This is the most-interesting and most-shocking story about South Dakota that I have ever read. Yet, the worst is probably yet to come after the fallout from this story.
The article is from NBC
News here with this headline:
“Pandora Papers put South
Dakota in unsavory company. Here's why”
(This report written
by Suzanne Garment)
South Dakota, at least until recently, been most famous for
its dramatic Black Hills, Teddy Roosevelt, and Mount Rushmore.
But, now the Washington Post published its first slice of the so-called Pandora Papers, a humongous trove of 11.9 million documents laying out the ways rich people use tax havens to hide vast amounts of money and other assets.
The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) spent a year working with newspapers around the globe, including The Post, digging through the remarkable cache.
Some usual suspects, like wealthy Russian oligarchs and authoritarian rulers, make predictable cameos.
But, the papers also feature the usual jurisdictions where we know money is regularly stashed — including Switzerland, Singapore, and the British Virgin Islands.
But another, far more surprising haven is also prominently mentioned: The aforementioned South Dakota. SD as mentioned above, and until recently, has been most famous for its dramatic Black Hills, Teddy Roosevelt and the Badlands, Mount Rushmore, and Alfred Hitchcock’s movie: “North by Northwest.”
Its sparse population is spread across wide-open spaces, where talk of individualism and self-reliance is all the rage.
Gov. Kristi Noem
(R) stands as a fierce defender of personal freedom and an ardent foe of mask mandates.
For example, she hosted a major maskless tribute for Trump in the shadow of
Mount Rushmore last year and even more maskless motorcycle rallies in Sturgis. Yes, that South
Dakota.
Then this outrageous request from Trump to Noem:
The reasons this state is now alleged to be a haven for
(sometimes) nefarious global cash are fairly straightforward.
For starters, SD is a classic low-tax state. It has no income tax, no inheritance tax, and no capital gains tax.
The fees paid by trusts accrue to the state’s treasury. So
as far as South Dakota is concerned, the more trusts the better.
Under the leadership of legendary Gov.
“Wild Bill” Janklow, first elected in 1979, the recession made the state
especially eager for money. Spurred by economic need, the state became a leader
in abolishing the rule against perpetuities — the old doctrine that limits the
lifespan of a trust.
One version of the rule says a trust must vest — that is, it must distribute its assets — within a stated amount of time.
But not in South Dakota.
In South Dakota today, a trust
can last, well, forever.
The state couples this permissive regime with strict secrecy. As opposed to records in states like New York, court documents relating to South Dakota trusts are permanently private: Even the existence of such a trust is not public.
As a result, it is virtually impossible to discover who has established a South Dakota trust, who benefits from it or whether legal challenges to it have been filed.
In addition, the SD Legislature passed then-highly unusual legislation that enables the grantor of a trust to be its beneficiary, as well.
That means that John Doe can establish a trust for the benefit of (now wait for it) for John Doe.
(Other states seem to have some residual shame about such a practice).
After a
couple of years, the assets of the trust are safe from creditors of any kind.
Most states — even states that are otherwise trust-friendly — do not protect
trust assets to this extent.
Continue the article at the
main NBC site here – wow, what a read.
My 2 Cents: I’m still
reading this with my head spinning. Can’t wait to hear Gov. Noem to defend this.
Noem is a staunch Trump sycophant (seen here) and thus I’m sure we will hear
her sound just like Trump harping: “Fake
news, lying media, etc.”
So, stay tuned, a lot will
surely follow on this amazing and yes, startling story.
Thanks for stopping by.
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