The Rich are Better Off Than You Think

Bush creates tax cuts for the super rich. Republicans want to do away with the estate tax, deeming it unfair. And yet, according to a new report by the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, wealthy individuals are hiding trillions of dollars in assets in offshore banks to avoid paying 40-70 billion a year in taxes.

Original press release here.

Copy of official report (in pdf) here.

(I don't want to paint those with wealth all with the same brush. While there are, according to the report, a significant amount of individuals who utelize off-shore accounts for tax evasion, financial fraud, and money laundering, there are many, many people who earned their wealth the hard way and use it legally. Just pisses me off that people who make more than I will in 100 lifetimes don't seem to think they have to live by the same laws.)