- Secretive trusts in the country hold billions of dollars worth of assets.
- According to a new report catering to the ultra-wealthy, 13 states are “trust subservient”.
- There are billions of dollars left untaxed in these states.
With trillions of dollars of assets stored between, the idea of billionaires stashing their wealth in distant tax havens is not new. Palm trees and beaches. Many Americans may not realize that billions of dollars in untaxed wealth could be hidden in their backyards.
“The US has turned into a tax haven,” Chuck CollinsInsider was told by Jeremy, who is the director of the Program on Inequality & the Common Good at the Institute for Policy Studies. “Wealthy people around the globe are bringing their wealth and assets to the United States in order to avoid any responsibility and to store it.”
A A new reportIPS is a co-authored study by Collins and Kalena Thomashave that shows the elites of the world can remain in America if they wish to stash away wealth without having to pay taxes. This is because 13 US states have become strongholds for untaxed wealth, or are currently in the process of doing so. Trusts can help you prosper. These assets, which are not subject to tax, can be left alone and continue to grow over time without any money going to public services.
The report estimates that there are $575 billion in trusts in South Dakota, Nevada, Alaska and Delaware. A trust in Nevada can be left unaffected for up to 365 years. In the other states, however, they can continue to exist indefinitely with the exception of Delaware real estate. That means there are no protections. At some point trusts need to be liquidated and assets must be sold and taxes assessed..
The report also referred to Tennessee, Wyoming, New Hampshire, and Illinois as “Bad Actors”, with trusts totaling at least $800 billion. Rhode Island and Texas, Ohio, Missouri. Illinois, Florida, Texas, and Texas all have more than $300 billion in “Emerging Empowerrs.”
Collins stated, “There is a race for the bottom” in terms of who will lower their standards and who will require less oversight.
All of those states are trust friendly, meaning that they have legislation or other measures in place that allow trusts holding assets to often remain anonymous or confidential, and to allow those trusts to exist in perpetuity or for hundreds of years — meaning that the assets never have to be sold or taxed when assets from the trust are received.
Total, the inequality researchers Gabriel Zucman and Thomas Piketty are Emmanuel Saez. EstimateAs of 2021 there were $5.626 trillion in estates and trusts.
Collins stated that “we can safely say that we’re talking hundreds to billions of dollars per year, trillions most likely, that aren’t being subject to tax.” He said that one sign is the fact that “the federal estate taxes last year raised an appallingly low amount of money.” According to IRS, estate and gift taxes brought in around $27 billion last year — 0.7% of all taxes collected.
Collins said that the loss of revenue is costing the taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars.
One of the ways America’s most wealthy use to reduce their taxes is by hiding money in trusts. A staggering 2.1 million people were taxed last year. bombshell ProPublica report foundMany of America’s billionaires pay minimal to no income taxes. It was completely legal for billionaires to use the same tax bill methodology, which exposes the truth. Experts agreeThese are just a few of the flaws in the tax code.
Collins and the report suggest that federal bans on trusts where ownership is not clear would force trusts to register and disclose their ownership. Federal legislation that would prohibit trusts from being indefinitely allowed could also curtail this practice.
Collins stated, “From a perspective on inequality, this key mechanism is how intergenerational inequality perpetuates.”
