EC Nations Asked About Removing Secrecy on Banks
BRUSSELS — The European Commission is asking EC countries how much they would lift the veil of bank secrecy to counter tax fraud once all EC exchange controls are scrapped in July.
Christiane Scrivener, the commissioner responsible for tax, asks in a confidential questionnaire: “How far are you ready to go, including the question of the limits of bank secrecy, to facilitate the exchange of information with other member states in cases where tax authorities . . . can show that there are clear grounds for presumption of fraud.â€
She put the list of eight questions to EC finance ministers at a weekend meeting in the south of France to work out how to make progress on preventing tax fraud.
France insists that free movement of capital in the EC planned for 1990 would require parallel measures to prevent citizens from avoiding paying taxes on investment income.
Paris fears substantial capital flight from residents who have to pay relatively high taxes on such income.
Scrivener intends to base new proposals for battling tax fraud on member states’ responses. Ministers are due to discuss them at a meeting in Luxembourg on Oct. 9.
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