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The Senate adopted an amendment to a larger highway transportation bill on Thursday aimed at cracking down on foreign tax havens.

Carl Levin

The amendment would allow the Treasury Department to take a range of measures against foreign governments and financial institutions that significantly impede U.S. tax enforcement. The amendment was offered by Senators Carl Levin, D-Mich., Kent Conrad, D-N.H., and Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I. The provisions had been part of legislation that Levin has been pushing for since 2007, most recently as part of his CUT Loopholes Act (see Senators Introduce Bill to Cut Tax Loopholes). The provisions would not be as broad as those in the larger bill, but they have raised concerns in the financial services industry.

I have fought against offshore tax havens for years, and I am glad the Senate has taken a strong step in the fight against foreign governments and offshore banks that help privileged individuals and corporations dodge taxes while the rest of Americans have to shoulder the extra tax burden, said Levin, who as chairman of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations has conducted lengthy investigations of the damage done by offshore tax havens. Enactment of our amendment would help make our tax system more fair and would help reduce the deficit.

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Under Section 311 of the Patriot Act, the Treasury can take a range of measures against foreign governments or financial institutions that engage in money laundering. The senators amendment gives the Treasury the same tools to combat foreign governments or financial institutions that significantly impede U.S. tax enforcement. For example, the Treasury could prohibit U.S. banks from accepting wire transfers or honoring credit cards from banks found to significantly hamper U.S. tax enforcement efforts.

"This legislation will grant the Treasury Department a new tool to stop offshore tax havens and financial institutions from gaming the system, said Conrad, who chairs the Senate Budget Committee. More must be done to clamp down on these tax havens and other schemes solely designed to get around current tax laws. This amendment is common sense and could raise nearly $1 billion to help tackle the nation's deficits and debt.

Levin noted that over the last several days, he and his co-sponsors had worked with the Obama administration and others to improve the amendment. They made changes to clarify that it covers significant impediments to tax enforcement, and that foreign jurisdictions and financial institutions that are complying with the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act will be viewed favorably with respect to their level of assistance with our tax enforcement efforts.

Its time to put an end to offshore tax abuses that allow tax cheats to profit at the expense of honest taxpayers, said Whitehouse. Im proud to support Senator Levins amendment, which will give the U.S. Treasury greater powers to crack down on offshore tax abusers and the banks that aid them.

Levin noted that Congress took a step two years ago by requiring foreign banks with U.S investments to disclose accounts opened by U.S. persons or pay a hefty penalty on their U.S. income. That law, known as FATCA, was included as part of the HIRE Act of 2010. But Levin noted that FATCA does not apply to tax haven banks that avoid U.S. investments. The United States needs authority to take special measures against foreign banks that not only refuse to disclose accounts opened by their U.S. clients, but also significantly impede U.S. tax enforcement efforts, he said. Our amendment would enable the United States to fight back by authorizing the Treasury to tell U.S. banks to stop doing business with those aiders and abettors of U.S. tax evasion.

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Senate Passes Amendment to Fight Offshore Tax Abuses

The timely revelations by Global Witness of unspecified amounts of diamonds cash being hidden in tax-free-havens of Mauritius, Hong Kong and the British Virgin Islands vindicate our earlier concerns.

The diamonds report caught Mugabe's militarised loyalists unawares, in the wake of a major propaganda campaign about "how sanctions were causing typhoid".

The inner circle has try every trick in the book to be de-listed by the EU and the US, especially after SADC colleagues led by Zuma failed to sway the EU Parliament, the 2 million signature petition flopped and Tomana's litigation of the EU appears to have died a natural death.

The expose shows the devastating power of information over propaganda and its serious implications for the Mugabe regime and the Kimberley Process.

The busting of the regime's alleged secret diamonds looting spree sounds like "The Emperor's New Clothes".

According to Answers.com, the story by Hans Christian Anderson goes like this. An emperor hires two tailors who promise to make him a set of remarkable new clothes that will be invisible to anyone who is either incompetent or stupid.

When the emperor goes to see his new clothes, he sees nothing at all - for the tailors are swindlers and there aren't any clothes.

Afraid of being judged incompetent or stupid, the emperor pretends to be delighted with the new clothes and "wears" them in a grand parade through the town.

Everyone else also pretends to see them, until a child yells out, "He hasn't got any clothes on!"

In this case, as some NGOs are reportedly pleading for 'Mugabe's bail', Global Witness has pointed out the emptiness of the pretensions of the regime's propaganda about Marange diamonds being "clean" and "knocking down world prices".

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Zimbabwe: Diamond Cash Hidden in Tax-Free Havens

OTTAWA A Liberal senator says the federal government isnt doing enough to catch tax cheats who stash money in overseas havens.

Percy Downe says the government has the names of more than 100 people who hold million of dollars in Liechtenstein bank accounts, but hasnt cracked down.

The Prince Edward Island Liberal senator says the Canada Revenue Agency managed to recoup only $6 million in taxes and interest from these people last year.

In a release, Downe says the government seems to be bending the rules to let some of them off the hook.

He says another 1,700 Canadians are known to have accounts in just a single Swiss bank.

Downe adds that at a time when the government is scrambling to deal with the deficit, theres no excuse for letting tax cheats off easy.

Not one penny has been assessed in fines, he said of the Liechtenstein cases.

That is because not one charge has been laid. In the four years since this information has come to light, not one of these Canadians who have hidden their money abroad to avoid paying taxes in Canada have stood before a judge, in Canada or overseas.

Downe, a former chief of staff to Jean Chretien who was named to the Senate by his boss in 2003, says its a matter of fairness.

Tax fairness, like justice, must be seen to be done, he said. Honest, law-abiding, taxpaying Canadians should not have to feel let down by a federal government unable or unwilling to make a serious effort to recoup monies from Canadians who try to avoid paying their fair share.

Read more from the original source:
A call to crack down on tax cheats with overseas bank accounts

Updated: Thu Mar. 01 2012 15:10:24

The Canadian Press

OTTAWA The federal government isn't doing enough to catch tax cheats who stash money in overseas havens, says a Liberal senator.

Percy Downe said the government has the names of more than 100 people who hold million of dollars in Liechtenstein bank accounts, but hasn't cracked down.

However, Nancy Bishay, a spokeswoman for Revenue Minister Gail Shea, said the government has been diligent in chasing tax dodgers.

The Liberal senator from Prince Edward Island said the Canada Revenue Agency managed to recoup only $6 million in taxes and interest from these people last year.

But Bishay says the agency has gone far beyond that in pursuit of cheats.

"Over the last two years, through audits of Canadian taxpayers involved in aggressive international transactions, the CRA has made great strides," she wrote in an email.

"As an example, in 2009-10 alone, we identified over $1 billion in additional taxes. Compare that to 2005-06 under the Liberals where $174 million was identified."

In his news release, Downe said the government seems to be bending the rules to let some tax evaders off the hook.

See more here:
Overseas tax cheats getting off easy, says senator

OTTAWA - A Liberal senator says the federal government isn't doing enough to catch tax cheats who stash money in overseas havens.

Percy Downe says the government has the names of more than 100 people who hold million of dollars in Liechtenstein bank accounts, but hasn't cracked down.

The Prince Edward Island Liberal senator says the Canada Revenue Agency managed to recoup only $6 million in taxes and interest from these people last year.

In a release, Downe says the government seems to be bending the rules to let some of them off the hook.

He says another 1,700 Canadians are known to have accounts in just a single Swiss bank.

Downe adds that at a time when the government is scrambling to deal with the deficit, there's no excuse for letting tax cheats off easy.

"Not one penny has been assessed in fines," he said of the Liechtenstein cases.

"That is because not one charge has been laid. In the four years since this information has come to light, not one of these Canadians who have hidden their money abroad to avoid paying taxes in Canada have stood before a judge, in Canada or overseas."

Downe, a former chief of staff to Jean Chretien who was named to the Senate by his boss in 2003, says it's a matter of fairness.

"Tax fairness, like justice, must be seen to be done," he said. "Honest, law-abiding, taxpaying Canadians should not have to feel let down by a federal government unable or unwilling to make a serious effort to recoup monies from Canadians who try to avoid paying their fair share."

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Harper government letting overseas tax cheats off easy, says senator