Globally, tax payers are exploited by those determined to escape paying tax which would have, if paid, contributed to benefitting the living standards of their fellow humans.
“Bleeding the beast” refers to a practice where individuals or groups exploit government funds for purposes not intended by the government, often associated with polygamous communities. waywordradio.org
The US tax fraud list:
Tax fraud and tax evasion resulting in underpayment can take many forms, including:
Underreporting of income due to investment in offshore tax havens
Improperly transferring tax benefits from one company to another by artificially depressing the income reported by U.S. entities based on manipulation of “transfer pricing” (e.g., the prices that one subsidiary charges to another subsidiary for goods or services)
Abusive tax shelters that lack any real economic purpose other than the evasion of taxes, including “Guam Trusts,” debt straddles, lease-in/lease-out transactions, S-Corp ESOP transactions, and off-shore deferred compensation arrangements.
Circular transactions in which funds are moved from one company to another to generate artificial tax benefits
Manipulation of the recognition of revenue or profits to maximize tax benefits
Fraudulent claims for tax credits or deductions, including tax credits for renewable energy investments and sales.
Fraudulent assertions of tax-exempt status, including by organizations engaged in lobbying or other activities that prevent lawful assertion of tax-exempt status.
Such scrutiny has led to new adaptations of the offshore tax haven industry where trillions of uncollected taxpayers funds reside.
To an outsider, offshore tax havens might look like minor jurisdictions on a map, but for the world’s most wealthy, they are anything but, acting as mechanisms for protecting and controlling vast sums of money. There has always been a distance between wealth and visibility, whether through the turquoise shores of the Cayman Islands or the golden vaults of Swiss banks. But in a sudden reversal, these very havens that once promised discretion and protection no longer work quite like they used to.
Offshore finance rarely disappears. Instead, it adapts to changing rules and oversight, while steadily continuing to grow in scale. Estimates suggest that between $21trn and $32trn of global financial assets are now held offshore, although the confidentiality of these jurisdictions makes reliable figures few and far between. The Tax Justice Network believes that the world loses around $427bn in tax revenue every single year to these illicit arrangements.
But tax avoidance is not the simple affair it once was. Traditional secrecy jurisdictions face greater pressure under OECD’s Global Minimum Tax and Reporting Standard, which has made the once convenient offshore loophole more visible and costly. In response, the ultra-wealthy are not retreating, they are adapting.
When old tricks stop working, new ones take shape. Today’s high-net-worth individuals find refuge in dual passports, tax-friendly residencies, DeFi platforms and the odd private island thrown in for good measure. Some of these choices offer genuine financial advantages; others arguably offer the illusion of escape. Still, the inventiveness of these workarounds suggests that the offshore mindset remains firmly intact, only now it is just more scattered across the globe and less reliant on the familiar offshore havens.
So far, some of Jeffrey Epstein files reveal his use of charities as tax avoidance vehicles for his clients:
By 2025 the public record most reliably links Epstein’s remaining estate activity to Gratitude America’s post‑conviction donations and to transfers into Les Wexner’s philanthropic entities, while litigation and settlements with the U.S. Virgin Islands and victims substantially reduced the estate’s size and complicated distributions [1][2][3][7]. However, recent document dumps are incomplete and redacted, and reporting does not provide a definitive, public accounting of every remaining dollar or a full list of charities ultimately receiving estate funds — the chain of custody for many transfers remains contested and under review [5][6].
When you hear about billionaires giving away millions to charity, it’s easy to picture them as selfless philanthropists. But what if that generosity is also a clever financial strategy? The truth is, many wealthy individuals have mastered the art of using charitable giving as a tool to minimize their tax bills. This isn’t just about feeling good or making a difference—it’s about leveraging the tax code to keep more of their wealth. Understanding how rich people weaponize generosity for tax loopholes can help you spot these tactics and even use some of them (ethically) in your own financial planning. Whether you’re curious, skeptical, or just want to make smarter money moves, this article will pull back the curtain on the intersection of charity and tax savings.
1. Donor-Advised Funds: The Charitable Piggy Bank
Donor-advised funds (DAFs) are one of the most popular ways the wealthy weaponize generosity for tax loopholes. Here’s how it works: you donate cash, stocks, or other assets to a DAF, get an immediate tax deduction, and then decide later which charities actually receive the money. This means you can lock in a big tax break in a high-income year, but take your time doling out the funds. According to the National Philanthropic Trust, DAFs held over $229 billion in assets in 2022, and these funds’ grants are growing yearly. For the rich, DAFs are like a charitable savings account with major tax perks.
2. Appreciated Assets: Giving Away Gains, Not Cash
Instead of writing a check, wealthy donors often give appreciated assets—like stocks or real estate—to charity. Why? Because when you donate an asset that’s increased in value, you avoid paying capital gains tax on the appreciation. Plus, you get a deduction for the asset’s full market value. For example, if you bought stock for $10,000 that’s now worth $50,000, donating it lets you skip the tax on the $40,000 gain and claim a $50,000 deduction. This double benefit is a classic way rich people weaponize generosity for tax loopholes, and it’s perfectly legal.
How a Pentagon contractor built a global empire — and a massive tax evasion scheme
Douglas Edelman rose from owning a bar in Kyrgyzstan to winning $7 billion in defense contracts, only to plead guilty this week to hiding his fortune from U.S. tax authorities.
The Post Office has awarded an additional 12-month contract to Fujitsu to extend the bridge between the Japanese supplier and a replacement taking over the controversial Horizon service.
The Post Office does not expect to find a supplier to take over the running of Horizon before July next year, which means its £40m December 2024 contract, which extended the agreement with Fujitsu until March 2026, is inadequate.
Fujitsu will be paid another £41m to continue to supply and support the software at the centre of the Post Office scandal until at least March 2027. But that will not be the end of Horizon itself, which will be used until a replacement is developed by a yet-to-be contracted supplier.
“Post Office has agreed with Fujitsu a one-year bridging extension to the Horizon contract for the period 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027,” said a Post Office spokesperson. “We are committed to moving away from Fujitsu and off the Horizon system as soon as possible. We are bringing in a different supplier to take over Horizon while a new system is developed, and this process is well underway.”
Attempts to replace the Horizon system have already seen multiple extensions and a major in-house project scrapped after a government report last year found that budgets ballooned from £180m to £1.1bn.
A government contract tender published in May offered £323m to a “replacement services provider” to take over the existing Horizon services. The second part of the contract, worth £169m, was for a commercial off-the shelf electronic point of sale software provider to provide Horizon’s replacement.
The Post Office requested a four-year extension of the Horizon contract in November 2024, as the IT supplier’s European boss arrived to give evidence at the Post Office scandal public inquiry. Paul Patterson, Fujitsu’s head of Europe, told the public inquiry that any Horizon contract extension must be as short as possible and said that he did not trust the Post Office.
During his appearance at the public inquiry, Fujitsu’s Patterson said he had major concerns about the continued use of the Horizon system, which has reached its “end of life”, adding that long extensions might not be possible. He said that some parts of Horizon are so old that Fujitsu doesn’t want to turn them off as it is uncertain what would happen if it did.
Horizon continues to produce erratic figures in branch accounts, which the Post Office can’t explain, with millions of pounds being written off. According to a freedom of information response to Computer Weekly from the Post Office, in the past two years, subpostmasters identified more than 16,000 discrepancies, including both account shortfalls and surpluses.
The taxpayer-owned business wrote off £11.6m in unidentified shortfalls, subsequently recorded on the Horizon system as a loss, in its most recent financial year. In the previous year, it wrote off £10.4m as losses for the same reason.
There is anger among the public and politicians over the Post Office and government’s reliance on Fujitsu for IT services in light of the suppliers role in the Post Office scandal.
A government spokesperson said: “We are working as quickly as possible to ensure the Post Office has the technology it needs, including replacing Horizon, as a vital part of the company’s wider transformation.
“The fact they still use the Horizon system indicates past under-investment, which can’t be rectified overnight, so we need to ensure postmasters have the tools they need to continue serving their customers in the interim.”
The Post Office scandal was first exposed by Computer Weekly in 2009, revealing the stories of seven subpostmasters and the problems they suffered due to Horizon accounting software, which led to the most widespread miscarriage of justice in British history (see below timeline of Computer Weekly articles about the scandal since 2009).
The scandal is then tossed, like a hot potato, to a foreign billionaire:
What do we know about Royal Mail’s new owner?
ByLora Jones
Business reporter, BBC News
Published16 December 2024
Updated 17 December 2024
Daniel Křetínský is set to become the new owner of Royal Mail after the sale of its parent firm was approved by the government.
The Czech entrepreneur has been described as a “quiet sphinx” for his inscrutable style. So who is the low-key billionaire and what could new ownership mean for this historic British company?
According to the Sunday Times Rich List, the 49-year-old is now worth £6bn – up £2bn on 2023.
He has adopted a low-profile approach to his business dealings, but what we do know about Mr Křetínský is that he made a large part of his money in Central and Eastern European energy via a labyrinthine structure of companies.
This includes Eustream, which transports Russian gas via pipelines that run through Ukraine, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
In the UK, Mr Křetínský has built up quite a portfolio in well-known brands through Vesa Equity Investment, a private firm which is registered in Luxembourg.
He holds big stakes in supermarket group Sainsbury’s and the sportswear retailer Footlocker.
And, like others in his wealth bracket, he has a football club or two. These include Sparta Prague in his home country, as well as Premier League club West Ham United, in which he holds a 27% stake.
Retired, living in the Scottish Borders after living most of my life in cities in England. I can now indulge my interest in all aspects of living close to nature in a wild landscape. I live on what was once the Iapetus Ocean which took millions of years to travel from the Southern Hemisphere to here in the Northern Hemisphere. That set me thinking and questioning and seeking answers.
In 1998 I co-wrote Millennium Countdown (US)/ A Business Guide to the Year 2000 (UK) see https://www.abebooks.co.uk/products/isbn/9780749427917
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