Select Media Mentions
Democracy Now: Panama Papers: Mossack Fonseca Set Up 1,000+ Companies Inside U.S.
April 11, 2016
“The massive data leak known as the Panama Papers has revealed the law firm Mossack Fonseca set up more than 1,000 shell companies inside the United States, once again raising questions about the United States’ role as an offshore tax haven. The papers show more than 600 shell companies were set up in Nevada alone. […]
Info-Europa: Social Media Takes On the Panama Papers Leak Through Cartoons
April 11, 2016
“Often, the person establishes a so-called shell company, which lacks any real operations and exists mainly on paper. “In Wyoming, Nevada and DE, 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. More […]
Opposing Views: Massive Data Leak Reveals Tax Havens, Shell Companies
April 8, 2016
“By using shell companies, Mossack Fornesca’s clients are able to avoid the government and the public learning “even the most basic things about what you’re doing and what your company is and who owns it,” Matthew Gardner, executive director of the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, told USA Today.” Read more
Morning News USA: Panama Papers Prove American Billionaires Are Sneakiest In The World
April 8, 2016
Speaking with the NBC News, Matt Gardner of the The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy said it’s also possible that American billionaires who were not implicated in the scandal simply work with other offshore companies that offer the same services Mossack Fonseca offers. After all, the United States is considered one of the […]
The News Tribune: Have an offshore? Maybe you’re feeling indigestion
April 8, 2016
“The leak may change the long-term behavior of wealthy Americans, said Matt Gardner, executive director of The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a Washington-based public policy group. “This certainly puts in neon lights that you can no longer rely on the absolute secrecy that people were used to in the past,” he said.” Read […]
WNYC The Brian Lehrer: Panama Papers Highlight Secretive Banking on US Soil
April 8, 2016
“Matthew Gardner, Executive Director of The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, an arm of Citizens for Tax Justice (a public interest research and advocacy organization focusing on tax policies and their impact), discusses his op-ed for CNN, which points out that despite the public and media attention the Panama Papers have garnered, the actions […]
The Herald: State relies on an unfair, insufficient tax system
April 8, 2016
“Last year, the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a nonpartisan and nonprofit research group, said Washington state had the nation’s most unfair state and local tax system, leading its list of the “Terrible Ten Most Regressive.” The state’s poorest 20 percent pay 16.8 percent of their income as taxes, while the middle 60 percent […]
Alaska Dispatch News: It’s time for Alaskans to put skin in the game, fund government through taxes
April 8, 2016
“At a rate of 1.5% of taxable income, an Alaska couple with one child, with a household income of $60,000 a year, would pay about $200 a year, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.” Read more
Lawyer Herald: Panama Paper Firm Connected to Over 1,000 US Companies Since 2001
April 8, 2016
“”If your goal is secrecy and not having prying eyes find out even the most basic things about what you’re doing and what your company is and who owns it, Wyoming and Nevada are incredibly attractive places from that secrecy perspective,” said Matthew Gardner, executive director of the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.” Read […]
Los Angeles Times: For just $309, you too can hide your assets — in the U.S.
April 8, 2016
“The mechanisms are pretty much the same here,” said Matthew Gardner, executive director of the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a nonprofit in Washington. “There’s nothing special happening in Panama. Panama is pretty much a microcosm of what the U.S. is a willing partner in.” Read more
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Rules kill Pfizer deal, but experts doubt Johnson Controls-Tyco tie-up will die
April 8, 2016
“Matthew Gardner, a critic of inversions who is executive director of the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, said this week’s move by the Treasury Department clearly had an immediate impact with the demise of the Pfizer-Allergan deal.” Read more
New York Times: Need to Hide Some Income? You Don’t Have to Go to Panama
April 8, 2016
“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.” Read more
Dhaka Tribune: Why Americans not included in #PanamaPapers
April 8, 2016
“First, this was a leak of more than 11m documents, and it will take some time for the ICIJ to scour them. “So maybe there are revelations about specific Americans and secret funds that we haven’t heard about,” said Matt Gardner, executive director of The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a research organisation.” Read […]
Reno Gazette Journal: Panama Papers firm has Nevada ties
April 8, 2016
““If your goal is secrecy and not having prying eyes find out even the most basic things about what you’re doing and what your company is and who owns it, Wyoming and Nevada are incredibly attractive places from that secrecy perspective,” said Matthew Gardner, executive director of the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.” Read […]
KENS5: 1,000 secret Nevada firms, 2 overseas addresses
April 8, 2016
“We shouldn’t be thinking about this as a Panamanian problem,” said Matthew Gardner, executive director of the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy in Washington, D.C. “We should be thinking about this as a very American problem, and a problem that arguably is worse here in the states than it is in Panama.” Read more
Quartz: Sorry, David Cameron-“private” offshore holdings are indeed a matter of public interest
April 7, 2016
“Political casualties are mounting fast in the wake of the Panama Papers—a historic leak of confidential documents from a Panama-based law firm that revealed connections between a number of world leaders and nearly 215,000 offshore shell companies. The prime minister of Iceland has said that he plans to step aside “for an undetermined amount of […]
New York Times: Panama Papers Leak Casts Light on a Law Firm Founded on Secrecy
April 7, 2016
“Panama isn’t the real story,” said Matt Gardner, the executive director of the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a research group based in Washington. “This leak is giving a window into a much broader world, but it should be understood as giving a window into how things work in the U.S. as well.” Read […]
WTSP: The “Panama Papers”: 6 key takeaways
April 6, 2016
“I’m not sure any of us are raising our eyebrows at much of anything here,” said Matt Gardner, executive director of the Institute of Taxation and Economic Policy, adding that Congress needs to put a stop to states such as Delaware that attract companies to incorporate there with a more favorable regime. “It shouldn’t be […]
Voice of America: Why So Few Americans Named in Panama Papers?
April 6, 2016
“If your goal is secrecy and not having prying eyes find out even the most basic things about what you’re doing and what your company is and who owns it, Wyoming and Nevada are incredibly attractive places from that secrecy perspective,” Matthew Gardner, executive director of the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a […]
Virginia Connection Newspapers: Arlington: The Undocumented American Story
April 6, 2016
“An analysis by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy found that, in 2012, 8.1 million of the nation’s 11.4 million undocumented immigrants paid state and local taxes, totalling $11.8 billion in revenue.” Read more
Inquirer: Undocumented Filipinos, think tanks debunk freeloading charge
April 6, 2016
“A study by the non-profit, non-partisan Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) revealed that some 8.1 million of the 11.4 million undocumented workers paid close to $12 billion in state and municipal taxes in 2012. It does not include taxes paid to the federal government, which are often higher.” Read more
Christian Science Monitor: What do the Panama Papers have to do with inequality? A whole lot.
April 6, 2016
The questions go beyond whether the financial activities were legal or illegal. The news puts names and faces on the problems of political cronyism and tax evasion by the wealthy, and on the global scale of these problems. That’s politically volatile in its own right. But the news, arriving at a time income inequality […]
NBC: Why Are Americans Not Included in the Panama Papers?
April 6, 2016
“First, this was a leak of more than 11 million documents, and it will take some time for the ICIJ to scour them. “So maybe there are revelations about specific Americans and secret funds that we haven’t heard about,” said Matt Gardner, executive director of The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a research organization.” […]
International Business Times: Why Aren’t More Americans In The Panama Papers? Secrecy, Tax Laws In Nevada, Other States Provide Havens
April 6, 2016
“A very small number of states are notorious for allowing pretty much anybody to start a company in the state without requiring even the most basic information,” said Matthew Gardner, executive director of the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy with Citizens for Tax Justice, a progressive think tank and advocacy group in Washington. “There […]
CNN: Panama Papers and America’s problem
April 6, 2016
“Anonymous shell corporations and secret bank accounts are vital resources for those engaged in tax evasion and money laundering. But this web of secrecy has started to crumble in recent years due in part to revelations from whistle-blowers embedded in this complex web of tax havens and fake corporations.” Read more
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