GFI's director of Government Affairs and legal counsel, Heather Lowe, appeared on Fox Business Channel this morning to discuss the implications of the UBS settlement. Check it out below:
MIAMI — The Swiss and U.S. governments announced a deal Wednesday to settle American demands for the identities of suspected tax dodgers, despite Switzerland's vaunted bank secrecy. But they kept all details under wraps, including how many of the 52,000 names sought by the IRS from banking giant UBS AG will be revealed.
A new report released by the Leprosy Mission Ireland which criticizes the Millenium Development Goals as favoring rich countries also recognizes the importance of shutting down tax havens as a development imperative. From the Irish Times:
MANY OF the policies adopted by the UN to end global poverty are “unrealistic and unattainable” because they advance the interests of the rich at the expense of the poor, according to a report by Leprosy Mission Ireland.
It analyses the “failures” of the millennium development goals, criticises the way target goals were selected...
Global Financial Integrity has come out with recommendations today for the US government on how to proceed as the UBS case begins to come to a close. From GFI:
U.S.-Swiss Tax Treaty: In June an amendment to the U.S.-Swiss tax treaty was agreed to but not yet ratified. Statements from U.S. and Swiss parties to the negotiations indicate that information exchange would still rely on exchange upon request and would require the U.S. to provide names of suspected tax evaders to obtain information on their undisclosed accounts. The U.S should push for...
