This is the exact same thing we have done to Panama and other central american countries that had bank secrecy laws.

Why should Swiss banks be treated differently?

We need a tax code that rewards achievement and encourages investment for a successful economy. The Obama administration needs to enact policies that bring tax rates in line with our global competitors, but need some encouragement! The Friends of the U.S. Chamber supports these efforts. Sign the economic and tax policy petition at http://www.friendsoftheuschamber.com/takeaction/index.cfm?ID=42

Maura. Our “global competitors” are not fighting two wars, do not have military units in almost every corner of the world, nor do they give foreign aid to to other nations as we do.
So go ahead and enact policies that bring tax rates in line with our global competitors. We should live like the Indians, Chinese, or Bangladeshis, so we can be in line with our global competitors.

Again, the lying greek faggot fails to grasp basic economics: lower tax rates enable economic growth, which is why even the socialist countries, who formerly had very high tax rates, have lowered theirs. The only question is when the drooling idiot in the White House will wake up to this reality.
Costlier govt=weaker economy. Duh.

ellinas,

Maura’s point was well taken… while your reply was a pitiful attempt at silly sarcasm.

Our military and foreign aid commitments are nothing compared to the deficits being foisted upon the US economy over the next ten years as projected by Obama… never mind what the real numbers will turn out to be if the economic illiterates of the Left get their way.

If we are ever to get out of the Himalayas of debt that we, our children, and their children all face, it will only be with a vibrantly healthy, growing private sector economy generating enough wealth to make the minimum payments. And taxing ourselves, stupidly, into catatonic economic stagflation is about the last thing that will help foster the growth we’ll need.

JMT,

You’ll simply never make it as a “progressive” Democrat if you keep insisting on logical consistency… never mind the idea that the same rules ought to apply to everyone alike.

Why they’ll take away your union card and your ACORN decoder ring if you keep talking like that in public.

ellinas,

Maura’s point was well taken… while your reply was a pitiful attempt at silly sarcasm.
Bat One on July 8, 2009 at 11:49 am

You try to wipe under the carpet a real issue, like how maintaining our military superiority and our commitments around the world is costing us big$$$$$$$$$$bucks.
No amount of redirection and cheap politicking from you will negate the fact that due to this and other reasons which are unique to the USA, we cannot enact policies that bring tax rates in line with our global competitors.

i presume you stooped beating your wife to write this, no?
jimmypop on July 8, 2009 at 12:21 pm

What a brilliant mind you have.
You may presume, take for granted or assume if you wish.

However it is also a fact, you have no proof to offer that any of the holders of those UBS Swiss bank accounts is not a tax cheat…

No one has to prove their innocence. The government has to have some kind of proof to come after you. Something the government seems to be forgetting more and more these days.

Kenny and Bat One. When was the last time that the IRS needed proof? Don’t they usually go fishing?

Hence the quote:

The government has to have some kind of proof to come after you. Something the government seems to be forgetting more and more these days.

Why are you giving the thumbs up for this?

Ah… yes, Bat one. The American bill of rights, applies to the Swiss Bank UBS.
Screw the principles, shift the game and the blame, and hope that no one notices the latent hypocrisy. Right?!

So where’s the citation, E? The one where you called for the prosecution of the known tax cheats… like Geithner, Daschle, Rangle, Jefferson, Sibelius, etc.
Bat One on July 8, 2009 at 12:42 pm

It is there somewhere. I don’t keep track of where I place these things. Sorry you missed it.
But if it will make you feel better,I call for the prosecution of the known tax cheats… like Geithner, Daschle, Rangle, Jefferson, Sibelius, etc.

Bat you are bat crazy to think that these people mean anything to me.

When was the last time that the IRS needed proof? Don’t they usually go fishing?

e,

In your case, they already had the proof they needed. Your bank had reported the interest you’d earned on a 1098, a copy of which goes to the IRS and was coded and matched against your return. Foreign banks, however, do not have the same reporting requirements because technically, the IRS has no jurisdiction.

I won’t agrue with you about the IRS, however. They can be not only rlentless, but incomparably incompetent as well. The WSJ does periodic tests of the IRS tax helpline, and the lowest error percentage I recall seeing was somewhere north of 60% wrong. The IRS is one of the biggest reasons that FairTax is becoming increasingly popular.

Why are you giving the thumbs up for this?
Kenny on July 8, 2009 at 12:55 pm

Because about ten years ago, by accident I did not report about $50.00 dollars in interest income. When everything was said and done a year later I had to pay a total of $249.80.
They came after me for a measly $50.00 bucks, because the bank reported to the IRS my interest earnings on that account.
Why should they be able to hide behind UBS?

UBS US representatives set up secret accts for Americans to hide income.

The only reason to hide your valuables is if someone intends to steal them. Greedy govt takes too much, and for bad reasons.

That is a criminal conspiracy…

Wrong! It’s a partisan allegation, with nothing to back it up.
It’s just more leftie class envy.

Because about ten years ago, by accident I did not report about $50.00 dollars in interest income. When everything was said and done a year later I had to pay a total of $249.80.
They came after me for a measly $50.00 bucks, because the bank reported to the IRS my interest earnings on that account.
Why should they be able to hide behind UBS?

So in other words…since you got screwed, other people deserve to as well? That’s like a robbery victim walking up to his neighbors and saying “I hope they hit you next!”

You should’ve been given leeway, a little note that said “You still owe us 50 bucks, please pay.” Instead you got hosed with something like 500% penalty. That’s not right. I acknowledge that.

That said, a blanket policy of “screw em” because it was applied to you is equally wrong, and shame on you for supporting blatantly illegal search and seizure just because you were screwed. Shame on you.

Kenny. Thie is what I am arguing about:
“They came after me for a measly $50.00 bucks, because the bank reported to the IRS my interest earnings on that account.”

Since “Bank of the West” reported me, and the bank(s) you do your banking with report(s) you to the IRS, I see nothing wrong with UBS reporting their US customers.

They came after me for a measly $50.00 bucks, because the bank reported to the IRS my interest earnings on that account. Why should they be able to hide behind UBS?

Because “they” are smart enough to put their money in a Swiss ban and you weren’t. How’s that?

Are you smart enough to have stashed your $$$$ in a Swiss Bank?

Of course!

I am also smart enough not to actually acknowledge publicly that I have done so.

Bat1: Damn, guess my pointy ears & green skin were showing again.

Two guys sneak out of the Quickie Mart, one guy has stolen a candy bar, the other the register.

The one with the register is from Geithner’s IRS.

So according to the loons on the right we change the tax laws to accommodate the cheaters. Oh how nice.
A cheater will cheat no matter what the circumstances.
Plus this little precedent: “After years of denying that dormant accounts of Holocaust victims even existed, in 1997 Swiss banks produced a list of thousands of people with accounts that had seen no activity since the War.”
Swiss Banks Produce Lists Of Customers

Of course, in that great tradition of leftie class envy “justice”, Obama assumes that these people are tax cheats(because they’re rich, just like Karl Marx believed), and that gives him the right to meddle in the affairs of the Swiss banks.
Due process of law requires proof of probable cause, and Obama lacks that in every case.
Of course, in Obama’s mind, due process is only for the ruling elite.

Class envy: UBS: We Have 47,000 Tax Cheats; Here Are 300 Names

WASHINGTON — UBS AG now says it had about 47,000 accounts held by Americans who didn’t pay U.S. taxes on their assets, but Switzerland’s biggest bank is providing the names of only 300 American clients to the U.S. government in a showdown over secrecy……………………….
UBS last month formally accepted responsibility for helping Americans hide assets from the U.S. government and agreed to pay $780 million in fines and restitution. The bank also turned over the names of about 300 U.S. clients. But UBS is not giving the Internal Revenue Service the names of all U.S. citizens who maintained secret accounts with the bank. 47000 Tax Cheaters

Brent. The important words are: “in 1997 Swiss banks produced a list of thousands of people with accounts”
and it is relevant to this issue because Rob said: “Swiss bank accounts, and all the secrecy that go with them, have been around longer than the United States has. And now Obama expects to trample that tradition into the dust in a desperate scramble to reduce deficits by getting at tax evaders?”

They violated the secrecy before. They are not virgins when it comes to disclosure.
And why is it that you don’t want tax cheats caught and prosecuted?

UBS US representatives set up secret accts for Americans to hide income.
That is a criminal conspiracy Done numerous times by an organization, it falls in the domain of racketeering. Big penalties , big forfeitures , big jail time.

The ironic part is that UBS lost big money for most of its scammer clients.