers revealed by Panama Papers be only connected to Mossack Fonseca, there are dozens of other law firms around the world that provide the same services. In the US, although there are some federal laws of financial regulation, most of these regulations is the responsibility of each state, and there are states like Delaware, Wyoming or Nevada, where regulation is so little narrower than torn these states in tax havens almost equal to other more known as the British Virgin Islands or the Cayman Islands.