The Tax Evaders

The rich are hiding trillions in wealth. You’ve probably heard about their offshore bank accounts, shell corporations, and fancy trusts. But this wealth isn’t all sitting in the Cayman Islands or Panama. Much of it’s hiding in plain view. Our communities are being fundamentally transformed by land grabs and luxury building booms. These drive up the cost of land in central neighborhoods, with ripple impacts throughout a community. And this worsens the already grotesque inequalities of income, wealth, and opportunity.

In Boston,  there’s a luxury building boom. According to a study, out of 1,805 luxury units — with an average price of over $3 million — more than two-thirds are owned by people who don’t live here. One-third are owned by shell companies and trusts that mask their ownership. And of these units, 40 percent are limited liability companies (LLCs) organized in Delaware.

Why Delaware? It is now the premiere secrecy jurisdiction in the United States — where you don’t have to disclose who the real owners of businesses are. As a result, tax evaders  enjoy the anonymous cover of a Delaware company. In fact, the U.S. is now the world’s second-biggest tax haven and secrecy jurisdiction, after Switzerland.

https://inequality.org/great-divide/the-wealth-hiding-in-your-neighborhood/