Professor Elam

Monday Feb 1 2010

The secrecy of Swiss Bank Accounts has been dwindling at a rapid pace for some time. The US has gone after drug money accounts and now tax shelter accounts around the world, effectively piercing the famous bank secrecy veil. Now the Swiss themselves warn that UBS would be finished in the US if it hands over details on various bank accounts. 

The bigger story is that the US plans deficit spending as far as one can see. Its voracious appetite for money will never be satisfied. Remember the idea that if one makes more than $250,000, one is rich?  I suspect that confiscatory tax rates and other schemes will take aim at earnings over that figure. Remember under the 1950-1970 Democrat Congress, top marginal tax rates were 90% to 70%. While it may be difficult to legislate such open confiscation again, the states, cities, and other tax authorities are stacking the overall tax take higher and higher.