You don't say

[jerseyfabulous]

There were also US citizens listed in the Liechtenstein Bank Leak O'Doom.

Wonder if little Liechtenstein is going to continue to be uppity about this. (I find it hilarious that a country that I can walk across in a few hours thinks it can give tax cheats from its far larger neighbors safe haven and get away with it. It is smaller than Vineland in both population and area. Its very existence is basically at the grace of Austria and Switzerland.)

Comments

[jerseyfabulous.livejournal.com]

If you expect me to have sympathy for them, I really don't. If you're going to run your economy as a haven for criminals, you can't cry foul when you get caught.

And it can't be a military alliance with Swizterland, Lichtenstein doesn't even have one. Probably purely economic. They have open borders on both sides and have been part of the EEA for ages. (I've been there. Vaduz is a nice place to stop for tea.)

[(Anonymous)]

The borders are effectively open, as the Swiss don't care, but I'm 99% sure that Switzerland protects it. See this page (http://www.trivia-library.com/c/world-country-lichenstein.htm), though I cannot speak for its veracity.

And while Liechtenstein may be crossing the tax haven border into criminality, most of the business of global tax havens is above-board and useful. If you have a 401k, there's a decent chance that some of your money may be invested in a fund domiciled in a tax haven - once an account is tax free, then it's best to get it away from taxable investors who burden the fund with fees and paperwork. Charities also use investment vehicles domiciled in tax havens. This is all simple stuff, and it more arises from the burdens the US government imposes not only on its taxable entities, but also tangentially on the tax-free ones it itself allows.

It's all a bit complicated, but I used to share your view, until I saw the efficiencies such structures allow - all on perfectly above-board money that clears AML hurdles.

And actually, it appears to be AML (anti-money laundering) that's the real issue at stake here. A good tax haven (Bermuda, for example) has very strict AML laws, so that taxable money cannot be squirreled away there. It seems that Liechtenstein may not.

-je