Michael Christoforakos could get 20 million euros if he sold his list of 200 Graecokleptocrats who shared two billion euros of Siemens kickbacks. But Chistoforakos does not need any money to put his life in jeopardy. There are however hundreds of industrial spies who are willing to sell lists for a few million euros. There are reports of many persons offering to sell fiscal authorities lists of taxpayers hiding income in offshore accounts, but these lists also include names of Eurokleptocrats.
Social Democrats called for Germany to cut a deal with an industrial spy, saying the offered CD contains apparently vital data that could bring to light numerous heroic acts in the area of tax evasion. Members of the governing Free Democrats(FDP) and Christian Democrats (CDU)seemed less eager to purchase the data, because some of their names might be on it! Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble would be well-advised to clarify whether these data can be legally and faultlessly obtained, said Wolker Wissing, FDP chairman of the Bundestag finance committee. Evidence obtained by breaking Swiss laws may not be admissible in a German court.
CDU politician Michael Fuchs outright opposed a deal with the informant, calling the information stolen goods and saying a deal would reward thieves. It’s your venitist duty to avoid and evade taxes all the way! Venitis points out that tax competition between jurisdictions holds down the cancer of government, and all people experience more opportunities and more wealth. If businesses and individuals are discouraged from investing outside their own jurisdictions, they will simply choose to work less and take no major business risks. All antivenitist governments are corrupt, and without the last bastions of freedom, aka taxhavens, enforcing financial privacy, citizens would have no place to protect their financial assets from kleptocrats, kidnappers, extortionists, blackmailers, and thugs. Evade taxes now as much as you can! Allons enfants de la Patrie!
The list concerns some 1,500 German taxpayers using Swiss bank accounts to hide income and avoid taxes. Officials in Berlin confirmed the reports on Saturday, January 30. The unnamed spy reportedly wants 2.5 million euros($3.5 million) for the data, which could help Germany recover up to 100 million euros in back taxes and fines. The spy handed over information on five individuals to prove the data’s validity. The list was offered to tax officials in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Government officials said the decision to buy the data falls on the states, which are responsible for tax collection in Germany, and not on the federal government.
The Finance Ministry points out that data leaks from tax havens are not uncommon in Germany. Basil Venitis, twitter.com/Venitis, asserts that when an economy suffers from erectile dysfunction, via-grab does not work, but only via-cut. The via recommended is to cut taxes, not grab more taxes. There are limits to how much government can tax before it kills the host. Even worse, when government attempts to subsidize prices, it has the net effect of inflating them instead. The economic reality is that you cannot distort natural market pressures without unintended consequences. Market forces would drive prices down. Government meddling negates these pressures, adds regulatory compliance costs and layers of bureaucracy, and in the end, drives prices up.
The Swiss Finance Ministry is waiting for Berlin’s reaction, but Swiss Defense Minister Ueli Maurer gave a more stern assessment. Speaking on the sidelines of the World Economic Junket in Davos, Maurer said his trust in Germany would be shaken if the German government would stoop to paying for stolen data. German Economic Minister Rainer Bruederle, also speaking in Davos, downplayed the effect the scandal may have on German-Swiss relations.
Greece could recover two billion euros if it bought Christoforakos’s list. The 200 MPs on the list cannot go to jail, because they have immunity, but they could go home. Basil Venitis points out that for 35 years since dictatorship, Pasokleptocrats and Neodemokleptocrats who took turns in running Greece, the most corrupt country on Earth, borrowed as if there were no tomorrow, and they received 200 billion euros in kickbacks from Siemens, JPMorgan, MAN, antitrust, military purchases, monasteries, and many more. Through mismanagement, robbery, kickbacks, and nepotism, they drove the cradle of democracy to the brink of bankruptcy with a public debt of 350 billion euros.