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Should the President of the United States have a Swiss bank account?

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by TigerVols, May 1, 2012.

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Page 13 of 29
  1. RickStain

    RickStain Well-Known Member

    Avoision. The word is avoision.
     
    RickStain, May 1, 2012
    #145
  2. dooley_womack1

    dooley_womack1 Well-Known Member

    Heck, Romney should follow the example of Euro athletes and just move to Monoco.
     
    dooley_womack1, May 1, 2012
    #146
  3. LongTimeListener

    LongTimeListener Well-Known Member

    Not really. Ragu from his first post has completely dismissed the notion that it's possible for anyone to derive tax benefits from a Swiss account. That's pretty clearly false, and I have pointed that out. It doesn't say anything about Romney's particular tax status to argue that.

    It is curious that Romney has tried so hard to conceal this account. My guess is it isn't because he's a tax cheat but because it's an easy way to, presto, paint him as out of touch. Not really believable that it would have been left off his disclosures as a mere oversight.
     
    LongTimeListener, May 1, 2012
    #147
  4. TigerVols

    TigerVols Well-Known Member

    Or maybe he just wants to keep as much of his life private as possible. You know, things like scratchy underwear, believing in alien planets, and his total net worth?
     
    TigerVols, May 1, 2012
    #148
  5. 93Devil

    93Devil Well-Known Member

    Lisbeth likes them, also.
     
    93Devil, May 1, 2012
    #149
  6. The Big Ragu

    The Big Ragu Moderator Staff Member

    You really should let it go.

    There is no "tax shelter" in Switzerland. And nothing is unclear. Christ. We are talking about accounts we know about from HIS U.S. TAX RETURNS. He's not hiding it from the IRS or sheltering money from taxes somehow--legally or illegally. He paid U.S. taxes on any income or cap gains. That is what happens when you declare (as you are supposed to by law) your income and capital gains profits to THE IRS because you are an American.

    And the only benefit Swiss banking laws have EVER offered anyone is that they traditionally made it easier to break the law as a tax evader--due to confidentiality laws in Switzerland. Much less so for an American citizen since 2009, by the way. In practice, as you put it, tax evasion is illegal by any definition of the word. If you hide income in Switzerland -- or Cleveland -- and don't pay taxes on it, you have broken the law. That isn't semantics. That isn't a technicality. There isn't some secret tax shelter or top secret wink wink handshake that billionaires know about (but which you can't simply explain to me--have not yet) that the rest of us don't. It is 100 percent illegal for you -- or Mitt Romney -- to hide your income in Switzerland and not pay U.S. taxes on it.

    Of course, judging by the fact that he declared Swiss accounts to the fricking IRS--what brought about this silliness--there is zero evidence that he is a tax evader.
     
    The Big Ragu, May 1, 2012
    #150
  7. LongTimeListener

    LongTimeListener Well-Known Member

    No, you really should let it go with the idea that the Swiss banking system is not a tax shelter. We have a United States senator helping to protect people with money there. We have an amnesty program for people who want to square up their activities. If there were no tax shelter in Switzerland, we would have no need for all that attention to it.
     
    LongTimeListener, May 1, 2012
    #151
  8. The Big Ragu

    The Big Ragu Moderator Staff Member

    It's an interesting conversation you are having with yourself. Switzerland is tax shelter. Mitt Romney has Swiss accounts. But apparently he's a dumbfuck, because he went and told the IRS about his tax shelter, and paid taxes on any income and cap gains that came from Switzerland--making it well, not exactly a tax shelter. And a U.S. senator is trying to protect him from something, although it isn't clear if it is the Swiss or his accountant who somehow did the legal thing and declared everything to the IRS.

    Ah, the intrigue here. Glad you've gotten to the bottom of it for us all.
     
    The Big Ragu, May 1, 2012
    #152
  9. LongTimeListener

    LongTimeListener Well-Known Member

    Well, for one thing, the only tax returns we have seen of Romney's are from post-2009, when the crackdown began and when he closed the account. It would be interesting to see prior tax returns, which he adamantly refuses to release.

    But I am comfortable letting each individual decide which is the more likely reason wealthy people keep millions of dollars in Swiss accounts. Seems like one of two choices:

    1) They like the currency.
    2) There is a tax benefit.

    You obviously believe #1 is the more likely choice.
     
    LongTimeListener, May 1, 2012
    #153
  10. dixiehack

    dixiehack Well-Known Member

    So why did he keep it over there? You can take currency positions in Boston as easily as Bern.
     
    dixiehack, May 1, 2012
    #154
  11. dooley_womack1

    dooley_womack1 Well-Known Member

    You get a box of Swiss chocolates with every deposit?
     
    dooley_womack1, May 1, 2012
    #155
  12. dixiehack

    dixiehack Well-Known Member

    Open an Alps Advantage Checking account today and receive a free fondue pot.
     
    dixiehack, May 1, 2012
    #156
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