With the Panama Papers still fresh on everybody’s minds, here’s a video of presidential candidate Bernie Sanders speaking about the free trade agreement with Panama way back in 2011.
In the video, he notes that the trade agreement appears to be of little benefit to the much larger US economy-. If the average American doesn’t benefit, who does? Wealthy Americans and large corporations use the small country to avoid paying taxes… and the trade agreement, according to Sanders, made the situation worse.
The free trade agreement represents the government purposely tying its own hands so that it cannot act against the tax havens in Panama, and by extension the corporations and wealthy individuals. “Combating tax haven abuse in Panama would be a violation of this free trade agreement, exposing the US to fines from international authorities”.
He concludes that with a 14 trillion dollar national debt back then, now over 19 trillion dollars, America cannot afford to let these tax havens carry on with their business.
On the other hand, presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s relationship with tax havens seems to be strikingly different- though she hasn’t been directly tied to the specific Panamanian law firm that is at the center of this scandal, rich individuals with close ties to her have used it for their own purposes. Though she has condemned the “outrageous tax havens and loopholes that super-rich people across the world are exploiting”, she and Bill Clinton have 5 shell companies in Delaware.
Sources: Miami Herald, The Week
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