Are you ready for your mind to be blown? Here goes. When you think of countries where it is possible set up anonymous, tax-sheltered, offshore companies, the first that likely come to mind are places like The Cayman Islands, Belize, The Seychelles or a handful of other tiny, often island-nations that specialize in making the barriers to incorporating so low that the offshore company-building sector makes up a significant portion of their GDP. In the sovereign island nation of Jersey, for example, the industry makes up a shocking 70 percent of GDP. But in Jersey, as well as all of the countries listed above, while it may be easy to set up an offshore company, nowhere in the world is it easier to set up an anonymous company than in the United States, according to a recent episode of the excellent NPR podcast, Planet Money, And going anonymous is usually the first step in avoiding taxes.

Mind blown yet?