“US now in the lead as a tax cheat heaven for world’s rich and powerful”

Article in today’s South China Morning Post: Who needs Switzerland or the Panama Papers? US now in the lead as a tax cheat heaven for world’s rich and powerful

The United States is emerging as a top tax haven alongside the likes of Switzerland, the Cayman Islands and Panama, those seeking reform of the international tax system say.

And states such as Delaware, Nevada, South Dakota and Wyoming, in particular, are competing to provide foreigners with the secrecy they crave.

“There’s a big neon sign saying the US is open to tax cheats,” says John Christensen, executive director of the Tax Justice Network.

Christensen says Swiss banks report that “many of their tax-dodging clients are talking about moving to the US. You go to Switzerland, and that’s all they’re talking about.”

Individual states, including Nevada, Wyoming and South Dakota, are making things worse, critics say.

They compete to make it easier to set up corporations, with few questions asked about who’s behind the business. “We have states that set up corporations where there’s no information about ownership,” says Jack Blum, a Washington lawyer who specialises in financial crime.