In yet another astonishing display of hubris, Citi has asked the government of special dispensation to pay its already overpaid energy-trading subsidiary executives huge bonuses in one form or another. What? This is ridiculous. Sure, the latest numbers from Citi could look worse, but really, guys, “retention bonuses?” Now is not the time and Wall Street is not the place.
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IRS getting serious about chasing down offshore tax dodgers…
Thursday, February 25th, 2010Some estimates are that the United States could be missing out on tax revenues of up to $50 billion. So is it any surprise that tax enforcers are vowing to increase their efforts to crack down on business and citizens who try to evade taxes using offshore bank. The IRS plans to roll out new rules that would make it easier for them to go after bank accounts held by offshore banks and the US will be pushing for more global cooperation to knock down banking secrecy laws. It could be that the US gets some support on this as England has already asked governments around the world to eliminate tax havens. Of course some countries object to such a call because operating tax havens helps their economies.
One way the IRS is trying to gain access to these lost revenues is to cut deals with people and businesses that voluntarily give up their tax havens and pay the taxes due.