March, 31 2021, 12:00am EDT
Veil Lifted on Billionaire Tax Evasion and Wealth Hoarding
New book exposes United States "wealth defense industry."
WASHINGTON
A new book, available now, rips the lid off a quiet, secretive industry within the United States that helps the super-wealthy hide their wealth to avoid taxes and other obligations. The "wealth defense industry" is designed to create family dynasties of wealth and power, which the author believes are damaging the nation's economy and corrupting its democracy.
The book, "The Wealth Hoarders; How Billionaires Pay Millions to Hide Billions," (Polity Press, April 2021) is by Chuck Collins, Director of the Program on Inequality at the Institute for Policy Studies, where he co-edits the website, Inequality.org. He is also the author of many other books, including with Bill Gates Sr., "Wealth and Our Commonwealth," and the popular "Born on Third Base: A One Percenter Makes the Case for Tackling Inequality, Bringing Wealth Home, and Committing to the Common Good."
"The Wealth Hoarders" has already received praise and positive reviews.
"Chuck's book reveals not only the inner workings of this elaborate scheme to hide more than $20 trillion in wealth, it offers us a blueprint for reversing this obscene inequality so we can take back our democracy and ensure that our government works for everybody--not just the billionaire class and wealthy campaign contributors," wrote Senator Bernie Sanders.
Writing in the New York Post, Larry Gelten wrote, [Collins's] "new book focuses on what he calls the Wealth Defense Industry (WDI), noting that not only do the ultra-wealthy -- which he defines as the 0.1 percent--spend time and money ensuring they pay almost no taxes, but that there are over 90,000 professionals around the world whose careers are dedicated to helping them do so."
Frederik Obermaier, co-author of The Panama Papers, wrote, "The Wealth Hoarders reveals that a whole parallel world exists in which the rich and powerful enjoy the freedom to avoid not just taxes but all kinds of laws they find inconvenient."
For more information, please see: wealthhoarders.com
Institute for Policy Studies turns Ideas into Action for Peace, Justice and the Environment. We strengthen social movements with independent research, visionary thinking, and links to the grassroots, scholars and elected officials. I.F. Stone once called IPS "the think tank for the rest of us." Since 1963, we have empowered people to build healthy and democratic societies in communities, the US, and the world. Click here to learn more, or read the latest below.
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About 4,000 Volkswagen workers in Tennessee are voting on whether to unionize with the United Auto Workers. Labor journalist @hamiltonnolan says it's the most important union vote in years and could be the "first domino" in a wider push to organize the auto industry in the South. pic.twitter.com/RWFnO5KznI
— Democracy Now! (@democracynow) April 17, 2024
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