Posted by The Swiss National Council on Tuesday approved a controversial administrative assistance agreement with the US. The agreement will allow the names of 4,450 alleged tax evaders from the United States who have accounts with the Swiss bank UBS to be disclosed to the US tax authority.
The liberal daily Corriere del Ticino believes that this incursion into Swiss banking secrecy is tolerable and mocks the loss of face for the conservative Swiss people’s party the SVP:
“It had sworn to voters that it would do battle against the agreement, which will allegedly bury Swiss banking secrecy. But now it has had to give in. In view of the awkward situation in which the UBS management has put us, at least the country’s true interests have been salvaged. An administrative assistance agreement between the UBS and the US that provides for 4,450 names to be passed on is better than a dreadful court case against the UBS aimed at using any means to get at the data of 52,000 customers suspected of tax evasion in the US. Since there is no alternative, the agreement doubtless represents the lesser evil.”
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