Delaware Beats Switzerland in Financial Secrecy

A 2007 survey by the Tax Justice Network revealed an amount totaling $2.6 trillion in individual and non-resident deposits taken in by the US. Delaware tops the list of the most secretive financial centers in a survey of 60 jurisdictions in context of laws, practices and money inflows. The ranking is based on offshore activity and the cooperation in “turning over financial information”.

Luxembourg and Switzerland come after that. If Switzerland has long been the only center for financial secrecy, the US is taking help from UBS (NYSE: UBS) for tax evasion purposes. Not requiring companies to be physically present, non-taxing of profits are some of the attractive financial secrecy practices in Delaware. But according to Larry Harmamesh, the state is trying to give up such practices in order to highlight its “flexible laws and expert courts”.