The amount of untaxed wealth hidden offshore by the richest 0.1 percent exceeds the entire wealth of the poorest half of humanity (4.1 billion people), reveals new Oxfam analysis published today ahead of the 10th anniversary of the Panama Papers. The findings show that, a decade later, the super-rich continue to exploit offshore systems to evade taxes and conceal assets, highlighting the urgent need for coordinated international action to tax extreme wealth and end the use of tax havens.
Oxfam estimates that $3.55 trillion in untaxed wealth was stashed offshore in tax havens and unreported accounts in 2024. This sum exceeds the GDP of France and is more than twice the combined GDP of the world’s 44 least developed countries.
The richest 0.1 percent holds approximately 80 percent of all untaxed offshore wealth, or around $2.84 trillion. Within this tiny group, the ultra-wealthiest 0.01 percent holds roughly half ($1.77 trillion).
Given the last Panama paper and similar leaks it’s much broader than USA :(
It’s a global class issue.
When Ukraine ousted their previous dictator, the Planet Money podcast had a piece on how the Ukrainian presidential palace had been effectively looted, and traced the absurdly long chain of shell companies that kept the actual owner obscured.
Also, the Vox/Netflix documentary series “Explained” had a genuinely good episode about billionaires. One of the things they brought up was that oligarchs store a lot of money in US real estate, like super-expensive NY condos.
This book is good too. Started in Boston and part of why America even exists as a country.
https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-wealth-hoarders-how-billionaires-pay-millions-to-hide-trillions-chuck-collins/368ffa9fd0d2dc32?ean=9781509543496&next=t
It was nearly a decade ago when I saw this, but there was a documentary, I think it was called The Spider’s Web or something like that.
Basically it was about shell companies and “trusts,” mostly centered in the Virgin Islands, where billionaires were keeping their real wealth obscured in off-shore banks.
It was mostly focused on wealthy Brits who derived their generational wealth from colonialism. It was pretty interesting though.
The guy was doing some investigative journalism, but obviously he wasn’t let into any of the buildings, and once he started to attract notice he started receiving threats and stuff. But he traced money trails backwards and they basically never led to individual people who could be held accountable for the money or how it was used.
Looking back now, I wonder how much of Epstein’s wealth was in those banks…
Are there shadow billionaires? Billionaires who are not officially recognized as such because they do such a good job of hiding their wealth?