How do people and companies avoid paying taxes?

THE LATEST mega-leak of documents to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) made a splash on October 3rd, when media around the world began running stories on what they have dubbed the Pandora Papers. (Revelations are promised throughout the week.) The exposé lifts the lid on the financial affairs of dozens of world leaders, other public officials and billionaires in 91 countries. The focus of this leak, as with the ICIJ’s past ones, such as the Panama Papers in 2016 and the Paradise Papers a year later, is the offshore dealings of the global elite. The use of an offshore company to move money or buy property is not necessarily dodgy; a billionaire may mask a purchase made with legitimate wealth for privacy reasons. But shell companies registered in palm-fringed offshore centres (the British Virgin Islands is a favourite) are often used to avoid or evade tax, or to launder ill-gotten gains.