Congress Bans Anonymous Shell Companies

The Corporate Transparency Act, which was tacked onto the defense bill, would require corporations and limited liability companies established in the United States to disclose their real owners to the Treasury Department, reports The Washington Post.

The measure passed the Senate on Friday with an 84-to-13 vote as part of the National Defense Authorization Act, which cleared the House earlier this week. Trump has pledged to veto the defense bill because it doesn’t include his demand to repeal liability protections for social media companies, so we shall see. Trump also opposes a clause that orders military bases named for Confederate leaders to be renamed.

Nearly 2 million corporations and limited liability companies are registered each year in the United States, at the state level. Few states today require companies to disclose their true owners, notes the Post, with Delaware and a few others turning the registration of anonymous companies into big business.

Of course, there are very good reasons for some to want to protect their privacy but the central planning blunt instrument mentality screamers claim, as cover to eliminate another realm of privacy, that money laundering via anonymous shell corporations is a great danger (As if drug dealers don't have the money to hire frontmen "owners.") This is just a lefty program to uncover wealth ownership.

It is noteworthy that the national members of the FactCoalition which has been the driver of the legislation are Lefty organizations who hate the rich, hate privacy and unions who especially want to understand business relationships.

• ActionAid USA
• Americans for Democratic Action
• American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO)
• American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME)
• American Sustainable Business Council
• Campaign for America’s Future
• Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR)
• Center for Economic and Social Rights (CESR)
• Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW)
• Citizens for Tax Justice
• EarthRights International
• Economic Policy Institute
• EG Justice
• Enough Project
• Fair Share*
• Fair Share Education Fund
• Financial Transparency Coalition
• Friends of the Earth U.S.
• Fund for Constitutional Government
• Global Financial Integrity
• Global Witness
• Government Accountability Project
• Good Jobs First
• Human Rights Watch
• Institute for Policy Studies – Program on Inequality and the Common Good
• Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy
• JPIC Ministry – Missionary Oblates
• Jubilee USA Network
• Leadership Conference of Women Religious
• The Main Street Alliance
• National Priorities Project
• Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI)
• New Rules for Global Finance
• Never Again Coalition
• OpenTheGovernment.org
• Oxfam America
• Pacific Environment
• Polaris
• Project On Government Oversight (POGO)
• Public Citizen*
• Publish What You Pay US (PWYP)
• Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law
• Service Employees International Union (SEIU)
• Small Business Majority
• Tax Justice Network USA
• Transparency International
• U.S/Africa Bridge Building Project
• U.S. Public Interest Research Group (PIRG)
• U.S. Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) Education Fund
• U.S. UNCUT
• Wealth for the Common Good

-RW