Political Quotes

“I thank the distinguished Senator from Arizona and a distinguished member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for his courtesy. I know he will be making comments in which I share his concerns and for which he has been very outspoken. I will try to condense my effort here. On Monday, the Department of Justice announced that Swiss bank Credit Suisse pled guilty to the criminal charge of helping American citizens cheat on their taxes, and agreed to pay a $2.6 billion fine. The bank admitted to using bogus entities to disguise undeclared U.S. accounts from American tax authorities, and it admitted to helping its clients arrange large cash transactions to skirt U.S. reporting requirements. The guilty plea means that the bank will be punished for its transgressions, and it serves as a warning to others who would engage in or enable tax evasion. But astoundingly, Credit Suisse will not be required to disclose additional names of U.S. citizens who hired the bank to help them cheat on their taxes and evade prosecution by U.S. authorities. As the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations reported earlier this year, the Justice Department has only been able to obtain the names of 238 Credit Suisse customers out of 22,000 U.S.-owned accounts at the bank. The reason for this is simple. Swiss bank secrecy laws forbid Credit Suisse and other Swiss banks from sharing information about their clients with U.S. tax authorities, even if those clients are actively violating U.S. tax laws.…”