States Vie To Provide Dodges For The Super-Rich

Among the revelations in the Panama Papers, that trove of purloined documents revealing how law firm Mossack Fonseca was helping wealthy clients hide their assets, was that Nevada and Wyoming had become a haven for shell companies designed for the purpose. But they aren’t the only ones pursuing the business. An article in the New York Times explains how a robust competition has developed among a handful of states for clients who, for whatever reason, are interested in shielding if not hiding their assets. For those states that host the trusts and accounts of the one percent, there doesn’t appear to be much direct benefit, but advocates argue there are some indirect ones. “The clear leaders are Nevada, Delaware, South Dakota and Alaska, but other states have also joined the asset-protection frenzy,” say the Times article. “New Hampshire, Wyoming, Tennessee and Ohio all hope to dip a spoon in the trillion-dollar-plus pot of cream that had traditionally been preserved in offshore tax havens like the Cayman Islands.”