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This is a snippet from a recent issue of the Gold Forecaster with Subscriber-only
parts excluded.
As the fifth part of this series we now look at this question: "How will
Gold Confiscation affect the citizens of other countries, in the event their
Central Bank takes their gold?"
Does
the U.S. have rights in other countries, over their [U.S.] citizen's wealth?
The latest story to hit the headlines in this regard is the matter of U.B.S.
I'm sure all of you have read the details there, so I won't describe the entire
story. The pertinent point is that the U.S. Taxman asked for confirmation of
the names of 52,000 account holders and has received 4,500 only. Why?
The Swiss government relies on its banking services for a considerable percentage
of the nation's income. For three hundred years they have provided a home for
foreign owned assets and monies. The have, still firmly in place, Bank Secrecy
Laws that ensure that nobody can expose account holders at banks unless they
have evidence of criminal activity on the part of account holders. They have
stated clearly in the past that Tax Evasion is not considered a crime. Illegal
exports of wealth that involve a crime [such as diamond smuggling] would lead
to the Swiss authorities turning over an account holder's name. So, 4,500 out
of 52,000, implies that criminal activities were allegedly perpetrated by these
account holders and 47,500 were not associated with crimes. This despite the
U.S. Taxman's objections to U.S. owned money being held in Swiss banks without
disclosure to the U.S. Taxman. Bear in mind that this is continuing!
Will the U.S. Taxman have any chance of exposing the 47,500 account holders?
The agreement made between the Swiss and U.S. Authorities clearly tells us
NO! This defines for us, the extent of "financial sovereignty". Without Swiss
government support, the U.S. Taxman cannot overrule Swiss Banking Secrecy Laws.
All that is left to the U.S. Taxman is prosecute suspicions at home and attack
locally [U.S.] owned assets by U.S. citizens, but then he needs proof positive
to be able to do so. This does not appear to be available in the case of 47,500
secret Swiss Bank Accounts. So the solid conclusion we can draw is that Jurisdiction
rules!
Having said that, please know that gold holding companies [At home and abroad],
which have U.S.-owned gold, have agreed to disclose account holders to the
U.S. Authorities and will not go against the U.S. Authorities. So generally
now, Swiss Banks will not entertain new U.S. account holders. For instance,
Julius Baer holds gold in its physical fund only for non-U.S. citizens. So
just holding gold overseas is clearly not enough!
[We are working on a solution to this problem right now!]
For citizens of other countries.
Citizens
in other lands face the same governmental claims on their income and capital.
The main difference is that, should you leave that country to live elsewhere,
your local taxman considers only the income and capital you leave at home to
be under his Jurisdiction. So long as you reside in that country [usually for
more than 3 years] your worldwide wealth is under his Jurisdiction.
There have been attempts by governments to force the repatriation of foreign
assets, but this has often pushed citizens to leave the country and abandon
their home nationality. The developed world has, in the past, exerted a more
efficient grip on its citizen's wealth, but all nations do their best not to
be too draconian, except in the dark days of extreme money conditions. When
these have persisted, they have gone to any lengths to control citizen's wealth,
even to the extent of taking ownership control of assets left behind by departing
residents. i.e. You have to ask their permission to use your own money even
at home, while you live elsewhere.
Don't think for a moment that such moves cannot happen again. To remove the
possibility of the seizure of gold, the world must be a far different place
to the one we see now. There will have to be complete governmental and citizens
acceptance that global interests override national ones. Likely? If you see
this, you will likely see a squadron of pigs circling the White House at the
same time.
That
is why the gold Exchange Traded Fund, The Ultimate Gold Fund has been
designed to accommodate U.S. gold owners, holding their gold in Switzerland,
in a manner that is intended to prevent their gold from being confiscated!
The Final Part will be next week : -
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in the: -
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