According to the Securites and Exchange Comission (SEC), several banks have been shifting funds in order to evade income taxes on them.
Some of the nation’s biggest banks have sheltered hundreds of millions of dollars from state taxes by creating investment funds that didn’t sell shares publicly but paid tax-exempt dividends to the banks, Thursday’s Wall Street Journal reported.A review of Securities and Exchange Commission records shows that at least 10 major banks shifted more than $17 billion into such funds. Bank of America Corp. (BAC) alone transferred at least $8 billion into its fund, sheltering more than $750 million in income from 1999 through last May. The banks contend the funds were legitimate vehicles for raising investment capital, but many appear to have served little purpose beyond sheltering income. In effect, the funds converted interest income from the banks’ loan portfolios into tax-exempt dividends.
I say, GOOD FOR THEM!
The rationale behind the charges leveled by the SEC (and consequently behind the income tax) is that a rich person has no right to their money and should be taxed in order to provide for those who are “in need,” and therefore have a right to that money. This is completely wrong. Every individual, whether they are rich, poor, black, white, atheist, theist, gay, straight, etc., has the INALIENABLE right to their own life, which means, the right to take WHATEVER actions they deem necessary for the benefit of their own life, as long as they do not violate the right to life of others.
Taxing an individual because they are rich is the equivalent of a robber putting a gun to their head and stealing their money. The only difference is that it is done by a group of people (the government) as opposed to one individual (the robber). We condemn a robber for stealing from another, but we praise an act of Congress which does exactly that on a much bigger scale! The average robber may steal thousands from one individual whereas our government steals MILLIONS from many individuals!
I applaud the actions of these banks in firmly rejecting the immoral income tax and upholding their right to their own money.
I am shocked and a bit disappointed that the banks haven’t been doing this all along, since the inception of income taxes. If I was president of one of these banks, things would be different, and perhaps I could find an ingenious way not to get caught. Damn them.
Comment by 8/7/2003 @ 10:56 pm