http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/feb/24/germany.globaleconomy At least Germany stamps on ta ha!ens "ick #ohen $unday %ebruary 24 2008 &he 'bser!er &he wealthy ha!

e got away with financial crimes for so long they no longer regard them as crimes. (hen they are caught breaking the rules others must obey) they denounce the timid attempts by go!ernments to enforce common standards as a shocking assault on a natural order in which ta is optional for those with the money to buy e emptions. *n +ritain) we ha!e seen the #ity in open re!olt against the notion that foreign billionaires should pay a little more towards the costs of the country that protects them. ,eanwhile in Germany) the decision by ta fraud in!estigators to... er... in!estigate ta fraud has turned the letters page of the %inancial &imes into a wailing wall for funny money men the world o!er. -erhaps they are right to be alarmed. ,aybe for the first time in a generation) go!ernments are seeing the irresponsibility of the rich as a threat as dangerous to a nation.s well/being as terrorism or drug trafficking and treating it accordingly. &he German authorities are being admirably firm. *n a sharp break from the indulgent treatment of the world.s elite) Germany is paying informants) recei!ing stolen documents and conducting mass raids with all the !igour it would deploy against an *slamist terror cell. &he German &a 0nion thinks Germany loses about 10bn 2uro 322.4bn -ounds5 a year in unpaid ta es. ,uch disappears into the statelet of 6iechtenstein) which tra!el writers portray as 7uritanian idyll. &rue) there are charming gothic castles and it is go!erned by the superficially 8uaint -rince 9ans/Adam ** or) to gi!e him his full title) 9is $erene 9ighness :ohannes Adam %erdinand Alois :osef ,aria ,arko d.A!iano -ius !on und ;u 6iechtenstein) $o!ereign -rince of 6iechtenstein) #ount of 7ietberg and <uke of &roppau and :=auml>gerndorf. +ut :ohannes Adam etc also owns the ?@00bn 6iechtenstein Global &rust 36G&5) which offers .wealth management. to indi!iduals and companies with the promise of absolute confidentiality. &he secrecy held until earlier this month when <er $piegel reported that an anonymous man known as .the informant. had proposed a deal to the German secret ser!ice) the +"<. *n return for 4.2m 2uro) he would hand o!er a stolen <A< listing details of hundreds of rich Germans who had set up accounts in his $erene 9ighness.s bank. &he spies passed samples of the informant.s secrets to ta in!estigators) who realised that they had stumbled across a gold mine. Germany.s biggest fraud scandal in li!ing memory is now breaking as a result. A leading German industrialist has already resigned. &a inspectors ha!e warrants to go through the finances of B00 people and all hell has broken loose in the world of the wealthy. 9is $erene 9ighness and representati!es of the ta industry ha!e accused Germany of dealing in stolen goods. .&o ad!ocate bribing bank officials in a foreign country) causing them to commit a criminal offence in their own Curisdiction) is somewhat astonishing). wrote an in!estment banker to the %inancial &imes. &he +"< .are authorised to act thus in cases of terrorism) money/laundering) organised crime and nuclear proliferation). added a lawyer from the ta ha!en of Gibraltar. +ut they .do not ha!e the authority to act in cases of ta e!asion with no link to the proceeds of crime.. All missed the point that ta ha!ens are inherently criminal and would go under without the proceeds of crime. As :ohn #hristensen) director of the &a :ustice "etwork) puts it) they are enemy states) pirate islands that ha!e declared economic war on the rest of the world. *t.s not Cust that they happen to be used by indi!idual criminals / drug dealers) kleptomaniac African dictators / they are criminal entities themsel!es that sur!i!e by sucking potential re!enues out of wealthy and destitute countries alike. *f rich

citi;ens obeyed the law) or ta ha!ens ended their secrecy) offshore banking wouldn.t e ist. -eer $teinbrueck) Germany.s finance minister) said last week that the .elite must respect the law. and threatened .to tighten the thumbscrews on 6iechtenstein.. * cannot imagine Gordon +rown or <a!id #ameron talking in the same way about :ersey and the *sle of ,an. &he idea that <a!id ,iliband would authorise ,*D to find informers in offshore banking systems feels e8ually far/fetched. +ritain is a country where councils can bug the phones of fly/tippers and put spy cameras in litter bins) but ta inspectors cannot bug the offices of fraudsters or send spies into :ersey. After the furious reaction from the #ity to the go!ernment.s modest proposals to ta foreign residents and open up offshore accounts) which was) incidentally) the most sustained campaign of organised hypocrisy you are likely to see in your lifetime) the status 8uo has been reasserted. &he recei!ed wisdom remains that you can only ask the rich to make a minimum contribution. &o do more would dri!e them abroad. 6abour is chastened. After originally proposing the ta ing of non/doms) the &ories are back under the control of ta e iles. Eet the recei!ed wisdom cannot last. *n democratic countries worldwide) go!ernments are asking the working and middle classes to pay the ta es the rich are a!oiding. &he status 8uo isn.t merely unCust) but politically unsustainable and more politicians are realising it. As soon as the 6iechtenstein scandal broke) American <emocratic senator #arl 6e!in announced an in!estigation into American plutocrats hiding money in his supreme highness.s bank. 6ast year 6e!in introduced the $top &a 9a!en Abuse Act to #ongress) which included necessarily draconian measures to stop the rich robbing the rest of society. .(e cannot tolerate ta cheats offloading their unpaid ta es on to the backs of honest ta payers). he declared. As with +ritain) it is easy to think that his stirring words were so much wind and that nothing will change in an America in which the rich ha!e enCoyed a second gilded age under the +ushes and #lintons. $till) it is worth noting that a then relati!ely obscure senator from *llinois co/sponsored 6e!in.s $top &a 9a!en Abuse Act and said that .we need to crack down on indi!iduals and businesses that abuse our laws) so that those who work hard and play by the rules aren.t disad!antaged.. 9is name was +arack 'bama.