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May 21, 2012
Published: 6 Feb 10 13:01 CET
Online: http://www.thelocal.de/national/20100206-25075.html
German tax investigators were in France this weekend to buy the now-notorious stolen Swiss bank data on 1,500 alleged tax cheats, magazine Focus reported Saturday.
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My guess is that there are a hundred affairs, financial stumbles and issues that could bring the current government down.
All's fair in love and war. The idea that you will just offer up money and pay off for folks for information.....opens the door for various issues.
Also, I see this will entice other people to break the law to receive a payoff from the government. This is action is a public statement of desperation. No doubt politicians, big supporters of politicians or parties and leaders of big German companies are on the list, so it is like shooting themselves in the foot.
Entertaining and disturbing at the same time….
The real question, I think, is this. Police, at least police in the US, have routinely offered rewards for information that leads to an arrest, etc. Prosecutors have often offered plea deals, either as a way to avoid a trial (which they might lose) or to get one bad guy to testify against the others. In some cases, the deal has also included immunity from prosecution, suggesting that they believe they committed a crime, but are willing to trade away that knowledge to convict others.
So, assuming that as a starting point, is this really all that different? You have one criminal willing to rat out others, and asking for a deal to do so.
There are differences, of course, but they are not all that big. Does this set a new precedent? I suspect so. Is it good fiscal policy? Sure. Catching people who cheat on their taxes is a legitimate law enforcement aim. In the end, the question is very narrow: Is the government encouraging crime (theft of data) to identify other crime (tax evasion)? It's hard to say for sure, but that's the issue that needs to be addressed.
WA
Failure 1, The behaviour of incompetent arrogant and sometimes totally stupid politicians, for not pre empting the situation.
They always act after the event and make it easier to cover their own dubious activities.
Failure 2, Every bank could just deduct the tax due, then remit it to the applicable home countries of thir clients and all this unnecessary drama could be eliminated.
The banks are all controlled by a central ruling body, so it should not be too difficult to implement internationally.