Washington – President Elect Obama Will Go After Hidden Swiss Bank Accounts

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    Washington – Barack Obama’s election as U.S. President opens up a new front in the pressure mounting against Swiss banking secrecy, already under fire from Germany which wants the country put on a tax haven blacklist, officials said.

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    Obama has singled out Switzerland’s UBS as one of the banks who helped “tax cheats” and he also helped introduce a Senate bill last year to crack down on offshore tax havens.

    “The pressure on Switzerland will definitely increase now,” Martin Naville, head of the Swiss-German chamber of commerce, told the Tagesanzeiger daily, advising the government to approach the new U.S. administration to improve the country’s image.

    “Anybody who wants to get Switzerland out of the firing line cannot go with empty hands,” he said, adding that the U.S. authorities did not understand the Swiss distinction between tax fraud and tax evasion, only helping in probes into the former.

    Finance Minister Hans-Rudolf said earlier this week he did not think tackling Switzerland would be Obama’s first priority, but Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey said pressure was mounting in an interview with the daily Tribune de Geneve.

    Asked how Switzerland would respond after Obama’s election, she said: “It is clear that fiscal questions will come to the forefront and we have to face them, as much from the European Union and as from the United States. That is the logical consequence of the financial crisis.”

    UBS, already reeling as Europe’s worst hit bank in the credit crisis, is under investigation by U.S. authorities into charges it helped wealthy Americans dodge taxes by hiding their cash in Switzerland.


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    7 Comments
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    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    Tell the swiss not to worry the socialist will go after succsesful buissness in the world they will have lots of company

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    Good move to win second term!

    Duddy
    Duddy
    15 years ago

    I am all for Obama on this! the fraud that goes on with these companies and individuals who move out billions of dollars from the US and shelters them in countries like swiss, Liechtenstein, Etc., is huge. These tax free incomes are almost equivalent to all taxpayers declared income combined! it was in the Wall Street Journal 6 months ago, they claimed that this includes 50-100 Billion (in addition to the reinvestments of prior monies) annually!

    why should the person that doesn’t have connections to some large company offshore captives pay the taxes for that other guy who knows how to abuse the system to the max.

    yes Obama I didn’t vote for you and I am not for your policies, but on this one I am all for you, Thank you for caring for the US average guy.

    GO OBAMA GO !!!

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    I am 100% with Obama here. If you want to keep taxes low for all of us honest taxpaying types, this is the way — crack down on loopholes that allow Americans with no connection to these foreign countries to hide their American-earned dollars offshore and avoid paying like the rest of us.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    I wonder what Joe the plumber thinks about this…

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    If we lowered our taxes in the USA to compete with the low tax countries, there wouldn’t be a need for “secret accounts” Did you notice that only the “high tax” socialist countries are complaining?

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    Maybe you dummies didn’t know it, but the Germans, Dutch, etc. use the US as a big tax shelter to hide money. We hide money for a lot of the rich Eoropean people.