Swiss lawmakers reject tax-cheats deal with U.S.

[a kennedy]

GENEVA (AP) — Switzerland's efforts to calm a banking furor hit a major setback Tuesday as nationalist and left-wing lawmakers blocked a treaty with the United States that would have allowed UBS to hand over thousands more files on its American clients to U.S. tax authorities.

The Swiss government and Washington had painstakingly crafted the treaty last August to resolve a long-standing dispute over the bank's alleged role in aiding tax evasion, but 104 lawmakers in Switzerland's lower house voted against the deal Tuesday, compared to 76 in favor. Sixteen lawmakers abstained.

The government had urged lawmakers to approve the deal to avert harm to the Swiss economy, which is heavily dependent on the country's banking industry.

The deal is crucial to UBS — the country's largest bank — which has faced intense pressure from U.S. authorities since 2007.

Last year the bank agreed to turn over hundreds of client files and pay a $780 million penalty in return for a deferred prosecution agreement. But Washington has signaled that unless UBS reveals a further 4,450 American names demanded in the U.S.-Swiss agreement, it may face a crippling civil investigation just as the bank is recovering from the subprime crisis and seeking to rebuild its U.S. business.

The deal was blocked Tuesday by lawmakers from Switzerland's two biggest parties, the People's Party and the Social Democrats.

full article: http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/taxes/2010-06-08-ubs-taxes_N.htm

[GodlessBiker]

1. The bank is required by one country yet forbidden by another to turn over the names. What to do?

[coyote]

2. Good.

The US is demanding that the Swiss break their privacy laws to conform to our tax laws.

[GodlessBiker]

3. Or, the Swiss are demanding that the US break our tax laws to conform to their privacy laws.