Shutdown UBS?
July 17th, 2008
That is the call today by Senator Levin.
As if the banking industry needs anything else to be jittery about.
Are these folks up in DC that stupid?
Federal regulators should consider revoking the US banking license of the giant Swiss Bank UBS because of its role in helping wealthy Americans evade billions of dollars in taxes, Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) told ABC News today.
"I don't think that any bank that goes to the extent that UBS has gone through to avoid doing what their agreements with the United States require them to do, should be allowed to continue to do business unless they clean up their act," Levin said.
UBS's role in arranging "undeclared" accounts for an estimated 19,000 US citizens was one focus of a hearing by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, chaired by Levin today. The role of the LGT bank, owned by the royal family of Liechtenstein, was also investigated.
Levin said UBS practices resulted in its U.S. clients maintaining undeclared Swiss accounts that collectively held "$18 billion dollars in assets that have been kept secret from the the IRS."
"They wanted secrecy. UBS gave them secrecy," Levin said.
Levin revealed a list of "secrecy tricks" he said the UBS bankers used to carry out their tax haven schemes.
The list includes code names for clients, using untraceable pay phones, encrypted computers, fake trusts, counter-surveillance training, and shredding files.
Levin said UBS hid behind Swiss bank secrecy laws to hide its misconduct, and offered services in the US it was not licensed to provide.
UBS is the world's largest private bank catering to wealthy individuals.
One of its bankers, Bradley Birkenfeld, has already pleaded guilty in the US to tax evasion and fraud and is cooperating with federal prosecutors in Miami.
In a plea agreement, Birkenfeld detailed how he said he had been trained by UBS to help wealthy Americans evade taxes.
In one case, Birkenfeld told prosecutors he purchased diamonds using a US client's Swiss bank account and smuggled the diamonds into the United States in a toothpaste tube.
He called for passage of new laws to end tax haven abuses.
"Tax havens," said Levin, "are engaged in economic warfare against the United States and honest, hardworking American taxpayers."
Maybe if you stopped taxing the living shit out of peoples accounts they would keep the money here and increase the savings amounts in the US!? In turn increasing deposits in US banks, increasing the availably capital banks need to stay liquid.
Naa that would be crazy talk, they need to tax you when you make the money, tax you when you pay the govt for the money, tax you when you save the money, tax you when you invest the money, tax you for living on your property and tax you when you die so that your heirs can pay more taxes on that as well.
Moron! Fix the taxing system not shut down a bank!