The Washington Times goes in for a little unintended self-parody, taking President Obama to task for his corrosive, unilateralist approach to … cracking down on tax havens and money laundering.
President Obama has attempted to distinguish himself from his predecessor by stressing a more cooperative approach in foreign affairs. Mr. Obama declared at a press conference upon his arrival in London for the recent summit of the group of the world’s 20 richest countries: “We can start with the notion that we’re prepared to – to listen and to work cooperatively with countries around the world.”
Yet in one area of foreign policy, Mr. Obama has taken an approach as – if not more – unilateral than that of the Bush administration. On other nations’ tax and financial privacy policies, the Obama administration has taken an aggressive, almost bullying, stance in denouncing some countries as “tax havens” or lax regulators.
The administration recently stunned the nation of Switzerland when, after obtaining, with the Swiss government’s full cooperation, the names of 250 UBS AG bank customers suspected of violating U.S. tax laws, it then demanded the names of an additional 52,000 American UBS clients.
Thanks to TPMer Moe Tkacik for the catch.
Global War against Tax Cheats.
