$7.6 TRILLION IN TAX HAVENS
“Gabriel Zucman,
who teaches at the University of California
at Berkeley,
has two goals in his new book, The Hidden Wealth of Nations: to specify the
costs of tax havens, and to figure out how to reduce those costs. While much
of his analysis is technical, he writes with moral passion, even outrage; he
sees tax havens as a ‘scourge.’ His figures are arresting. About 8 percent of
the world's wealth, or $7.6 trillion, is held in tax havens. In 2015,
Switzerland alone held $2.3 trillion in foreign wealth. As a result of fraud from
unreported foreign accounts, governments around the world lose about
$200 billion in tax revenue each year. Most of this amount comes from the evasion
of taxes on investment income, but a significant chunk comes from fraud
on inheritances. In the United States, the annual tax loss is $35 billion; in
Europe, it is $78 billion. In African nations, it is $14 billion.”
has two goals in his new book, The Hidden Wealth of Nations: to specify the
costs of tax havens, and to figure out how to reduce those costs. While much
of his analysis is technical, he writes with moral passion, even outrage; he
sees tax havens as a ‘scourge.’ His figures are arresting. About 8 percent of
the world's wealth, or $7.6 trillion, is held in tax havens. In 2015,
Switzerland alone held $2.3 trillion in foreign wealth. As a result of fraud from
unreported foreign accounts, governments around the world lose about
$200 billion in tax revenue each year. Most of this amount comes from the evasion
of taxes on investment income, but a significant chunk comes from fraud
on inheritances. In the United States, the annual tax loss is $35 billion; in
Europe, it is $78 billion. In African nations, it is $14 billion.”
Sunstein, Cass R, ‘Parking the Big Money,’ in The New
York Review, January 14, 2016, pp: 37-38, a review of The Hidden Wealth
of Nations: The Scourge of Tax Havens, by Gabriel Zucman, University of
Chicago Press, 2015.
