UBS, a giant Swiss bank, serviced 20,000 Americans with $18 billion in foreign bank accounts. Only 5% reported income from those accounts to the IRS, leaving 19,000 as likely tax cheats. With an average of $900,000 per account, UBS made $200 million annually from this book of business.
How will the investigation play out? UBS Chairman Phil Gramm called Americans a nation of whiners. It turns out we have something legitimate to complain about.
We already had widespread stock option cheating amongst public traded CEO's. Executives backdated options to maximize their incentive compensation.
Extrinsic motivators deformed Wall Street to the extent, every huge investment bank disappeared almost overnight.
It seems the money addicted don't just destroy companies or shareholder value, they also cheat the government. The question is how many of these 19,000 tax cheats can be found at the top donorship levels to either major political party? And how might that impact justice or future government business? I'd really like to know...
