Source
kervinjacqueFrench American•

I am surprised the other countries didnt follow Switzerlands example in this matter

6
whirligiginator•

The hypocrisy and flat out unlawfulness has become typical of the U.S. You can say whatever you want about how "legal" U.S. tax laws are but having a country criticize another and compel it to change existing laws while ignoring the abuse of the system in their own country is every ugly word you can think of. Yet America is still so quick to go to China, India, Russia and whatever country they are having problems with currently and tsk tsk their "human rights" abuse and underhanded ways. Hey Our ally Turkey is bombing their own people and funding ISIS with oil money, yep, silent because it's in U.S. interest to screw over Russia in Syria. The U.S. doesn't care, as an American citizen I have never felt more ashamed of how my country handled foreign and even domestic affairs than now.

-3†
thewimseyUnited States of America•

I have never felt more ashamed of how my country handled foreign and even domestic affairs than now.

Maybe you would feel less "ashamed" if you actually understood the issue. Or even read the article. Instead, you come across as someone who doesn't understand the issue and are assuming that the US is doing something wrong because other countries are complaining.

Because it's clear if you read this article (notwithstanding the one quote) - and other articles on the same subject that these people are putting their money in the US not to avoid taxes, but because they want secrecy.

13
whirligiginator•

Secrecy is what America wanted the Swiss to change about the way they handled their accounts. They wanted the Swiss to let the U.S. see who was putting what in and how much to avoid paying national taxes. The fact that now the Swiss will be losing billions if not trillions of dollars to America due to people switching over to American banking services should be upsetting if your Swiss. "Secrecy" please, that is the dumbest excuse I have ever heard, Why was secrecy a bad thing when the Swiss did it?

5†
callawaythataway•

Switzerland was enabling massive tax dodging schemes for wealthy Americans and many criminal investigations were being stumped by secret Swiss bank accounts. The thing is that the the US is the only country with a global tax system and they demand taxation even for illegal activities. So the US pressured Sweden to change their rules. The fact that you can have "secret" bank accounts in the US doesn't hide them from the prying eyes of the IRS or the FBI and that's all the US ever wanted.

8
sclonelypilotUnited States of America•

Why was secrecy a bad thing when the Swiss did it?

Because wealthy can move assets between countries and hide them from our tax authority. For normal people it has very little relevance.

2
mkvgtired•

Except the people with these accounts need to prove they are following their home country's tax laws. A bit different than illegally helping clients avoid their come country's tax laws.

1
mkvgtired•

Swiss banks were illegally helping clients avoid taxation in both the EU and US. For these US accounts, a client needs to prove that they are following their home country's tax laws or else it is in violation of the law.

See the difference?

1