In 1980 when David Koch ran for Vice President on the Libertarian ticket, he and his brother had a dream that no million, billion, or even trillion dollar company would ever have to pay a cent in taxes to any government again.

Today that dream has largely become a reality. Not because we repealed all taxes in the U.S, but because the plutocrats who run the world have constructed a complex, opaque global financial system to shelter their fortunes in offshore tax havens.

Over the past four decades, an increasing share of the U.S. economy’s growth has gone to an increasingly small share of the wealthiest few members of our society.

Despite recent tax cuts and a system in the U.S. that allows the top twenty-five hedge fund managers to pay a lower tax rate than most nurses, firefighters, and police officers, our wealthiest individuals and institutions still feel the need to hide their money.

The release of the Panama Papers and subsequent Paradise Papers shed light on the methods by which these elite few utilize tax shelters, and the major players who use them.

Familiar names such as Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, and countless other world leaders were all implicated in the documents released. The hundreds of thousands of records are also indexed online — you never know who you might find.

While the political ramifications were severe for some of the high level officials implicated (and practically nonexistent for many others) we have yet to transition into a phase of proactively addressing this behavior using public policy in the United States.

Calls for laws that would require Presidential and other political candidates to release their tax returns are a good start, but we should also engage in a much deeper conversation about how to address tax shelters on an institutional level.

I was hardly surprised to find that some of the biggest tech players in the Bay Area were implicated in the Panama and Paradise papers — examples provided in an SF Weekly article include:

“Apple keeps its most valuable patents and trademarks registered on a tiny island off the coast of France.”

“Much of Facebook’s highly profitable user database is not registered to its Menlo Park offices, but in the Cayman Islands.”

“The patent for Uber’s ride share app is not registered to Uber’s San Francisco headquarters, but instead in Bermuda.”

The ability of trillion dollar corporations such as Apple to avoid paying such massive amounts of federal taxes has eroded away our civil society, and is reflected in a lack of public housing construction in the decades since Reagan was elected.

From 1940 to 1970, 3,725 public housing units were constructed in San Francisco. From 1970–1980, 2,193 units were constructed. From 1980 to today, barely over 1,000 units have been constructed.

Of course, that hasn’t stopped Trump from proposing further cuts to funding for the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Another concerning aspect of this system is that by using offshore tax havens to launder illicit money from the drug and weapons trade, human trafficking, and other illegal industries, anyone from El Chapo to Vladimir Putin could buy a condo building in San Francisco.

Allowing Vladimir Putin to buy up San Francisco real estate with impunity using the bank accounts of Yeltsin-era oligarchs he threw in prison doesn’t just look bad — it’s bad for middle class residents who are being displaced by soaring costs of living, chief among them rent.

Many units in San Francisco are sitting empty, simply being used to stash money — according to a 2014 study there were roughly 30,000 vacant units in San Francisco. The city has explored a tax on these units, but officials have yet to implement it.

As Tim Redmond pointed out in a 48 Hills column following the release of the Panama Papers, “it would be completely insane to believe that all of that new housing that the mayor is praising is being built without some of this illegal, secretive cash. It’s happening in every other major city, and it’s happening, probably faster, here.”

Redmond also argues “in San Francisco, the city doesn’t really plan; it responds to what the international capital markets — which, we are reminded today, are often deeply corrupt and venal, want to do.”

“I would love to see the city investigate how much of the new housing we so gleefully allow and the mayor so proudly supports is being purchased by crooks and dictators, and how much of that money has come out of the pockets of poor people the world over.”

In the almost three years since that article was published, no such investigation has taken place. If you think this is an issue San Francisco elected officials should be addressing, it’s not hard to let them know.

Just send an email to any or all of the addresses below saying something along the lines of:

I am concerned about the impact of off shore tax havens used by individuals and institutions that have exacerbated San Francisco’s housing crisis. I hope you will support an investigation into the impact of offshore tax havens on our housing crisis and how much housing has been purchased using illicit money laundered through offshore havens.

Mayor Breed: MayorLondonBreed@sfgov.org

Supervisor Safai (D11): Ahsha.Safai@sfgov.org

Supervisor Walton (D10): Shamann.Walton@sfgov.org

Supervisor Ronen (D9): Hillary.Ronen@sfgov.org

Supervisor Mandelman (D8): MandelmanStaff@sfgov.org

Supervisor & Board President Yee (D7): Norman.Yee@sfgov.org

Supervisor Haney (D6): Matt.Haney@sfgov.org

Supervisor Brown (D5): Vallie.Brown@sfgov.org

Supervisor Mar (D4): Gordon.Mar@sfgov.org

Supervisor Peskin (D3): Aaron.Peskin@sfgov.org

Supervisor Stefani (D2): Catherine.Stefani@sfgov.org

Supervisor Fewer (D1): Sandra.Fewer@sfgov.org

If you live somewhere else in the Bay Area, a quick Google search will give you a list of your representatives you can contact. And even if you don’t live in the Bay Area, or anywhere with a current housing crisis, I would still encourage you to research how tax evasion and avoidance affects your community.