Britain, U.S., Australia hunt for tax evaders yielding leads

By William James and Patrick Temple-West

LONDON/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A joint effort by Britain, the United States and Australia to track down people who conceal wealth in offshore tax structures has helped identify more than 100 individuals, Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) said on Thursday.

"The message is simple: if you evade tax, we're coming after you," said Chancellor George Osborne.

After a string of high-profile multinational companies were shown to be paying little or no tax in the UK, Britain has been pushing the European Union and other major economies to clamp down on tax evasion and avoidance.

HMRC said it had teamed up with Australian and U.S. authorities to help speed up analysis of 400 gigabytes of data they have obtained.

Michael Danilack, a deputy U.S. Internal Revenue Service commissioner said the United States was willing to share this information with other countries.

UK and U.S. officials declined to identify the source of the information.

"This data is another weapon in HMRC's arsenal," Osborne said.

The data may overlap with data leaked to The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), the watchdog group said on Thursday.

In April, the ICIJ and media partners began reporting on alleged tax evasion cases stemming from 260 gigabytes of information, including cash transfers and incorporation dates.

"The files illustrate how offshore financial secrecy has spread aggressively around the globe, allowing the wealthy to avoid taxes," the ICIJ said in a statement.

HMRC said some of those identified as a result of the three-country collaboration were already under investigation for tax evasion, and more than 200 other accountants, lawyers and advisers face scrutiny over their roles in setting up offshore tax structures.

Early results from the project with the U.S. IRS and the Australian Tax Office highlighted the use of trusts and companies in territories such as Singapore, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands and the Cook Islands.

(Reporting by William James in London and Patrick Temple-West in Washington; Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh, Toni Reinhold)

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On Gay Marriage, Public Leads Elected Leaders

ANALYSIS By RICK KLEIN @rickklein

In the fast-moving politics of gay marriage, the nation's political class is trailing the public - and it's getting hard to keep up.

Karl Rove is just the latest major political figure to recognize that fact. On ABC's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" today, Rove said he could see a Republican candidate coming out in favor of gay marriage in the next presidential election.

Read more of what Rove said on 'This Week.'

That's not the same as saying the GOP nominee will definitely support gay marriage. But the fact that this would be a plausible position inside the Republican Party in time for 2016 is a stunning turnabout. Barely eight years ago, Rove engineered a reelection campaign that took advantage of a wave of state efforts to move in the other direction, by banning gay marriage.

President Obama and his major rivals, of course, all opposed gay marriage back in 2008. The president's public disavowal of that position is less than a year old, and Hillary Rodham Clinton - a very early 2016 Democratic frontrunner - only officially backed gay marriage last week.

Politicians in both parties are following a tectonic shift in public opinion surrounding gay marriage. In 2004, only 32 percent of voters thought gay marriage should be legal, in ABC News/Washington Post polling.

This month, the same poll had support jumping to 58 percent - a clear majority, powered by growing support across demographic groups. It's not yet the mainstream position inside the Republican Party, but that's the trend line Rove and others are reading.

Read more of the ABC News/Washington Post poll.

Watch my take on ABC's "World News":

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