Switzerland Ranked Second-Worst Global Facilitator Of Tax Avoidance

5/19/2022 1:45:18 AM

(MENAFN- Swissinfo) Switzerland's opaque reputation is well-deserved, but improving, according to the Tax Justice Network. +41 79 6672862 / 8047 Zurich

Switzerland has moved from third to second in an annual ranking of the worst global tax havens. Overall however, the country is going in the right direction, reports the Tax Justice Network.

This content was published on May 18, 2022 - 11:50 May 18, 2022 - 11:50 swissinfo.ch/dos

Português (pt) A Suíça é o segunda maior facilitadora mundial da evasão fiscal

Despite coming second behind the United States in this year's reportExternal link , Switzerland reduced its financial secrecy by 17%, the NGO said on Tuesday. The report's methodology is based on two main pillars: a“secrecy score” (i.e. the transparency of a country's financial and legal system); and a measure of how much financial services involve offshore clients.

In both cases, Switzerland has improved, the Tax Justice Network wrote. But the country still falls short of other financial centres like Singapore (third), Hongkong (fourth), and Luxembourg (fifth).

Also a positive indicator for Switzerland is its adherence to global sharing of tax information, via bilateral agreements signed with over 100 countries since 2017. The failure to do the same is the big reason why the score of the worst performer, the US, is almost double that of the rest, according to the report.

However, Dominik Gross from the Alliance Sud NGO told the Tages-Anzeiger newspaper on Wednesday that Switzerland has still not signed such information-exchange agreements with many developing countries. Tax-dodgers from these countries thus have“nothing to fear” in parking their money in Swiss banks, said Gross:“They hide their money here from the tax authorities in their home countries, who could urgently use the funds to tackle the food crisis sparked by the war in Ukraine.”

MENAFN19052022000210011054ID1104238989

Legal Disclaimer:
MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.