2nd of UBS’s super-wealthy private clients has pleaded guilty to tax evasion
Quoted from Robert Scheer who is the editor of Truthdig:
One wonders if Phil Gramm has been made just a tad nervous by the news on Tuesday that one of UBS’s super-wealthy private clients has pleaded guilty to tax evasion. That’s the second case in two weeks involving the bank at which the former senator is a vice chairman, and 100 other clients are under investigation for possible bank-assisted tax fraud.
Gramm, the Republican former chair of the Senate Finance Committee, where he authored much of the deregulatory legislation at the heart of the current banking meltdown, has for the six years since he left office helped lead a foreign-owned bank specializing in tax dodges for the wealthy. These schemes by the Swiss-based UBS not only force the rest of us taxpayers to pay more to make up the government revenue shortfall but are blatantly illegal. In February, UBS admitted to having committed fraud and conspiracy and agreed to pay a fine of $780 million. Republican “Tea Baggers” take note: Offshore tax havens do not equal populist revolt.
Although the Internal Revenue Code is far from perfect, these wealth tax cheats pay zero. This increase the law abiding citizens tax by an estimated 12 %. The so-called “Tea Baggers” should also include a protest against this! Let’s also replace Phil Gramm.