That's true. It was only after the U.S. pressured the Swiss banking industry that they agreed to report on U.S. owned Swiss accounts. We should go to a cashless society so everyone would have to pay their fair share. No more cash underground economy! Costs would go down for honest folks and up for cheaters, just like it should. For those that don't like not being able to cheat their fellow citizens, there are plenty of countries to move to, like Russia, where corruption is routine.
= US has its hand in everyone's pocket = policeman of the world = but like donald Trump said and asked, "Do you think we have clean hands ourselves?" We are a bully. Pfizer told countries like Brazil, "we will send you vaccine but youmust signover your entire military and wealth over to us and sign taht you will hadle allcourt cases that show up at your own cost!" And all the while we are in a BEAR now at 2 degrees of Trend and God is watching. Arch Angel Gabriel was asked this question, "when will the US runout of spiritual credits since it accumulated truckloads of credits at WW2?" When that day comes, it would be best for us to bolt from Dodge if WW3 has not already made the bolt Usain!
Side note: Take a moment and ask around ...................... American retirees in foreign countries who had to suffer becasue of the FATCA Law. Many on Social Security had to pay whopping fines becasue theydid not know wht the heck was going on and so did not report. Anyone who is retired abroad auto has a foreign bank acount. So it nowadays does not matter that its 180 countries not just Switzerland. Saint Jack in Northern thailand paid 38k in fines anbd all he did was be a good boy living his last yeasrs in peace and quiet after bieng a Postman for 30 years in California and sufering 6 brutal dog attacks while on the job. There are sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo many others like Jack in Cambodia, Laos, Singapore, India, Malaysia, Phillippines and elsewhere. All took a huge hit - for what? They did not deserve this treatment in their old age.
Foreign account are no problem for U.S. citizens so long as they properly report them on their returns. The IRS regularly forgives penalties for innocent mistakes, but you have to ask.
Almost all had to bend over = for the rest of thier lives they are on the B L A C K L I S T Privacy = whooooooosh!!!
%% Good sarcasm on russia. NO thanks on your cashless theory; we like freedom to much. $10,000 moves are allready tracked @ US banks. And if you ''only could get rid of hurricanes'' oops ; some in FLA only accept cash now. Another big problem for cashless; CA is on a power ration last we heard. So in addition to please dont charge your Ev, please dont use any electric based banking?? HUH?? For max control of people-slaves , cashless would be perfect
This is a serious matter. The order of magnitude of underground cash transactions that would otherwise result in local and/or federal tax revenue is 10**12! Honest citizens who pay taxes owed are being cheated by folks that do business in cash but don't report all their net income. These people are leaches on the rest of society. I don't know about you, but I don't like being cheated. The freedom to cheat is not a freedom we should celebrate in a democracy. Making it harder to cheat, hurts cheaters, but benefits the rest of us. Cheating on taxes is not the way to register disagreement with policy. In a democracy, showing up on election day is the way to register your opinion and bring about government policy change. When a tax system breaks down, the long term consequences for an economy are dire. Puerto Rico is an example. L. Randall Wray, in his now classic monograph, "Understanding Modern Money", expressed the view that hyperinflation was often the result of a breakdown in the tax system.
Honest citizens are dumbphucks - they bend over and have been doing so for trillions of years. Its the dishonest ones wher eithe fun is at. Personally I trust dishonest people waaaay more than I do honest people as I have discovered taht hte honest people are anything BUT ........... Go figure!!! Honest people bore me to tears