Carl Levin is Seriously Pissed at the Swiss
Senator Carl “Shitty Deal” Levin has blasted the Swiss government for withholding the names of certain UBS clients suspected of opening Swiss bank accounts to evade U.S. taxes. The Swiss lower house voted today to reject a U.S.-Swiss treaty that would have forced UBS to turn over 4,450 out of the 52,000 UBS clients Uncle Sam suspects of tax evasion.
“Rejection of the treaty is an international embarrassment that can be laid at the feet of Swiss legislators who are willing to continue to allow their banks to facilitate U.S. tax evasion,” Levin said in a statement.
“After a year of delay, in August 2009, a settlement was reached in which the United States agreed to give up its right to all 52,000 names in exchange for getting prompt access to information on key accounts, estimated at 4,450 or less than ten percent of the total. Now the Swiss, despite multiple U.S. concessions and having strung out the UBS case for two years, have failed to live up to their end of the bargain,” he added.
Levin called for a court summons to force UBS to turn over the names of all 52,000 tax cheats. (Tim Geithner not included.)