CAPITALISM'S ACHILLES HEEL Dirty Money and How to

TABLE 3.11 INVOICED PRICES OF SELECT ITEMS
Dirty Money at Work 135
Exports from U.S.
Item Destination Country Price per Unit
Bulldozers Mexico $527.94
ATM machines El Salvador $ 35.93
Missile/rocket launchers Bolivia $ 40.00
Television antennas China $ 0.04
Aluminum ladders Japan $ 4.40
Forklift trucks Jamaica $384.14
Clinical thermometers Germany $ 0.05
Car seats Belgium $ 1.66
Imports into U.S.
Item Originating Country Price per Unit
Flashlights Japan $ 5,000.00
Ink-jet printers Colombia $179,000.00
Syringes Switzerland $ 2,306.00
Wrenches France $ 1,089.00
Toothbrushes United Kingdom $ 5,655.55
Hacksaw blades Germany $ 5,485.00
Razor blades India $ 461.00
Tweezers Japan $ 4,896.00
Source: Simon J. Pak and John S. Zdanowicz, “U.S. Trade with the World: An Estimate of
2001 Lost U.S. Federal Income Tax Revenues Due to Over-invoiced Imports and Underinvoiced
Exports,” working paper from the Center for International Business Education and
Research, Florida International University, Miami, Florida.
western trader, manufacturer, or financier that directly or indirectly facilitates
its receipt.
The business of global tax evasion takes many other forms as well. As
the economist Vito Tanzi says, “Tax evasion prospers when society condones
it.” 161 A popular technique in recent years is transferring copyrights, logos,
trademarks, patents, and other such intangibles to offshore subsidiaries in