Posted on 02/22/2009 10:37:50 AM PST by dollarbull
ZURICH, Feb 21 (Reuters) - The right-wing Swiss People's Party (SVP) called on Saturday for retaliation against the United States over a U.S. tax probe into the country's biggest bank UBS that threatens prized banking secrecy.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
Maybe we come from different vantage points, but from where I sit the looter class would seem to include embezzlers, Ponzi schemers, smugglers, drug kingpins and other sorts squirreling away ill-gotten gains. Those are just the sort of scoundrels who require numbered accounts. Maybe if you knew any victims of people like Bernard Madoff you would agree.
The Swiss are a landlocked people with few natural resorces (although fantastic scenery). They chose their banking policies and political neutrality in order to give themselves a strong economy without the major industries of other Western nations. Threatening their banking policies would be like telling Miller and Budweiser that they can’t brew beer anymore. It’s a threat to the foundation of their economy. Should anyone be surprised that the Swiss would resist this for all their worth and threaten revenge on anyone who forces them to change?
Why is that difficult to understand?
Boo hoo. I think terrorists surrendered their right to privacy long ago. Sorry you disagree.
So? Why is that any business of America's? Finance used to be a major industry in America, too, until people like Bernard Madoff scammed the public and hid their loot in secret Swiss bank accounts.
How generous of you. We all pay more so they can avoid taxes.
Yeah... got to protect all those thieves and others who secret away truckloads of money out of reach of the Feds who are pursuing them.
Well given that all taxation is a form of theft I can't begrudge someone getting out of it just because I didn't.
Most of them are perfectly legitimate account holders whose only crime is to have made a profit in their business endeavors.
< Pedantic >
Tax avoidance is the legal process of gaming the system to minimize taxes.
Tax evasion is illegal tax cheating.
< /Pedantic >
Personally I think it's immoral NOT to 'starve the beast' in any way you can get away with.
Fixed that for you.
Like I said I consider that illegal but moral.
Democrat Politicians?
Amen, brother.
Democrat Politicians?
Allow me to rephrase. My sympathies are for those who evade taxes on their earnings. That ought to exclude the Democrats.
“How generous of you. We all pay more so they can avoid taxes.”
Not if you weren’t so whiney and followed their example.
It's NOT any business of America's. The Swiss banks have done their privacy thing for generations and the world has survived. I see no reason for us to stick out noses in it now.
But if you take that away from them, Swiss banks will be no different than banks anywhere else in the world and you'll destroy their economy.
It just goes to show you, nobody’s neutral. You just have to find what really pisses them off.
Good points...
I can understand the Swiss being a little upset over their traditional banking secrecy laws...its the backbone of their economy.
Unfortunately this Globalist world we live in lacks the respect of nations to set their own rules and laws.
As long as another nation is not threatening the safety and security of the other...then there should be no interference with another nation’s laws
If the US was so concerned with people and businesses evading tax laws by opening accounts in bank-secrecy countries...then prohibit those individuals and companies from investing there in the first place.
In other words....if Swiss banks are a problem...keep US companies from shifting wealth over there...instead of forcing another nation to circumvent laws
Of course...a tax plan like the FairTax would never put US business or individuals in this situation in the first place...and not upset the Swiss
...and tell us why if income is earned outside the USA, the USA needs to..wants to...and does tax that income. It's none of the US Government's damn business how much revenue I generate outside of these shrinking free borders. If the government needs more funding let them collect it from all the dead-beat politicians, political nominees and government employees (USPS).
Instead of screaming for the heads of the “tax evaders” and demanding that Swiss banks suddenly begin selling out their clients, we should be telling our government to spend within its means and let people keep the damned money they earn. It belongs to the folks who earn it, not to the federal thugs who want to confiscate it. Leftists want us all to hate those “evil tax dodgers.” Just as they want us to hate the “rich”. Personally, I’d very much like to be a rich tax dodger. And I could just hate the government!
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