隱匿資產何必要去巴拿馬 美國也是避稅天堂
For wealthy Americans looking to veil their assets and shield some of their income from taxation, there is no need to go to Panama or any other offshore tax haven. It’s easy to establish a shell corporation right here at home.
那些想要隱匿資產或者隱藏部分收入以達到逃稅目的的美國有錢人，根本沒必要去巴拿馬或者其他離岸避稅天堂。在美國本土開設殼公司是很容易的。
“In Wyoming, Nevada and Delaware, it’s possible to create these shell corporations with virtually no questions asked,” said Matthew Gardner, executive director of the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a nonprofit research organization in Washington.
“在懷俄明州、內華達州和特拉華州，都可以開設這類殼公司，幾乎不會有人過問，”稅收與經濟政策研究所(Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy)執行理事馬修·加德納(Matthew Gardner)說。該研究所是華盛頓的一個非盈利研究機構。
In some places, it can be more difficult to get a fishing license than to register a shell company. And it doesn’t cost much more.
在某些地方，註冊殼公司可能比獲得捕撈許可證更容易。而且費用也不會高多少。
The Panama Papers — the cache of leaked documents from a Panama law firm, Mossack Fonseca — have revealed how thousands of the firm’s clients, including an array of powerful figures around the world, stashed billions of dollars in tax havens. So far only a tiny number of American names have surfaced (although that could change as more of the documents are reviewed).
從巴拿馬律師事務所莫薩克-馮塞卡(Mossack Fonseca)泄露出來的一批祕密文件，即巴拿馬文件，已經揭示了該律所數以千計的客戶——包括世界各地許多極具影響力的人物——如何把數以十億美元計的財富藏匿在避稅天堂。到目前爲止，被曝光的美國人的名字並不多（不過隨着人們查閱更多的文件，情況可能發生變化）。
That in no way means that Americans citizens are refraining from such practices, experts emphasized.
專家強調，這並不意味着美國公民與此類做法絕緣。
“This is just one firm in one place,” said Gabriel Zucman, an economist and the author of “The Hidden Wealth of Nations: The Scourge of Tax Havens,” “So it cannot be representative of what’s happening as a whole in the world.”
“這只不過是一個地方的一個公司，”著有《列國的隱藏財富：避稅天堂之患》(The Hidden Wealth of Nations: The Scourge of Tax Havens)的經濟學家加布裏埃爾·祖克曼(Gabriel Zucman)說，“因此它不能代表整個世界的現狀。”
But Mr. Zucman, who estimates that about 8 percent of the world’s financial wealth — more than $7.6 trillion — is hidden in offshore accounts, said another reason was that it is so simple to create anonymous shell companies within the United States.
但祖克曼說，另一個原因是在美國境內開設匿名殼公司非常容易。他估計全世界約有8%的金融財富——超過7.6萬億美元——隱藏在離岸賬戶之中。
Wealthy individuals and businesses that want to mask their ownership can conveniently do so in the United States, and then stash those assets abroad.
想要隱藏財富的個人和企業，可以很方便地在美國這樣做，然後再把那些資產藏匿到海外。
Yet while the United States demands that financial institutions in other countries share information about Americans with accounts overseas, its reciprocation efforts fall short, critics say.
批評人士稱，儘管美國要求其他國家的金融機構與其分享關於擁有海外賬戶的美國人的信息，但它在禮尚往來方面做得還不夠。
“You see a ton of wealth in tax havens in Switzerland and the Cayman Islands that is owned by shell companies that are incorporated in Panama or in Delaware,” he said. “The bulk of this wealth does not seem to be duly declared on tax returns.”
“你看到瑞士和開曼羣島的避稅天堂裏藏匿的大量財富，持有者都是在巴拿馬或者特拉華州註冊的殼公司，”他說。“這類財富中的絕大部分似乎並未按照規定進行納稅申報。”
A recent report by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy called “Delaware: An Onshore Tax Haven” noted that the state’s lack of transparency combined with an enticing loophole in its tax code “makes it a magnet for people looking to create anonymous shell companies, which individuals and corporations can use to evade an inestimable amount in federal and foreign taxes.”
稅收與經濟政策研究所最近發佈了一份報告，名爲《特拉華州：在岸避稅天堂》(Delaware: An Onshore Tax Haven)。報告稱，特拉華州缺乏透明度，再加上該州稅法中存在誘人的漏洞，“使得它成爲了一塊磁石，深深吸引着想要開設匿名殼公司的人，個人和企業可以利用這些殼公司逃掉應在美國和海外繳納的稅金，其數額難以估量。”
Delaware allows companies to shift royalties and similar revenues where they actually do business to holding companies in Delaware, where they are not taxed.
特拉華州允許企業將專利使用費及類似的收入從實際經營地轉移到它們在該州的控股公司，而且不要求它們就這部分收入納稅。
Heather A. Lowe, the legal counsel and director of government affairs for Global Financial Integrity, a research and advocacy group in Washington, warned that the problem was much more widespread than just a handful of states.
華盛頓的研究及倡導團體全球金融誠信組織(Global Financial Integrity)的法律顧問兼政府事務負責人希瑟·洛(Heather Lowe)警告說，這一問題廣泛存在，遠遠超出了幾個州的範疇。
“You can create anonymous companies anywhere in the United States,” Ms. Lowe said. “The reason people know about Delaware, Nevada and Wyoming is because these states market themselves internationally.”
“你在美國的任何地方都可以開設匿名公司，”洛說。“人們之所以知道特拉華州、內華達州和懷俄明州，是因爲這些州在國際上進行自我推銷。”
Although individuals and businesses can have legitimate reasons to want to screen their holdings — for privacy or to prevent competitors from discovering investment plans — several experts said cloaking wrongdoing was a more common purpose.
儘管想要隱匿財富的個人和企業可能有合法的理由——爲了保護隱私或者防止競爭對手發覺自己的投資計劃——但一些專家稱，掩蓋不法行爲纔是常見的目的。
Aside from avoiding taxes, shell companies are routinely used by terrorist organizations to hide assets, by political donors to sidestep campaign finance laws and by criminals to launder money, Mr. Gardner said.
加德納說，除了避稅，殼公司還常常被恐怖分子組織用來隱匿資產，被政治捐款人用來繞開競選財務法，被罪犯用來洗錢。
The Treasury Department indicated this week that it planned to require financial institutions to verify the identities of customers who set up accounts in the names of shell companies, thus closing a loophole in the American banking system that thwarts transparency efforts.
財政部在本週表示，他們計劃要求金融機構覈實那些以殼公司的名義開設賬戶的客戶身份，以添補美國銀行系統中妨礙透明度的漏洞。
The Treasury also recently began a program that tracks people who use shell companies to purchase expensive real estate in New York and Miami.
財政部同樣在最近開啓了一個項目，以追蹤那些使用殼公司去購買位於紐約和邁阿密的昂貴房產的人羣。
But the new rules would not affect state law.
但是新的規定並不會影響到各州法規。
John A. Cassara, a former special agent for the Treasury Department, said that American and foreign law enforcement officials conducting investigations were regularly stymied by state secrecy laws surrounding shell corporations.
約翰·A·卡薩拉(John A. Cassara)曾是財政部的特工。他說，美國和其他外國的執法官員在進行調查的過程中，常常會受到圍繞在殼公司周圍的保密法規的阻礙。
“If somebody is conducting an investigation and it comes back to a Delaware company and you want to find who or what is behind that company, you basically strike out,” he said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s the F.B.I., at the federal level, state or local. Even the Department of Justice can’t get the information. There is nothing you can do.”
“如果有人在進行一項調查，找到了一家特拉華的公司，從而想找出這家公司背後的人或者組織，你基本上就走進死衚衕了，”他說。“無論調查的一方是不是FBI，無論是聯邦級別、州級還是地方級，都無濟於事。甚至連司法部都無法獲取那些信息。你什麼都做不了。”
“Why incorporate in Nevada?” the state’s website advertised in 2007. “Minimal reporting and disclosing requirements. Stockholders are not public record.”
“爲什麼在內華達州組成公司？”該州的網站在2007年這樣宣傳道。“因爲這裏有最低限度的申報和信息披露要求。沒有股東的公開記錄。”
Mossack Fonseca, the Panama law firm, set up offices in Nevada and Wyoming.
巴拿馬律師事務所莫薩克-馮塞卡(Mossack Fonseca)就在內華達州和懷俄明州成立了辦事處。
After revelations came to light about Americans using Swiss bank accounts to evade taxes, the United States in 2010 passed the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, which requires financial firms in other countries to disclose details about American clients with offshore accounts.
在美國人使用瑞士銀行賬戶進行逃稅的行爲被披露後，美國在2010年通過了《海外賬戶納稅法案》(Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act)，該法案要求外國的金融企業披露設立了離岸賬戶的美國客戶的相關細節。
Yet the United States is one of the few countries that has refused to sign new international standards for exchanging similar financial information with other countries.
爲數不多的國家拒絕簽署與其他國家交換類似的金融信息的新國際標準，美國是其中之一。
Another country that has failed to sign the standards? Panama.
還有哪一個國家同樣拒絕了簽署新的標準？巴拿馬。
