UBS Tells U.S. To Stick It Over Tax Evaders

Now That it’s Yesterdays News, Time To Sweep It Under the Table

April 27, 2009

The New York Times reported yesterday that Swiss bank UBS is asking the U.S. to drop all demands for naming American tax evaders. The article says the banks are courting Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner to intervene on their behalf with the Justice Department. As part of the deal making, Swiss banks say they [might] agree to negotiate a new tax treaty with the United States that “would make possible such disclosures in the future”. But the new treaty would not apply to existing clients.

There are at least 52,000 wealthy Americans that have Swiss accounts with UBS, and it appears they have joined sides with UBS to thwart the release of the names.

Thankfully the current administration’s Justice Department says they are not going to give in, and intend to pursue their suit against UBS. But according to the report, Geithner said he’s “not yet in a measure to answer”, whatever that means.

My View

Did anyone really believe that once the fire died down UBS was actually going to go through with the deal? And what exactly does Geithner’s statement mean? It means he will think about it. The “American public’s waters” will have to be tested first to see how much backlash there will be, and then a final decision will be made. Strangely, of all the news sources I research, the New York Times is the only major outlet reporting on it so far. A good start for sweeping it under the table.

Earlier this year, UBS agreed to pay $780 million in fines and identify the customers. But I suspect the money would only be a drop in the bucket for some of those 52,000 wealthy Americans. Huh? What? Surely you don’t think they haven’t offered to pay that for the bank, do you?

In a goodwill jester, UBS has already turned over 300 names to the Justice Department, of which only a couple or so have been released. As the FBI agent in the movie “National Treasure” said, “Somebody’s got to go to jail”. So now that we have someone “in jail”, it’s time to let the other 51,997 or so go, I guess.