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traduzioni90 · 3 years ago

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New Post has been published on Residency Bond Program for You

New Post has been published on http://residency-bond.info/fiscal-residence-and-second-citizenship/

FISCAL RESIDENCE AND SECOND CITIZENSHIP

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If it is deemed appropriate, it is necessary to choose well in which Country to take Tax Residence, as much if you are:

– Entrepreneurs and managers – Traders and investors – Private citizens with medium, high and medium income – Digital nomads and crypto-currency earners

We recommend Paraguay and offer Tax Residency (not a fictitious residence but a real tax residence abroad).

Furthermore, after having had Tax Residency in Paraguay, it is possible not to appear in the Country for three consecutive years and at the end of the three years to have Paraguayan Citizenship with the advantage of being able to take advantage of a double passport.

To obtain the Tax Residence and the Bank Account it is necessary to travel only for 5 or 6 days to then be able to return to the country of origin with Residence and Current Account.

After 3 years with another trip you can get the Second Citizenship, without giving up your Main Citizenship.

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#FISCAL RESIDENCE #SECOND CITIZENSHIP #citizenship

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asocio-blog2 · 4 years ago

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Guide to 9 European Micro States

The nine micro states Lichtenstein, San Marino, Campione, Monaco, Andorra, Gibraltar, Guernsy, Jersey and the Isle of Man are the only true tax haven.

Before getting deeper into anything regarding tax havens let us understand what tax havens are? A country or independent area where taxes are levied at a low rate is considered as a tax haven.

Micro states proved themselves as the best tax havens because they offer a very high standard of living with a lesser amount of tax to pay.

Let’s discuss the tax systems and the immigration laws of 9 countries that are fiscally autonomous territories in Europe.

Every European country has its own micro state tax haven. Let’s make some of these countries a topic of our discussion today, the 9 micro states are Lichtenstein, San Marino, Campione, Monaco, Andorra, Gibraltar, Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man. The only true haven without any type of income tax is Monaco. Rest of the countries are considered as beneficial as compared to their “mother countries” and somehow they manage to hold a sum of money for themselves.

Some of the countries like Andorra had major political pressure, due to which they had levied a fixed 10% tax rate on individuals. Which of the above countries are suitable for living and have different types of benefits for the citizens? let’s find out:

San Marino

San Marino is a micro country in central Italy and it is known as the oldest republic in the world. San Marino holds a clean history and it has never been conquered by any other kingdom. Once Napoleon tried to conquer it but never succeed, he got so inspired by this and he made his army march through the republic, he even gifted it with some of his most sophisticated cannons.

San Marino is a tourist destination situated on a high mountain, it is a place where you get all your enjoyment at very low prices. It is not a tax-free country, it charges nearly 50% of tax on your incomes, this palace is only beneficial with the aspect of dividends on which only 5% capital gain tax is applied. In the first five years of your residents, you have to pay local business tax 17% which will lower down after five years. The big and high-tech companies also get some tax advantages, A Limited Liability Company must have a social capital of €25500 and unknown company one of €77,000.

There are many ways to become a resident in San Marino, some are:-

You can become a resident of San Marino by creating a local company with 5 full-time employees and obtaining a building at the cost of €300,000 or by saving money in the bank, you also have the option of taking out yearly insurance of €30,000

You also have the option of taking 51% of shares in a local company and making a deposit of €75,000 in a bank, after that deposit of €75,000 in first two years of residence.

You can become a resident by investing in the infrastructure of more than €500,000 or 10-year government bond for 10 years which costs €600,000 and whole it costs €10,000 and €20,000per family member.

A unique feature of Europe is it does not grant citizenship even if you are residing in San Marino, you have to wait 30 years to become a citizen. If you are having the passport of San Marino then you can easily travel to China without having a visa.

The Isle of Man

The Isle of Man is one of the most unique bits of Europe and the British Isles. It is different from all the other islands surrounding it and there are a lot of interesting facts many don’t know about it. It is situated in the Irish Sea, between Northen Ireland and England and is considered, together with the two-channel Islands. This place is popular for tourists among the world, it is ideally known for the Rally and contains observing giant sharks, which are generally seen in the months of summer to eat the large quantities of plankton.

It was easy for EU citizens to settle on these island before the Brexit came into existence. The non-EU citizens have to follow the British mother country’s rules. It does not include a local permit, and thus, it does not become any problem for online entrepreneurs or individuals.

The Isle of Man does not allow any non-dom regulations so the income from anywhere in the world is considered taxable here. Consequently, you do not have to pay tax on capital gains, or on gifted items. The tax is even applicable to the social security contributions of employees and on the self-employed individuals.

Guernsey

Guernsey is one of the Channel Islands in the English Channel near the French coast and is a self-governing British Crown dependency. It is quite easy for EU citizens to emigrate to this Island, Just after the Brexit came into force it becomes harder to get a work permit there. The current conditions for non-EU citizens are GBP 1 million and acquiring a property.

The tax system of Guernsey and Alderney is similar to the non-dom system.

Residence and only residence are the two terms which differentiate the residency system of Guernsey, the individuals who own the principle/only residency have to pay a 20%income tax, with a limit of GBP 110,000 on foreign income or GBP 220,000 on domestic income. You can only able to make Guernsey your principle residence when you spent at least 183 days there, or you are living there for more than 90 days and at least 730 days in the last 4 years.

You have to pay a special tax that is “Standard Charge” if you are supposed to spend at least 91 days there or 35 out of 365 days from the past 4 years. With this aspect, you have to pay GBP 30,000 if your income is around 150,000 GBP or we can simply say that 20% of your income. if you are earning more than 150,000 GBP than you have to pay 20% tax on domestic and foreign income used in Guernsey.

The non-dom regulations are not allowed in Guernsey and this is the reason for the complicated tax system there. It must be noted that capital gains and gifted items are considered tax-free.

If you want to live in Guernsey you must have to spend at least 90 days in another country to avoid taxation on foreign income.

Liechtenstein

Liechtenstein is a micro state located between Austria and Switzerland. It is a German-speaking state because it is not so far from the German border.

Liechtenstein holds only 20 residence permits to the EU citizens each year through a lottery system. In order to get the permit, you will have to spend at least 183 days per year.

The businessman who wants to set a company in Liechtenstein need a well- connected lawyer, a convincing business plan and a bit of luck. Consultancies and technological companies have more scope in Liechtenstein.

The individual has to pay 12.5% corporation tax and 28% income tax. The equity tax is included in the income tax and the capital gains are tax-free. The 4% total equity includes all the tax charged on dividends, interest income, rental income, and licenses, along with the profits of the capital gains. Here, the tax system gives you a lot of burdens, almost €100,000 of partial taxation, it would be better to settle as a non-dom in Italy, a much bigger country than Liechtenstein.

Andorra

Andorra is a micro country located between France and Spain, it is known for having two heads of states, a Spanish bishop and the President of France. It is a well-known tourist place, which gets rushed in winter for winter sports.

Andorra offers a light tax burden as compared to Liechtenstein. It has a fixed tax rate which is 10 %, it is so because of the pressure of the EU.

It is a good place to live in terms of earning and saving money, the tax system does not put a high burden on you, the first €24,000 of your income and dividends from local companies are considered tax-free. The only tax which is levied upon individuals is 10% corporation tax which for international businesses can go down to 2% with prior request. Foreign dividends are also tax-free up to the shares of 25%. In any case, you do not have to pay more than 10% tax in Andorra.

The entrepreneurs who want to find a local business anywhere else from the country then also the immigration process is easy and fast as compared to other countries. You only need to spend three months there for registering as a self-employed or set up a local company. The necessary requirements for this are you have to own or rent a house along with paying the social security of €400 a month.

There are very strict rules for investors. It is mandatory for them to have a minimum income of €3,000 and private insurance, along with this, you have to make a bank deposit of €50,000 plus €10000 for members in the family, all this amount will get reimbursed once the residence is granted. You also need to make an investment of €400,000 in property, government bonds, shares in local businesses or financial products from Andorran banks. This condition is not applicable to professional international athletes and renowned scientists.

Gibraltar

Gibraltar is an Overseas Territory on Spain’s south coast. Gibraltar is always a subject of conflict between Great Britain and Spain due to its position. The Brexit would seriously endanger Gibraltar, perhaps to the point of losing its independence, which Spain has called for a long time.

For becoming a resident of Gibraltar it is necessary to spend at least 6 months in a year or 300 days in three years. Non-dom system is applicable in Gibraltar and due to which foreign non-controllable income is tax-free. It is also applicable to companies with Gibraltarian capital, these companies just have to 10% tax and after that, they are not liable to pay any tax on foreign income. If you are category 2 resident in Gibraltar then there is a minimum tax bracket which you have to follow as a citizen. The normal income tax of 20% is applicable to your dividends, but the corporation tax paid can be offset against this.

Gibraltar is always a subject of interest for investors and traders because of the lack of capital gain tax. Until the Brexit came into existence the EU citizens will able to enjoy the right to settle in Gibraltar by following some conditions. To settle up your self in Gibraltar you just need to become self-employed or you can also set a company in Gibraltar, you also have an option to prove some of your assets in the Gibraltarian borders. A health insurance policy with at least GBP 100,000 coverage is also necessary for the Gibraltar residence.

All the above will only comply if you have a second home, and it is applicable to non-EU citizens.

All the above is possible in a situation when you have a second home, along with the above conditions it is also necessary that you have net assets of GBP 2 million. And if you have a category 2 status, then you are liable to pay a tax of GBP 29,000.

You can get a residence in Gibraltar without having a category 2 status if you are an EU citizen but it is all possible with the permission of the local government.

Jersey

Jersey is the largest channel island, it is a self-governing state of United Kingdom, it comprises of mix cultures of British and French. Before the existence of Brexit, the EU citizens could settle easily in Jersey. The non-EU citizens can also settle there by purchasing or renting a property which cost around GBP 1,750,000.

The tax system in Jersey is quite similar to Guernsey but in addition of some other tax laws. It gives many benefits to the non-dom residence, in which the income from other countries is non-taxable and the income from Jersey is taxable. You just need to make Jersey your main home living at least six months in a year or three months in four years, with all these if you own a property in Jersey than you must avoid living here for more than three months, or you just need not to make Jersey your Permanent home instead you have an option to use it in your holidays and business trips.

If you want to become a non-dom in Jersey than you should have to purchase a property and live for every three months. If you are doing this than the income from a foreign country is tax-free. Capital gains and personal gifts are also tax-free.

The permanent residence holders have to pay a fixed tax rate of 20%. The non-EU citizens who are emigrants of Jersey have the facility to limit their tax up to 20% on the first GBP 625,000 to GBP 125,000 by proving themselves as a “High-Value Resident”. The remaining income is taxable at the rate of 1%, which does not involve income from local rent.

The best thing of channel islands is that you just have to pay tax on the salaries and dividends at a fixed rate and you are not liable to pay the corporation tax excluding the insurance and the banking sector. The freelancers and employees have to contribute to the social security contributions but may take advantage of certain deductions.

Campione d’Italia

Campione d’Italia is an Italian enclave surrounded by Switzerland with only 2,000 inhabitants. It is situated at the foot lake Luna go, this island is mainly known for the casinos and its beautiful location between the lake and the Alps. There is no bank in Campione d’Italia, you have to travel to Switzerland for depositing or saving your money.

There are various laws regarding the tax system in Campione d’Italia, but in general, a very rare amount of tax is applied there to pay. The income from another country is tax-free.

Campione D’Italia is a part of the Swiss territory, therefore, the inhabitants can get 20% discount on the exchange rate at the time of calculating the Italian tax, which will help them in reducing their tax burden.

The non-Swiss and non-Italian residents are often not eligible to pay tax in Campione d’Italia if their income is less than CHF 200,000.

So living in Campione d’Italia is one of the best options. You just have to buy or rent a house for getting a residence, besides this, there is no other requirement to fulfil indeed private insurance is mandatory.

Monaco

Monaco is the most famous tax-haven in Europe. It is a micro state in the French Riviera, between Nice and Italy. It is situated on a steep slope at the foot of a mountain. The capital of Monaco is Monte Carlo, it is one of the densely populated countries in the world, and thus living there costs high in terms of buying or renting a house. For residing in Monaco one has to spend at least €4,000a month in a property.The banks in Monaco checks your Equity which needed to be high enough from there perspective and after checking your Equity the banks decide your resident in Monaco. Lots of people are dependents on banks to take a long term residency, different banks take an interest in your life and your previous criminal or clean records, they also check whether you are bankrupt or have sufficient money to survive, all these processes take time of around six weeks and after investigating all this they decide about your residency in Monaco.It is important to spend at least 3 months in a year for becoming a permanent residence of Monaco. Monaco is famous in the world for following strict rules and regulations and for its ideal wealthy inhabitants who are always secured with this regulation.Monaco is an independent country and maintains its own status of a tax haven. The companies in Monaco are obliged to pay 10% of corporate tax. The gift and inheritance are also taxable in Monaco, there is up to 16% tax rate for the gifts and donations, only the gifts and donations were given by your child or spouse are tax-free.

For more information contact www.sociodigi.com

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recentanimenews · 7 years ago

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Humanity Seeks Galactic Citizenship in Shingu: Secret of the Stellar Wars

Reaching for the Stars.

Picking a new anime to watch may not be as difficult as managing a peaceful “first contact” between Earth and multiple alien civilizations, but sometimes it's helpful to have more to go on than just a description and some promotional imagery. “Cruising the Crunchy-Catalog” is here to help you navigate these tricky spaces. Each week we provide additional info and cultural context to help anime fans decide whether or not they'd like to blast off with an unknown show.

What's Shingu: Secret of the Stellar Wars?

Shingu: Secret of the Stellar Wars is a 2001 TV anime with direction by Tatsuo Sato (Martian Successor Nadesico) and animation by MADHOUSE (A Place Further Than the Universe). The series is also known by the title Record of School Wars MURYOU. Crunchyroll describes Shingu: Secret of the Stellar Wars as follows:

The world is about to be turned upside down for Hajime Murata. First, an alien ship appears over Tokyo, and then a mysterious new student shows up at his school. Suddenly, students are displaying psychic powers, a giant defends the city from aliens, and men armed with weapons are lurking around the school. Now Hajime is determined to discover the truth behind a world he thought he knew!

From that description, you might expect for Shingu: Secret of the Stellar Wars to be a high energy adolescent comedy with a lot of zaniness, something along the lines of World Conquest Zvezda Plot, but this is not the case. Instead, Shingu is a thoughtful science fiction drama that is deeply concerned with the internal lives of its characters and also a story where every conflict takes on a Hegelian structure of thesis / anti-thesis / synthesis.

Ordinary / Extraordinary.

Although Shingu: Secret of the Stellar Wars includes such high concept elements as intelligent extraterrestrial life and psychic powers, the series takes great pains to establish an ordinary worldview. Set in the near future of 2070 ACE, Hajime Murata and his classmates spend most of their time with mundane activities such as staging the local middle school athletics and cultural festivals.

When something spectacular happens in Shingu, such as an alien invasion or a new development that throws a monkey-wrench into the gears of interplanetary diplomacy, it's surprising every time, because Shingu always invests the effort to re-establish a baseline sense of normalcy with its characters and their situations.

Conspiracy / Community.

Shingu explores the strength of communal and familial bonds, bonds which are forged and tempered by the secrets guarded by the Tenmo community in general and by the Sanemori family in particular. It's clear that the townsfolk know more than they are telling, and their unflappable resolve in the face of constant extraterrestrial threats is humorous but also strikingly realistic. A central idea in Shingu is that people are quick to adapt to even the strangest situations.

Shingu also explores ideas of generational conflict and filial duty, digging into how the secrets and responsibilities passed from parents to children shape the younger generations' growth and character. Not every person is satisfied with the obligations laid upon them, and even the town elders don't always reach a consensus on the ideal solution for ensuring the safety of Tenmo and its people.

Religion / Politics.

Shingu: Secret of the Stellar Wars has a rich sense of politics. The show is filled with unexpected alliances and shifting power structures that are revealed gradually, such that the entire picture isn't always clear to even the most powerful political players. There are no cartoon villains in Shingu, merely different factions with similar goals all vying for the same resources, and finding common ground with even seemingly aggressive enemies is a recurring theme.

Also noteworthy is how ground-shaking events – such as previous contacts with advanced alien cultures and technology – are mythologized over time. Such exposure informs both the religious rituals of the people of Tenmo as well as the history and the warrior culture of the Zaiglians, for example. Sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic, and powerful alien visitors are re-imagined as gods by the civilizations with whom they interact.

The Student Record Continues.

Crunchyroll currently streams Shingu: Secret of the Stellar Wars in the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, Christmas Island, the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Guernsey, Ireland, the Isle of Man, Jersery, the United Kingdom, American Samoa, Australia, New Zealand, Guam, Norfolk Island, the Northern Mariana Islands, the United States Minor Outlying Islands, South Africa, and Heart Island and the McDonald Islands.

The series is available in Japanese with English subtitles and also dubbed in English. Shingu: Secret of the Stellar Wars is also available on DVD in North America from Nozomi Entertainment under their Lucky Penny imprint.

Shingu: Secret of the Stellar Wars is a special show, one that I would best describe as Star Trek: The Next Generation by way of Ultraman. If you're in the mood for a hopeful examination of humanity's place among the stars with a large cast of characters and an understated sense of humor, please consider giving Shingu: Secret of the Stellar Wars a try.

Special thanks go to resident star-citizen FaithTheSlayer for suggesting the subject for this week's entry for "Cruising the Crunchy-Catalog". Is there a series in Crunchyroll's catalog that you think needs some more love and attention? Please send in your suggestions via e-mail to [email protected] or post a Tweet to @gooberzilla. Your pick could inspire the next installment of “Cruising the Crunchy-Catalog”!

---

Paul Chapman is the host of The Greatest Movie EVER! Podcast and GME! Anime Fun Time.

By: [email protected]

#Anime #News #Latest in Anime News by Crunchyroll!

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ogxref · 7 years ago

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ON VERTICAL ZONING / Anastasia Kubrak + Sander Manse

Today, technologies are mainly implemented / instrumentalized by platform economies (serving the big capital of tech) → acquiring a tight grip on the way our cities work. The main strategy here is to capitalize on the information that is being generated by the augmented city. (They capitalize on patterns of our movements, monetizing the extracted data, or the so-called ‘behavior surplus’ generated by mechanisms of surveillance.)

Over the past few years the city has quickly become a mesh of hectic laws and virtual borders.

Notion that one physical location → virtually occupied by multiple zones, different actors on a vertical axis.

The process of urban zoning → traditionally defined as dividing topographically defined areas into zones (e.g. residential, industrial) in which certain land uses are permitted or prohibited by a political body. → As a result of technological augmentation, zoning today is not limited to regulations on building heights, but extends to new, intangible spaces.

New types of Zones, or vertical spaces → allow digital behemoth corporations to quickly exploit them as new markets and colonize the virtual ground outside of traditional jurisdictions, taking advantage of grey areas in the law.

The business model of the platform is based on:

the principles of militant growth over profit

extraction and aggravation of free user data,

and a hostile approach towards laws and legislation.

By implementing new services without consent, by default, platforms leave citizens and governments to opt out or object their effects retrospectively.

But what is life like in the privatized city, structured by this new urban zoning? → How can we benefit as citizens from the increase in sensing technologies, remote data-crunching algorithms, leaching geolocation trackers and parasite mapping interfaces?

Main question → Can the imposed verticality of platform capitalism by some means enrich the surface of the city, and not just exploit it?

Maybe our cities deserve a truly augmented reality → reality in which value generated within urban space actually benefits its inhabitants, and is therefore ‘augmented’ in the sense of increased / made greater...

Is it possible to consider the extension of zoning not only as an issue, but also as a solution, a way to create room for fairer, more social alternatives? Can we imagine the sprawling of augmented zones today, still of accidental nature, being utilized or artificially designed for purposes other than serving capital?

Free Trade Zones → Originally developed for purposes of warehousing and shipping, the early free trade zones, sprawling between 1500 and 1930s, were located along major trade routes. Further spreading around airports, manufacturing centers and container ports from the 1950s to 1970s, or offshore financial districts and office parks in the 90s, zones eventually formed mini-cities and even developed into megapolises on their own, as was the case with Shenzhen (established as China’s first SEZ in 1980, growing from 30.000 to an estimated 18 million inhabitants in the following decades).

The EPZ was initiated in the mid-twentieth-century as an economical accelerator that could help developing countries to enter the global market. But ‘rather than dissolving into the domestic economy, as was originally intended, the EPZ absorbed more and more of that economy into the enclave’. Today these zone-projects are increasingly built from scratch outside of existing cities, on the outskirts of state territories and even on reclaimed isles off the mainland. The Zone as an island provides an ideal blank canvas, clean slates for extralegal experiments.

The Zone → does not necessarily encapsulate an existing part of a city or a social community, it prefers to create new land, and to bring in new citizens to populate it.

Notion that from door handles to sensors, this ‘city in a box’ can be purchased as one singular item and reproduced anywhere in the world, becoming a spatial product on its own. Prime example of this type of city is Songdo.

The technologically enhanced city promises a life of luxury, while simultaneously turning the zone into a gated community. In a place devised for economic activity and designed to generate capital, its inhabitants might be assessed on their added value to the city. This brand new city of the future, in a box, won’t be for everyone.

“When new Zones are created as clean slates, tech companies quickly move in to develop the city’s infrastructure, introducing hardware and software that circumstantially pushes certain people out and helps to enforce the borders.”

Gated urban enclaves also proliferate within our ‘normal’ cities, perforating through the existing social fabric. Privatization of urban landscape affects our spatial rights, such as simply the right of passage. But how do these acts of exclusion happen in cities dominated by the logic of platform capitalism? What happens when more tools become available to scan, analyze and reject citizens on the basis of their citizenship or credit score? Accurate user profiles come in handy when security is automated in urban space: surveillance induced by smart technologies, from electronic checkpoints to geofencing, can amplify more exclusion.

“This tendency becomes clearly visible with Facebook being able to allow for indirect urban discrimination through targeted advertising. This is triggered by Facebook’s ability to exclude entire social groups from seeing certain ads based on their user profile, so that upscale housing-related ads might be hidden from them, making it harder for them to leave poorer neighborhoods. Meanwhile Uber is charging customers based on the prediction of their wealth, varying prices for rides between richer and poorer areas. This speculation on value enabled by the aggregation of massive amounts of data crystallizes new forms of information inequality in which platforms observe users through a one-way mirror.”

The Zone emerges from special legislation for finance, and subsequently also attracts tech giants for reasons other than merely tax holiday. This is not surprising → Silicon Valley has long been nurturing the libertarian dream of a lawless laboratory, an island outside of territorial waters, beyond the traditional nation-state jurisdiction. A Burning Man-like environment for new technologies, “a safe place to try out new things and figure out the effect on society”, as recurrently articulated by Larry Page...

Notion that the principle or promise of flexible citizenship is that there is a Zone for each of us, without exception

So if Seasteading is the ultimate liberal, capitalist utopia, what could be its social and more inclusive counterpart? And if there could be a test-site not for the rich technological libertarians, but for a more inclusive society, could that also be mapped onto existing cities instead of having to seek liberation in endless variations of offshore enclaves?

Vertical zoning → allows such exceptions to be located anywhere, granting users access to different regimes inside existing cities, without the requirement to physically move to a different location.

We need to imagine a type of counter-spaces that could be mapped on top of actual cities and profit from the temporary nature of new spatial zoning. The vertical aspect of this other sort of zone could enhance its elasticity, allowing it to change its shape and size according to circumstances. Elastic zones: fleeting, flexible and stackable → Could a meta-economic level of planning strategically transform the city, reinforcing governmental control and enabling measures against a Cisco, Amazon or Google monopoly on the digital infrastructure?

This ethereal urban density of Kijkduin relied on legal action and adjustments in the geo-spatial coding in the software: the creation of a No-Pokémon Go-Zone.

If platform economies take the city as a hostage, governmental bodies of the city can seek how to counter privatization on material grounds. The notorious Kremlin’s GPS spoofing fence sends false coordinates to any navigational app within the city center, thereby also disrupting the operation of Uber and Google Maps.

Following the example of Free Economic Zones, democratic bodies could gain control over the city again by artificially constructing such spaces of exception. Imagine rigorous cases of hard-line zoning such as geofenced Uber-free Zones, concealed neighborhoods on Airbnb, areas secured from data-mining or user-profile-extraction.

Can we think of more subtle examples of zoning that do not trigger new partitions in public space? Verticality can provide multiple options and platforms for one geolocation. Zones can be stacked on top of other zones, truly augmenting reality – adding onto what is already there.

“The platform economy extracts capital from the behavioral patterns of citizens in public space. What if physical zoning could allow citizens to gain agency over the systems of data extraction? GoogleUrbanism proposes a model which makes the added platform value, produced by – in this case – Google, flow back into the public space where the value is ‘mined’. This happens through exclusive licenses sold by the municipalities that allow companies to extract data from certain locations, forcing them to reinvest part of their profits in the maintenance of public space. Cities currently may not have a leverage to enforce such a platform/citizen partnership with Google, but they might get hold of their streets again by implementing and testing different kinds of legislation that bring forth new mechanisms of value creation.” (GU)

To prevent a total Songdo-like smart technology takeover, new urban zoning might enable citizens to self-organize and provide services themselves. The ideal utopian platform would be owned and controlled by its users, serving as a cooperative service where everyone is able to invest and everybody benefits. But building such a model from the ground up can be problematic (see platform co-ops such as the Green Taxi Cooperative), and gaining leverage through user numbers is difficult due to a lack of resources and the network effect. After all, the platform is only valuable to its users if enough people join in. Therefore we can think about a more practical, middle ground approach, utilizing existing corporate platforms and the network they provide. Even though the platform still profits off the user’s activity, the user begins to extract new, unintended value from its operation, exploring alternative social functions of augmented urbanity.

What characterizes this self-regulated hybrid space is that it offers entrance and exit by choice

Notion of “Vertical Futures”

In the future, we can imagine this soft zoning might offer counter-mechanisms that enable citizens to take action, utilizing the same tools and methods that generate so much value for the tech giants.

Taking action within the context of vertical zoning can be translated as a shift:

... from being approached as a user – one who benefits from the easiness and luxuries of the platform (and surrenders to its monopolistic tendencies)

...to being approached as a citizen – one who is politically empowered and bears legal rights to demand alternative models.

Political bodies can enhance citizenship through vertical zoning, repelling the current smart-city dogma based on information exploitation and the uneven nature of the user-platform relationship.

Notion of creating the circumstances for citizens to experiment with alternative approaches to new technologies, and creating financial instruments that support new initiatives → New Zones don’t necessarily have to draw out new land to reclaim and populate; they should be mapped onto the city as it is. A more collective, inclusive and social approach to Zoning might enable the city-state to prevent disbandment of urban life.

#vertical #zoning #anastasia #kubrak #sander #manse #gu

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a4pocket · 7 years ago

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From Utah, Secretive Help for a Russian Oligarch and His Jet

Leonid Mikhelson, Russia’s richest oligarch, used Bank of Utah as a stand-in so he could register his Gulfstream jet in the United States, which requires citizenship or residency. Sergey Chervotkin

SALT LAKE CITY — Bank of Utah has that all-American feel. Founded in the 1950s by a veteran of both world wars, it offers affordable mortgages and savings accounts, sponsors children’s festivals and collects coats for the poor.

But in addition to its mom-and-pop customers, the bank has a lesser-known clientele that includes Russia’s richest oligarch, Leonid Mikhelson, an ally of the country’s president, Vladimir V. Putin. The bank served as a stand-in so Mr. Mikhelson could secretly register a private jet in the United States, which requires American citizenship or residency.

The work on behalf of Mr. Mikhelson, whose gas company is under United States sanctions, is part of a discreet niche business for Bank of Utah that allows wealthy foreigners to legally obtain American registrations for their aircraft while shielding their identities from public view. The bank does this through trust accounts, in its own name, that take the place of owners on plane registration records.

Bank of Utah manages more than 1,390 aircraft trust accounts, most of them for foreigners, generating millions of dollars in fees and making it the second-largest holder of such accounts in the country. A trove of records leaked from an offshore law firm, Appleby, shows that the services offered by Bank of Utah, Wells Fargo and other American companies were sought after by rich jet owners in Russia, Africa and the Middle East.

The files were obtained by a German newspaper, Süddeutsche Zeitung, which shared them with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and other news organizations, including The New York Times. Among other things, the records reveal how Appleby often packaged trust arrangements with a tax avoidance scheme on the Isle of Man, a British crown dependency that serves as a haven for aircraft owners to sidestep taxes in the European Union. Together, businesses like Bank of Utah and Appleby provide a suite of money-saving tricks for the wealthy elite around the world.

Members of Congress and federal auditors have grown increasingly concerned that the opaque aircraft trust arrangements, which are not closely tracked by the Federal Aviation Administration, could allow terrorists and criminals a back door for evading sanctions, intelligence officials or law enforcement. Some 10,000 private planes are registered in the United States to noncitizen trusts.

The Isle of Man advertises itself as a haven for aircraft owners to sidestep taxes in the European Union. Appleby and other offshore firms have offices there.

“There are serious national security risks when the F.A.A. approves an aircraft registration but does not have all the information, particularly if an aircraft is owned by a shell corporation or a foreign entity,” Representative Stephen F. Lynch, a Massachusetts Democrat, said when he introduced legislation in July that would require the F.A.A. to obtain and regularly update records on the ultimate owners behind aircraft trusts.

An inspector general report in 2013 found that more than half of noncitizen trusts registered with the F.A.A. “lacked important information such as the identity of the trusts’ owners and aircraft operators.” As a result, the report said, the agency “has been unable to provide information on these aircraft to foreign authorities upon request when U.S. registered aircraft are involved in accidents or incidents.”

Another inspector general report, in 2014, cited specific cases that it said demonstrated the potential for national-security or legal problems. Among them was an episode in which an unnamed American bank had to cancel an aircraft trust after learning that its beneficiary, a Lebanese politician, had ties to a terrorist group. Another involved a jet registered to Wells Fargo that made an unscheduled landing in Libya in 2011 just as a no-fly zone was imposed by the United Nations.

In 2014, a plane registered to Bank of Utah was spotted at an airport in Iran, raising questions about whether its presence violated American sanctions.

And three years ago, a plane registered to Bank of Utah was spotted at an airport in Iran, raising questions about whether its presence violated American sanctions at the time. The bank told reporters it had “no idea” why the plane was there, and would not reveal who owned it; the Bombardier jet turned out to be owned by a Ghanaian company and had no Americans aboard.

That episode led to some soul-searching for Bank of Utah officials. In a recent interview at the bank’s corporate trust offices in Salt Lake City, Branden Hansen, the chief financial officer, said that the reputational risk of the trusts prompted the bank to consider whether “to shut this whole thing down.”

Ultimately the bank decided to continue the service, but with stronger due diligence and new staff to oversee it. Jon Croasmun, a trust officer who joined the bank last year, said that “knowing who the owners are is important,” adding that the bank searches public records, seeks passports and takes other steps to ensure it knows the background of aircraft owners.

Still, the Bank of Utah executives were surprised to learn that they had aided Mr. Mikhelson, the Russian oligarch. When told the name of the offshore shell company that Mr. Mikhelson used to manage his Gulfstream jet, Mr. Croasmun interrupted the interview to check the bank’s files. He confirmed that the shell company had been a client since 2013 — but information identifying Mr. Mikhelson as the man behind it “was nowhere that I saw in the files.”

“His name is not in there,” Mr. Croasmun said.

Appleby’s offices in Hamilton, Bermuda. Leaked documents from the firm show that the services offered by Bank of Utah, Wells Fargo and other American companies were sought after by rich jet owners around the world.

Appleby, based in Bermuda, is one of the world’s largest offshore law firms. Its files offer a rare inside look at more than a dozen aircraft trusts structured by American financial institutions for privacy-seeking plane owners, primarily foreigners who otherwise would not be allowed to register with the F.A.A. There is a premium on American registration because it increases a plane’s resale value, the bureaucratic requirements are less costly and complex, and it is believed to draw less scrutiny as the aircraft moves around the world.

Among the plane owners seeking Appleby’s services were Shaher Abdulhak, a Yemeni businessman worth an estimated $9 billion whose investments included a Coca-Cola distributor in the Middle East; UPL, an Indian producer of industrial chemicals and pesticides; and Rashid Sardarov, a Russian oil billionaire and longtime client of Mossack Fonseca, the law firm whose leaked records in 2015 became known as the Panama Papers.

In serving these clients, files show, Appleby dealt with the two banks that are the most prolific creators of American aircraft trusts: Wells Fargo and Bank of Utah. It is easy to see how Wells Fargo, the third-largest bank in the United States, with nearly $2 trillion in assets and offices in 42 countries, might find a lucrative niche catering to the wealthy elite. Less obvious is how Bank of Utah, with 18 branches confined to one state, took the same path.

As it happens, a group of former Wells Fargo trust officers joined Bank of Utah about 10 years ago and created what would become a profitable part of the bank’s business. The bank collected $8.8 million in trust fees in 2016 — an increase of $1.1 million from the previous year, according to its most recent annual report.

Mr. Croasmun and Mr. Hansen took issue with the suggestion that they were exploiting a loophole to bypass restrictions on foreigners registering aircraft in the United States. By filling the role of “U.S. citizen” for registration purposes, the bank provided a valuable service for, say, multinational companies whose top executives might not be American, they said. The bank is clearly sensitive to concerns raised about the trusts. Its website carries a statement distancing itself from the planes it registers in its name, noting its only role is that of trustee.

In the case of Mr. Mikhelson, the trail leading from Russia to Utah began in September 2012, with an email to Appleby from the Moscow office of the accounting firm Ernst & Young. The firm wanted Appleby to set up a complex corporate structure for an unnamed client to purchase a Gulfstream jet, valued at roughly $65 million, and retain possession of it through a chain of companies in six countries.

From the outset, the goal was clear: “This structure,” wrote Svetlana Yakushina of Ernst & Young, “should allow registering the aircraft with the aviation authorities of the United States.”

The arrangement would also permit the owner to avoid certain taxes, most notably a value-added tax of 20 percent if the jet were registered and used in the European Union. A six-page memo prepared by Ernst & Young laid out a plan to exploit a tax loophole offered by the Isle of Man, where about 1,000 privately owned aircraft are recorded on a government registry for tax purposes. Appleby and other similar firms maintain offices there.

The Isle of Man allows owners to escape the value-added tax, or VAT, through a paper-shuffling scheme, wherein the jet is held by a company based there but leased to another company elsewhere, both controlled by the same owner. The tax is technically deferred into the future, through use of a special account managed by Ernst & Young, and then canceled out by the corporate structure. Research by the investigative journalists consortium suggests that Isle of Man-registered aircraft have escaped more than $1 billion in taxes.

According to a flow chart created by Appleby’s Isle of Man office for the Mikhelson account, the ownership chain for his jet began in Panama, with a company called Golden Star Aviation, which registered on the Isle of Man and then leased the aircraft to a Cayman Islands company called SWGI Growth Fund. Both companies were controlled by Mr. Mikhelson.

Mr. Mikhelson declined to answer questions about his plane. His representative released a statement saying, “Mr. Mikhelson acts strictly within the boundaries of the law and in compliance with applicable legislation at all times.”

By June 2013, lawyers at Appleby still had not learned of Mr. Mikhelson’s role, other than being told that the Gulfstream’s owner was Russian. Once the lawyers were informed of his identity by a Swiss firm that manages Mr. Mikhelson’s finances, they conducted a background check and concluded that, as with other clients from Russia, where the political and legal environment can be unstable, working for him would be “high risk.” But they decided to proceed.

Mr. Mikhelson with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia in 2013, at a news conference for the gas-processing company Sibur. Mr. Mikhelson’s energy company, Novatek, and his business partner in Sibur became subject to American sanctions the next year.

A due-diligence report by Appleby noted Mr. Mikhelson’s source of wealth — valued currently at about $18 billion — from oil and gas investments, notably through Novatek, Russia’s largest nongovernment-owned gas company. Mr. Mikhelson’s main business partner is Gennady Timchenko, a close friend of Mr. Putin’s. The two businessmen are the primary investors in Sibur, a Russian gas-processing company.

Included in the report was a list of questions to determine if Mr. Mikhelson had any connections to the United States, including whether he had assets or maintained an address there. The answer to all of them was “no.” Flight records show that the plane has rarely, if ever, flown to the United States and instead makes trips within Russia or occasionally to cities in Europe and China.

Despite its lack of a connection to the United States, Mr. Mikhelson’s private jet was soon on its way to securing a registration with the F.A.A., thanks to Bank of Utah.

It is not clear if the bank was ever told, or inquired, about the identity of the owner of the aircraft. Mr. Croasmun said that files indicated the owner “was Russian” but that identifying details were missing.

Whatever the case, the trust agreement for Mr. Mikhelson’s Gulfstream, filed with the F.A.A., does not name him anywhere in the document. Instead, the owner is listed as Golden Star Aviation, the Panamanian company he used to buy the plane. Attached to it is an “affidavit of citizenship” signed by a bank officer, Brett King, attesting that the trustee — Bank of Utah — is a “citizen of the United States.”

Bank of Utah’s offices in Ogden. The company manages more than 1,390 aircraft trust accounts, most of them for foreigners.

Appleby’s conclusion that doing business with Mr. Mikhelson would be “high risk” began to look prescient by July 2014. That is when Washington hit a number of Russian individuals and companies with economic sanctions in response to Russian intervention in Ukraine.

Among those named by the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Contro were Novatek, Mr. Mikhelson’s gas company, and Mr. Timchenko, his partner in other ventures. Mr. Mikhelson himself was not included in the sanctions, which tightly restricted Novatek’s access to American capital markets.

Almost immediately, lawyers at Appleby flagged the Novatek sanctions and began emailing one another, one of them seeking advice on “how this affects the structures that we manage.” Within a week, Appleby had sent a message to Mr. Mikhelson’s aide Igor Ryaskov explaining that the law firm was concerned about Mr. Mikhelson’s connections to a company subject to sanctions.

“Due to the ongoing issues and increased risk, it is with regret that I must advise that we will be looking to cease services in respect of these structures,” the note said.

Mr. Ryaskov protested, saying that Mr. Mikhelson was not on the sanctions list. Still, Appleby held fast, and referred Mr. Ryaskov to other firms; by 2015, Mikhelson’s aircraft account had been transferred to Fedelta Trust Limited, a financial services firm on the Isle of Man. Mr. Ryaskov did not respond to a request for comment.

As for Bank of Utah, it filed a registration renewal application with the F.A.A. in July last year, indicating that its trusteeship for the aircraft remained unchanged. During the recent interview, the bank executives suggested that Mr. Mikhelson’s case escaped scrutiny during an earlier period when their internal review process was less rigorous, and they vowed to review it.

“Russian involvement would score as a high risk by itself,” Mr. Hansen said. “It’s highly unlikely that something like this would have been approved in today’s climate.”

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