In further evidence of the Obama administration circling the wagons and making it impossible for wealthy Americans to hold assets abroad, the venerable Lloyds TSB announced today that it would be dropping all accounts held by Americans.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/b…
Citing the aggressive tactics of the IRS, Lloyds explained that doing business with Americans is no longer worth the hassle. They follow in the footsteps of UBS, and now the stage is set for every major bank outside the U.S. to think twice about accepting American deposits.
One recipient, who has lived in the UK for over 25 years, said: "After all this time, I've suddenly been told I must take my money elsewhere and I don't understand why. Now I'm scared that other banks won't take me on either."
This follows on the heels of Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer stating that, if Obama's tax plan is enacted, Microsoft might leave the U.S. for all intents and purposes. He wasn't alone either. 9 other CEOs from major American technology firms endorsed his view.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/microsoft/2…
When are these government clowns going to learn? People will allow what they consider a reasonable amount of taxation. They won't be happy about it, but they'll tolerate it. As soon as you try to take more than what is reasonable, the big boys will just take their ball and go home.
With the country in as sad a shape as it is now, do we really want to be encouraging our top companies to set up in Bangalore, and our wealthy individuals to pull out altogether?
I think Obama thinks these guys are bluffing. The fact is, there could be tumbleweeds rolling down the streets of Redmond, Washington in less than 90 days if Obama keeps pushing it.
Agreed that abusive taxation will lead businesses to leave the country, however, what exactly is reasonable taxation? There is no objective standard. What is reasonable to you may not be reasonable to someone else. The real standard by which corporations make their decisions is how bad the taxes here are RELATIVE to other attractive locations. We don't need to worry about what is reasonable so much as we need to make sure our effective tax rates aren't significantly above the levels of other industrialized countries.
Unfortunately, the US taxes corporations more than any other country except Japan. There's little incentive already to base a multinational here right now. Taking resources from efficent producers (tech companies) and subsidizing inefficient producers (Steel industry)reminds me of the Soviet Union. But hey, that worked out well for them...
You're absolutely correct. "Reasonable" is a totally subjective term. Excessive taxation is kinda like porn; you can't define it, but you know it when you see it.
As far as managing effective tax rates, I think the present administration has proven on multiple occasions that they think people will be willing to pay top dollar to live in the U.S.
Secretly, though, if they really believed it, they wouldn't be putting all these draconian measures in place to make the U.S. a financial roach motel, where assets check in but they never check out.
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damn rich people can't use offshore tax shelters to avoid paying taxes anymore, i miss the good old days =/
I one worked for a company that used to create offshore holding structures etc, for both companies and individuals.
Once this dude came in off the street (weird for starters because our office was just somewhere in the suburbs) and said he didnt have/want any bank accounts, that way he avoided taxation, noone would know where his money was going. He also had know place where he was considered a permanent resident. Suffice to say, we would not take him as a client. He was some old british bloke, didn't seem like a drug dealer at all to me
Wow. That was random.
I genuinely hope this happens. I cannot stand Obama and his socialist BS. If Microsoft and a couple of big boys leave the democrats are as good as done.
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