Hillary Out to Strong-Arm Swiss
by J. H. Huebert
by J. H. Huebert
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First we attacked Afghanistan. Then we attacked Iraq. Now the U.S. has it sights set on Switzerland.
Peaceful, neutral Switzerland? That’s right. What’s the crime? It’s not sponsoring terrorism or harboring weapons of mass destruction. No, in the eyes of the U.S. government, Switzerland has done far worse: it’s kept money out of the hands of the Internal Revenue Service, money to which the IRS may not even be entitled under any law anywhere.
The U.S. and Switzerland are headed for a diplomatic showdown as the IRS demands that Swiss bank UBS turn over the names of 52,000 U.S. clients in the mere hope of exposing them as tax evaders, prosecuting them and taking their cash.
The IRS has already succeeded in going after one prominent user of UBS’s services: Igor Olenicoff. The billionaire, who has a home in Laguna Beach’s Emerald Bay, pleaded guilty in December 2007 to filing a false tax return, then sued UBS, contending bank advisers’ advice landed him in trouble.
Now the IRS wants more: that list of names. But the Swiss government has so far stood its ground. It understandably doesn’t want to let the IRS do this because of Switzerland’s longstanding strict banking-secrecy laws, which provide criminal penalties for disclosing client information. Plus, the Swiss have this crazy notion that their own laws – not ours – should apply in their own country.
