ABSTRACT
While different constituencies may differ on the particular attributes of a better tomorrow, the realization of any collective vision depends upon resources. Secrecy hampers that realization by helping to hide billions from the dictates of public policy. It creates a dark universe that caches wealth from taxation. In a modern world in which multiple imperatives compete for attention, concern with the impact of secrecy on taxation might seem quaint, the rarified world of those preoccupied with the affairs of the wealthy at the expense of poverty, war and disease. Yet this abetting of the depletion of treasuries relates directly to many, if not most, international problems. Wars are funded, in whole or in part, by state resources. The redistribution of tax moneys alleviates poverty and engenders social and economic inequality. Health care is a primary destination of public funds. Secrecy undermines the public capacity to define and create its preferred vision of a just world. This chapter explores secrecy’s contribution to domestic revenue drought.
