I think you're downplaying this more than you should. I got a very different impression listening to Nicholas Shaxson (author of [1]) on the BBC. Most if not all the world leaders involved in this leak are VERY likely trying to hide personal money from their own country, that alone is a huge deal.

[1] http://www.amazon.com/Treasure-Islands-Uncovering-Offshore-B...).

Yip - may I recommend "Treasure Islands" : http://www.amazon.com/Treasure-Islands-Uncovering-Offshore-B...

Really really interesting, and quite disheartening.

For those who'd like to know more about Tax Havens, how corporations use them and the effect they have, I can thoroughly recommend Nicholas Shaxon's book, Treasure Islands [1]. For example, I never really considered why all my Amazon purchases mention Luxembourg.

[1] http://www.amazon.com/Treasure-Islands-Uncovering-Offshore-B...

(Disclaimer: That's an affiliate link via my college library. Feel free to strip it if you don't like such things)

I wonder where they got this information trove from?

Also, I highly recommend the book Treasure Islands by Nicholas Shaxson (http://www.amazon.com/Treasure-Islands-Uncovering-Offshore-B...) to understand the enormity of the problem and its historical context (yes, the growth in activity is easily traced).

I would suggest actual misconceptions are that:

1. Fungability: companies have similar tax flexibility as individuals and are therefore comparable.

2. Consumption equivalence: that income from capital gains or "personal tax breaks for these business gains" is actually redistributed back into the general economy in the same way as it would be as general (wage) income.

Both are clearly incorrect.

I would go a step further to suggest the US has a relatively high corporation tax compared to other developed countries precisely to compensate for other tax code deficiencies and trends.

Of course, in a sense, all the current arrangements do is capture the "middle" or "poor" class of corporates. Large or sophisticated corporates, especially financial companies, have very extensive means to ensure minimal or even, in some cases, no tax is ever paid.

A preliminary and revealing book on this issue for laymen is Shaxon's "Treasure Islands" (http://www.amazon.com/Treasure-Islands-Uncovering-Offshore-B...).