Its beaches don’t compare with those of Bermuda or the Cayman Islands. You can’t ski there. But the most boring state in the union is best damned tax shelter on earth.
The First State is finally first at something else, according to the Tax Justice Network. It’s the best place for non-Americans to hide from their taxmen, earning the august moniker, “most secretive financial jurisdiction.”
The equally insignificant Grand Duchy of Luxembourg placed in tax-haven sweepstakes, with odds-on favorite Switzerland finishing a distant third. The Cayman Islands and the U.K. followed the Swiss.
So just how much money did people make disappear behind the Mason-Dixon Line? Well, the TJN didn’t specify exactly. But non-residents deposited $2.6 trillion in the U.S. in 2007, up from just $1 trillion six years earlier, most of it likely in Vice President Joe Biden’s home state, making Wilmington—a city that is little more than a large collection of Mail Boxes Etcs.—a financial center on par with London and Hong Kong.
Leading economies blamed for fiscal secrecy [FT]
Tax Justice Network
Posted by guest , Nov 02, 2009 5:56PM
Oh, Delaware. You funny, funny little state.
Posted by mrpink , Nov 02, 2009 6:05PM
...waiting for the comments from TGFD...
-mrp
Posted by guest , Nov 02, 2009 6:06PM
Silence can be deadly. Shaz this.
Posted by guest , Nov 02, 2009 6:08PM
Thanks for the money stashing tip...now I don't have to have the office bitch do research.
Posted by guest , Nov 02, 2009 6:11PM
shazam, is this pond where you buried gregums?
Posted by guest , Nov 02, 2009 6:22PM
Wasn't this in the opening bell? I'm shocked TGFD hasn't pipe'd up.
Posted by guest , Nov 02, 2009 8:35PM
TGFD is currently being serviced by a homeless man under a bridge. Back tomorrow after his post-coital nap.
Posted by guest , Nov 02, 2009 8:42PM
The Homeless Homo Hobo from Delaware
-H3FD
Posted by american bandersnatch , Nov 03, 2009 7:23AM
Boy, Wilmington looks less sucky than usual in that pic.
Posted by guest , Nov 03, 2009 7:54AM
@AB looks like downtown Dallas - the rough end. Not that that's saying much.
Only steers and queers come from Delaware.
Posted by guest , Nov 03, 2009 10:55AM
TGFD was away from his post yesterday afternoon, and I didn't see this article until this morning.
I'm not sure why it was put on DB, since the subject was covered in yesterday's "Opening Bell".
Perhaps unlike Mr. bandersnatch, Mr. Shazar appreciates a fine gem like Delaware.
Who couldn't love a state with the highest budget defecit % in the nation, a state with the highest number of state employees per capita, a state with one in five people on Medicaid, a state with 19 seperate and autonomous school districts for a total state population of just over 800K, and a state with an unemployment rate higher than the national average?
Only a true believer like TGFD can look past all that.
There was nothing about this article in the local newspaper. TGFD checked back thru Saturday's edition and found no trace of it.
I think the article exaggerates Delaware's prominence in this money business. Beyond all the haze in the article, TGFD sees two points of clarity...
1) "Delaware is attractive because it does not tax profits realized outside the state and does not require companies to be physically present."
2) "Delaware is no more secret than any other U.S. state. Delaware's attraction to business is its flexible laws and expert courts."
Thank you to Mr. Shazar for mentioning Delaware.
The Guy from Delaware