An alternative to prison…

April 15, 2010
Medellin, Colombia

Each year, the junior class at West Point must take a compulsory class in International Relations. Cadets call it “Sosh,” and the major milestone of the class is a mini thesis that ties together current events and irrelevant IR theories.

If memory serves, the deadline is right around Thanksgiving break, and the paper must be turned in by 1600 hours sharp, not a minute after.

The exercise, along with just about everything else at the academy, is supposed to reinforce the Army tradition of timeliness. In this case, though, cadets take the opportunity to poke fun at deadlines.

It’s called the Sosh run– they dress up in strange outfits and make a mad dash across campus with term paper in hand, mocking the deadline. It’s a real crowd pleaser as you can see in this video.

I’ve always thought that tax day could be spiced up a little bit in this way… with large crowds gathering outside the post office at 11:50pm to watch costume-clad taxpayers colorfully parade their disdain for the IRS.

I’d be there cheering them on (or parading) because I despise the IRS. It’s nothing personal, I simply abhor the legalized robbery of wealth from productive citizens to further finance bureaucratic waste.

It is precisely this waste that is driving the US into the ground. Don’t get me wrong, I truly love the country– it’s beautiful, boundless, and as diverse as it gets… but I loathe the corrupt charades of all politicians who further their own ends at the expense of their constituents.

Each year around this time, the government’s wallet gets a little bit fatter with the money that they have confiscated from productive citizens…they’ll blow through it in no time, and then go back to the well for more tax collections and more debt issuances.

Is there anything we can do about it?

Some people simply choose to not pay into the system. Don’t go this route.

Most tax protestors stand behind an argument that there is no actual law requiring an individual to pay income tax. Now, I’m no attorney, but I don’t understand what they are unclear about.

IRC (Title 26 of US Code) section 1 states: “There is hereby imposed on the taxable income of every individual… who is not a married individual a tax determined in accordance with the following table:”

Seems clear to me…

Law or no law, though, it doesn’t really matter. The court system will throw us all in jail if we don’t pay.

The smart move is proper planning.

We’ve discussed Open Opportunity IRAs before as a structure to defer or eliminate taxable gains on everything from gold coins to operating business income.

A properly deployed offshore structure can generate similar results, with the added benefit of additional privacy and asset protection.

Offshore structures get a bad name because people use them to hide money and assets. That’s the wrong idea. The name of the game is full disclosure.

If you file the proper forms and stay within the letter of the law, offshore structures can be a powerful tool that in some cases may even completely eliminate US tax liability.

Moreover, I think the full scope of planning should include planting multiple flags like a foreign bank account, overseas property, and second citizenship.

You might not be ready to leave unless/until things get really bad. But with minimal effort, you can safeguard your assets, reduce your taxes, and have an overseas landing pad ready to go that is generating tax-free income while you wait.

These are the sorts of topics that I will be discussing at the sold-out Casey Research summit in Las Vegas this month. I’m looking forward to meeting subscribers, and I have personally requested that the conference organizers open up a few more slots to our community.

If you’re waitlisted, or you just can’t make it out to Las Vegas, there is something else that you should consider if you want the information.

Recently, my friend Porter Stansberry asked me to participate in a private, members-only teleconference to discuss expatriation strategies. I was joined on the call by one of the world’s premier tax attorneys who specializes in international banking.

We spent about an hour on the phone, feeding off of each other’s knowledge, and it was precisely what I will be discussing at the Vegas conference, including some valuable insider tips on passports and bank accounts.

What I didn’t know at the time was that Porter conducts these ‘closed door’ teleconferences regularly. He invites some of the sharpest experts he can find in the investment world to discuss their ideas with a select group of subscribers.

At first glance, I thought this service was expensive at $800… until I realized that it’s much cheaper than attending a live conference, plus you get 12-full months of expert opinions, plus archive access.

I fully intend on participating again on future calls as a panelist, and that’s why I asked Porter to make this private service available to our community… I wanted to make sure that you still have the opportunity to get this information.

If you’re interested, you can find out more about it here. And try not to laugh when they refer to me as “one of the most dangerous men in America…”

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