by Global Risk Insights
Financial Sense
Hiding funds through unreported accounts, shell companies, transfer pricing, corporate inversions and other practices presents a high cost to national treasuries. Governments are now taking steps to combat the problem.
A recent estimate put the figure at a staggering $7.5 trillion deposited in offshore tax havens. Of this total, roughly 80% or $6 trillion is never reported or taxed. Individuals or corporations that cannot or will not take such measures are often taxed at a higher rate to make up the shortfall. This exacerbates the skewed distribution of wealth that is receiving an increasing amount of attention, e.g. in the 2016 US presidential race.