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Tax Haven Abuses: The Enablers, The Tools & Secrecy

Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations

Location: Room 106, DIrksen Senate Office Building

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Agenda

The Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations held a hearing entitled "Offshore Abuses: The Enablers, The Tools & Offshore Secrecy."  The Subcommittee has held a number of hearings addressing the issue of tax havens and offshore abuses which are undermining the integrity of the federal tax system, diverting tens of billions of dollars each year from the U.S. Treasury, and undermining U.S. law enforcement. Hearings held in 2001 examined the historic and ongoing lack of cooperation by some offshore tax havens with international tax enforcement efforts and their resistance to divulging information needed to detect, stop and prosecute U.S. tax evasion. A hearing held in December 2002 and Report issued in January 2003 provided an in-depth examination of an abusive tax shelter used by Enron. Two days of hearings in November 2003, and a bipartisan report issued in 2005, provide an inside look at how some respected accounting firms, banks, investment advisors, and lawyers have become engines pushing the design, sale, and implementation of abusive tax shelters to corporations and individuals across the country. The Subcommittee’s August 1st hearings presented case histories on the use of offshore trusts and corporations to circumvent U.S. tax, securities and anti-money laundering laws.

The following Subcommittee Staff Report was issued in conjuction with this hearing and is available in the final Printed Hearing Record which can be accessed via the link at top left of this webpage.

Tax Haven Abuses: The Enablers, The Tools & Secrecy (Joint Report of the Majority and Minority PSI Staffs - Report appears on p. 161 of the August 1, 2006 hearing record.)

Witnesses

Panel 1

  • THE HONORABLE MARK EVERSON
    Commissioner, Internal Revenue Service
    U.S. Department of the Treasury
    Washington, D.C.
    Download Testimony (66k)

Panel 2

Panel 3

Panel 4

  • LOUIS J. SCHAUFELE III
    Securities Broker
    Dallas, Texas
  • JEFFREY GREENSTEIN
    Chief Executive Officer
    Quellos Group, LLC
    Seattle, Washington
  • MICHAEL CONN
    Private Bank Northwest Region President
    Bank of America
    San Francisco, California
    Download Testimony (75k)
  • GEORGE T. WENDLER
    Senior Executive Vice President & Chief Credit Officer
    HSBC Bank USA
    Marlboro, New Jersey
    Download Testimony (303k)

Panel 5

  • MICHAEL G. CHATZKY
    Chatzky & Associates
    San Diego, California
  • LEWIS R. STEINBERG
    Former Partner, Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP
    New York, New York
  • JOHN P. BARRIE
    Bryan Cave LLP
    Washington, D.C.
  • CHARLES W. BLAU
    Meadows, Owens, Collier, Reed, Cousins & Blau
    Dallas, Texas
    Download Testimony (155k)