Julio P. Gonzalez is the founder of the Gonzalez family office, and the founder and CEO of Engineered Tax Services, the largest tax engineering firm in the US. Engineered Tax Services has been a pioneer in the industry by bringing specialized tax studies that were once only available to Fortune 500 companies.
There seems to be a prevalent misconception among the general public and some business owners on the difference between tax evasion and tax optimization. What could be done in order to change this?
Tax evasion is a crime. It is a fabrication of the truth in order to benefit. Optimization is using every aspect of the tax code to minimize tax. Optimization comes with great knowledge of the tax code
The implementation of a global minimum tax is something unprecedented. We are witnessing a complete shift in terms of tax policies and legislation not only in the US but globally. What can we expect going forward? Should we expect taxes to be implemented at a global scale going forward?
Tax Globalization was not joined by the main countries with low taxes including Ireland, Monaco, and the Caribbean. The places all public corporations go to take advantage of low tax environments. The countries that did join all have high tax rates. I think all this does is give the countries that didn’t join even more of an advantage.
A minimum global tax rate will certainly impact some regions that use taxation as a way of attracting businesses. Could some regions be severely impacted by this global tax reform?
As above, Ireland, Carribeans will now have a massive advantage as we see Public companies already moving and growing in these countries.
Democrats are expected to revive the Build Back Better Act. Considering it represents nearly 10% of GDP and the high national debt level, how do you think it could impact tax rates over the next 5 to 10 years?
More debt equals higher taxes to pay the debt. They want to increase taxes by double.
Crypto has been one of the biggest trends over the last few years in financial markets. We have seen several countries including China and Russia ban cryptocurrencies. As it poses a considerable risk to their monetary sovereignty and allows the shadow economy to proliferate. Do you think the US will change its stance on crypto?
The IRS is set to tax it in a very big way, and yes they will change their stance to the max.
With the bull market we have experienced over the recent past, do you think investors have shifted from an investment approach focused on the preservation of wealth to accumulating wealth without fully assessing the risks?
100%, inflation, and higher interest rates. Taxes will have a runoff of the market