The Guardian perpetuated a popular and entirely incorrect myth about Swiss banking secrecy today. It said this secrecy was introduced in 1934 to protect German Jews. That is completely untrue. There was very little international concern for German Jews in 1934 anywhere, let alone Switzerland. It was actually created to prevent enquiries being made by French tax authorities about senior members of French political and social life who were using Switzerland for the purposes of tax evasion.
There was never a social or ethical justification for bank secrecy: it is simply a mechanism to facilitate tax evasion, financial fraud and corruption on a world wide-scale.
The abolition of banking secrecy is one of the necessary reforms required to create a banking system suitable for the 21st century.
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Swiss banking secrecy was a mechanism to help facilitate tax evasion – yes perhaps – for German “enemies of the state” (Jews) who faced seizure of their worldwide assets by German tax authorities.
Is tax evasion right if you’re evading taxes due to Hitler’s government? I would say yes although I suspect you would disagree, Richard, given your blind faith in the power of taxes to help people and governments to do good.
So, was it right for German Jews to use Swiss accounts to evade paying taxes that would help pay for the the Nazi regime’s social programmes?
Sad Ken
Yes, I do disagree
But what intrigues me is that you deliberately misstate the information to support your case. That’;s not a good ethical position to start from
Richard
I’ve sent this to Denis MacShane today plus the info on Land Registry.