[trompetenaccoun]

Why should business owners be anonymous? Honest or not is irrelevant, the public should be able to find out who owns those companies, be it a local restaurant or a giant multinational corporation that owns stores and property through 18 different holding companies.

[seydor]

depends on the business and the size i would say. Maybe for business with < 1M in assets should not be required to be public

[from]

Ironically businesses with more than 20 employees and 5 million in revenue are excluded from having to report ownership information in America (well, starting 2024).

[prvit]

> Why should business owners be anonymous?

Why not? Generally EU countries do not like public lists of PII, why should business owners be treated differently?

What legitimate use do you have for this information?

[shadowgovt]

Because they're stewarding private resources that would otherwise be public (such as land) and therefore the public has an interest in them.

[prvit]

Most companies probably do not own resources like land.

What actual use do you have for this information? Beyond “it’s nice to know”?

Is it not sufficient that you have a service address for the legal entity in case you need to sue it?

[shadowgovt]

Land was an example, not an exclusive example.

A service address isn't sufficient to, for example, easily piece together that one private owner has quietly purchased 70% of some town's resources, especially if they've done so via a collection of shells. And most legal actions against such abuse generally start grassroots; regulators aren't aware there's a problem until people complain.

Hiding information from the public makes it harder to notice abuse.

Flip the script: when an individual has incorporated and is enjoying the legal protections of being a corporate entity, why do they need their name hidden? What value in the society of granting them that privilege when they are enjoying legal protections and privileges not enjoyed by all members of society?

[prvit]

When an individual has registered a car and is enjoying the right to operate a 6000 lbs death machine on public roads, why do they need their name hidden? What value in the society of granting them that privilege when they are enjoying legal protections and privileges not enjoyed by all members of society?

The real question you have to answer is “Why is it necessary for company ownership to be public information?”

> A service address isn't sufficient to, for example, easily piece together that one private owner has quietly purchased 70% of some town's resources, especially if they've done so via a collection of shells

What’s wrong here? Even with a perfect UBO registry that private owner could just get together with a couple of their buddies and divvy up that 70%.

What legal action are you going to take? Owning 70% of a town’s resources is generally not against the law.

[int_19h]

Given that corporate charter is a grant by the government acting on behalf of society at large, the question is not whether company ownership being public should be necessary, but whether it benefits society. There's no natural right to form legal entities distinct from one's person with no strings attached.

[shadowgovt]

> When an individual has registered a car and is enjoying the right to operate a 6000 lbs death machine on public roads, why do they need their name hidden?

It's not. They carry a driver's license and law enforcement can reference their name by license plate.

[arisAlexis]

Most people are not ill why need hospitals? Most people are not criminals why need police?

[7952]

The legitimate purpose is choosing to not trade with a company owned by a particular person. And that facility should be open to anyone without having to jump through hoops.

[prvit]

I really can’t see how your interest in not doing business with companies owned by people you like could possibly outweigh every business owners privacy interests.

[eurasiantiger]

What if the $business is owned by Mark Zuckerberg?

[miohtama]

- To keep politicians in check

- To check for conflicts of interest

- To prevent corruption

https://www.transparency.org/en/news/how-public-beneficial-o...

[arisAlexis]

The legitimate use is described in the article