Ending Tax Heavens: What UBS (Switzerland for that matter) can learn from Andorra, France and Spain
During the worldwide financial crisis, Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, who also carries the title of co-prince of Andorra, placed himself at the helm of an international crusade to clamp down on tax evasion. Mr. Sarkozy told Andorra to fall in line if it did not want to be ostracized, even threatening in early 2009 to drop his princely title. Spain, desperate to plug its ballooning budget deficit, also became more determined to recoup money hidden in offshore accounts.
Andorra complied, signing agreements with its two neighbors as well as with several other countries to collaborate on cross-border fraud investigations. As a result, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development removed Andorra last year from its list of “uncooperative tax havens.”
via Andorra, a Tiny Tax Haven, Tries Openness – NYTimes.com.
I was one of the most thrilled when the IRS went after UBS for its list of names of Americans with tax heavens. In the end governments need the tax revenue from not only the commoners buf from the elite as well.
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