CRACKING down on tax evasion “has been a core piece of President Obama’s agenda” since before he took office, according to a spokesman. His administration’s campaign to that end has been a “groundbreaking” success, according to the Department of Justice, the agency that has led it. Indeed, the DoJ considers it nothing short of “historic”.
There is some truth in all this. In 2010 Congress knocked a hole in the once-impregnable secrecy of Swiss banks by passing the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). It forces financial firms around the world to disclose their American clients or face penalties. Swiss banks have paid billions in fines for helping Americans evade tax; Wegelin, the country’s oldest private bank, had to close its doors in 2013 after pleading guilty to conspiracy to evade taxes. A dozen big Swiss banks are still under investigation, and 100-odd smaller ones have joined a programme that will let them avoid indictment by coming clean and paying fines.
But the American government has been nowhere near as energetic and effective as it claims. It has been slow to chase tax...
from The Economist: Finance and economics http://ift.tt/1K5fvw1
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