Yves Smith over at Naked Capitalism has a thorough accounting (with some good links) of the discussion of the revelation that the Romney's stashed $3 million away in one of those secret bank accounts at UBS. See Romney's Wife had $3 million in Swiss bank account through 2010: not disclosed in federal financial disclosure forms, Naked Capitalism (Feb. 2, 2012).
Now, there are at least two interesting things about the Romney's stashing $3 million in a very low yield Swiss bank account.
1) There are better things to do with money. Even if you don't mind a low return, you could hold that money in the US--helps the US economy more than in a Swiss bank, and is easily available without the transaction costs of getting it out of your secret Swiss bank account. Why would the Romney's have a Swiss bank account with a very low yield? The Romney spokesperson says "diversification" but that doesn't hold water. Makes one wonder where this money came from and certainly why it ended up in a Swiss bank.
2) the campaign has stated that the Romney's have paid all the taxes due. We don't know when, or whether it was a response to the stepped up enforcement of reporting requirements for foreign accounts. They could have taken reported everything correctly up front or they could have taken part in one of the voluntary disclosure initiatives. It would be interesting to know whether they had routinely filed FBAR reports and tax returns throughout the period this money was held there.
Perhaps what this reveals more than anything is that we should have an easy-to-find listing of every person who has voluntarily disclosed a foreign bank account for which reports had not been filed until the disclosure, the amount in the account, and the length of time the account had been open. While there are strong arguments for removing the confidentiality of corporate tax returns imposed back in the 1970s, at the least we should make readily available and easy to find the list of US scofflaws who have held offshore bank accounts and did not report them until the harsh glare of the UBS investigation made people realize they could be subject to criminal prosecution. There isn't enough shame in naming, these days, but it would be useful to know information, especially if there were political candidates involved.
Recent Comments