Financial privacy is just one aspect of the unalienable right of privacy in “persons and papers”. Most of the issue behind this data breach is motivated by the onerous taxation schemes and corruption of government.
The US government has made it very difficult for a US Person to legally hold assets outside of the US without full reporting and disclosure. But the US tax system does not require that the assets and income of non-US Persons that are held in the US be reported to other governments. So, in effect, the US forbids its own citizens from enjoying financial liberty and privacy but extends it to everyone else. The US really is the world’s largest “tax haven”. Anything to support the US Dollar!
This also has to do with the fact that the US is one of the few countries that taxes the income of citizens no matter where in the world they originated. If I am playing poker on a cruise ship flying a Liberian flag in international waters and I win $100,000, as a US Person, I am required to report that as income to the US government. Should the ship stop at small island nation and I went into town to open a bank account and deposit the money, I am required to report that account and its maximum balance at any time during the year on Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) Form 114, Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR). The fine for failure to report is an automatic $10,000. (Land of the Free! All made possible by a 30 word amendment to the Constitution.)
I noticed that the news stories of the people who were found to be clients of this firm, there was a distinct lack of people from the US. There are very good reasons for that.
Somewhere, avoiding both taxes and extradition, George Soros right now is smiling.
But indeed the wages of sin is death, and the tax rate in Hell is 100%, George.