In a rational world, Switzerland would be a role model for other nations. It is quite prosperous thanks largely to a modest burden of government. There is remarkable ethnic and religoius diversity, but virtually no tension because power is decentralized (sort of what America’s Founders envisioned for the United States). Yet despite these – and many other – attractive features, Switzerland is being persecuted because of strong human rights laws that protect financial privacy. Money-hungry politicians from other nations resent Swtizerland’s attractive policies, and they would rather trample Swiss sovereignty rather than fix their own oppressive tax laws. An official from the Swiss Bankers Association provides some background in a New York Times column:
In Switzerland, this tradition of treating a client’s financial affairs in confidence became law in 1934 when it was codified in Article 47 of the country’s first-ever federal banking act as a contemporary reaction to the economic crisis, various domestic political considerations and well-publicized cases of espionage involving France and Germany. …Banking secrecy, therefore, is not some gimmick the Swiss devised to attract foreign clients to their banks. It reflects the very high degree of trust that exists between the Swiss state and its citizens and it has strong democratic foundations. …The Swiss are proud of their system and they reward it with a high level of taxpayer honesty. It works because the Swiss vote their own taxes, they have a high degree of control over the way tax revenues are spent and over all they believe their tax system to be reasonable, comprehensible, transparent and fair. The principle of self-declaration backed up with withholding taxes and, if necessary, stiff fines supports this “honesty box” system. …Doesn’t Switzerland hear the snapping jaws and cracking whips of foreign finance ministers, tax collectors, O.E.C.D. bureaucrats, cash-dispensing government agents and other denizens of the encroaching real world as they circle round Mother Helvetia intent on biting huge chunks out of her banking secrecy, if not swallowing it whole? …In March last year the Swiss announced they would give up the evasion-fraud distinction for foreign bank clients and adopt the O.E.C.D. standards on information exchange in tax matters. …However, requests for assistance must be made with regard to a specific individual, and “fishing expeditions” — any indiscriminate trawling through bank accounts in the hope of finding something interesting — remain ruled out. …Switzerland demonstrates to the world that it is possible for a state to collect taxes with a high degree of taxpayer honesty and without the authorities being corroded with suspicion about the financial activities of their citizens. Citizens in a democracy would never allow their police force to have an automatic right of forced entry into their homes just on the off-chance of finding some stolen goods, so why on earth should the state have an automatic right of forced entry into citizens’ banks accounts just on the off-chance of discovering some tax evasion? There must be a limit to the extent to which respect for an individual’s privacy is sacrificed on the altar of international cooperation in tax matters.
Sadly, the United States is part of the effort to create a global tax cartel. An “OPEC for politicians” would be terrible news for taxpayers, though, much as a cartel of gas stations would be bad for driviers. So-called tax havens play a valuable role in curtailing the greed of the political class. Ask yourself a simple question: Would politicians be more likely or less likely to raise tax rates if they knew taxpayers had no escape options?
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[…] Because we live in an upside-down world, Switzerland is being persecuted for being a productive, peaceful nation that has a strong human rights policy with regards to privacy. […]
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This is just sick… you neoliberals really have absolutly no shame when it comes to stashing away cash (taxpayer cash?) in a foreign country. The contemporary national state is nothing more then an orange to be sucked dry and thrown away afterwards for you vampires. Sick, sick, sick.
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[…] individuals have a right to control information about their personal affairs, Switzerland has a strong human rights policy that protects financial privacy. In the United States, the government can look at your bank account and does not even need a search […]
[…] individuals have a right to control information about their personal affairs, Switzerland has a strong human rights policy that protects financial privacy. In the United States, the government can look at your bank account and does not even need a search […]
[…] individuals have a right to control information about their personal affairs, Switzerland has a strong human rights policy that protects financial privacy. In the United States, the government can look at your bank account and does not even need a search […]
The US and the EU want to turn low-tax jurisdictions into tax-collecting vassal states.
The US and EU countries have no business telling smaller sovereign jurisdictions that compete on the basis of tax competition how to run their banking systems or demand that they changer their privacy and banking laws.
Tax competition is the best thing that ever happened to these bloated welfare states. When it comes to competition amongst tax rates, the bureaucrats in the European Union are like school yard bullies. They don’t want to face the reality of decades of poor decisions. They just demand that everyone else do what they are doing.
Great site. I just discovered it tonight.