David Weldon: “I will be voting for H.R. 3004 and support most of its provisions, but I have some reservations about some features of…”

“I will be voting for H.R. 3004 and support most of its provisions, but I have some reservations about some features of the bill. Section 301 is designed to give the Treasury Secretary new powers to identify and punish governments that fail to control money laundering. However, some of the provisions in this section are controversial, particularly the criteria that the Treasury Secretary is supposed to use when determining whether a jurisdiction is a money laundering concern. A jurisdiction should be punished if it refuses to suspend bank secrecy when presented evidence of a serious crime like terrorism. But the mere existence of privacy should not be a cause for concern. The appropriate criteria should be evidence of money laundering, particularly if conducted with the government's complicity. It would be wrong to characterize a nation as harboring money laundering activities simply because they offer lower taxes than European or U.S. and other nations. Lower taxes are often designed to foster economic growth of a nation that is engaging in the lower-tax policy. It should not be interpreted as evidence of money laundering. Mr. Speaker, I believe that bill falls short in providing the assurances needed to ensure that a country is not placed on a blacklist simply because they have relatively lower taxes.”