How much money is sheltered in tax havens?!

By Richard K. Barry

A new report from a group called Tax Justice Network says that the amount of money diverted offshore into tax havens is in the neighborhood of $21 trillion. They say it could be as high as $32 trillion.

As Daily Kos points out, even at the lower figure, that's more than the American and Japanese economies combined.

They also say this:

One aspect of all this hidden wealth is that it convincingly demonstrates that measurements of inequality between rich and poor (in both income and wealth) are off base. A major reason for this is that the one percent at the top of the heap rarely participate in surveys that calculate how much wealth and income people actually have. The very poor are also excluded, Milorad Kovacevic, chief statistician of the UN Development Programme's Development Report, told Guardian reporter Heather Stewart.

On top of this is the fact that the world economy could be buckling under the weight of sovereign debt but the richest of the rich will always find ways to avoid paying their fair share.

Let's see those tax returns, Mitt.

(Cross-posted at Lippmann's Ghost.)