TURKISH WEALTHY STORE $158BLN IN OFFSHORE BANK ACCOUNTS

PanARMENIAN.Net
July 25, 2012 – 11:28 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – The amount of money stored in offshore bank
accounts by Turkey’s wealthiest individuals and businesses is worth
$158 billion, says a report by the UK-based financial transparency
group Tax Justice Network.

According to Today’s Zaman, the report, prepared by former chief
economist at consulting firm McKinsey and tax haven expert James Henry,
tracked the growth in offshore funds around the world and estimates
that the $158 billion in non-taxable Turkish funds is part of the
staggering $21 trillion to $32 trillion which was held globally by
the world’s wealthiest individuals and corporations in tax havens at
the end of 2010.

That amount is more than the combined annual gross domestic product
(GDP) of the world’s two largest economies, the United States and
China, and does not include non-liquid assets often owned through
offshore means including real estate, yachts, racing horses and other
high-expense possessions. Taxing just 3 percent – equivalent to the
interest earned off many such accounts – of the $21 trillion at 30
percent would garner “roughly $189bn a year, more than rich economies
spend on aid to the rest of the world.”

Turkey’s $158 billion share of the tax-free pie is likely to make
Ankara despair no less than other governments over lost tax revenue,
given that the $158 billion in assets overshadows both Turkey’s entire
foreign reserves, estimated at $110 billion, and the country’s central
bank funds, which are said to total $97 billion.

From: Baghdasarian