A US Senate subcommittee accused banks in Switzerland and Liechtenstein of helping wealthy Americans commit massive tax evasion, and urged the establishment of tougher laws to combat offshore tax havens around the world.In a report released late Wednesday, the Senate subcommittee on investigations estimated that offshore abuses were costing US taxpayers about $100 billion a year.It recommended a range of reforms to snuff out tax cheats, including more stringent U.S. requirements for foreign banks and harsher penalties for financial institutions failing to provide the Internal Revenue Service with details on all accounts their American clients are holding.“Tax havens are engaged in economic warfare against the United States and the honest, hardworking American taxpayer is losing,” said senator Carl Levin, chairman of the US Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs' Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.The 109-page report took aim specifically at Switzerland’s UBS AG, arguably the world’s largest wealth manager, and Liechtenstein’s LGT group, owned by the principality's royal family. UBS will discontinue offshore banking and securities services to United States residents through its branches, a UBS executive said on Thursday at a congressional hearing on offshore tax havens. Mark Branson, chief financial officer for UBS Global Wealth Management and Business Banking, told the subcommittee that the bank was also working with the United States government to identify American clients who may have engaged in tax fraud.The Whistle-Blower Who’s gone in Hiding• Heinrich Kieber, a bank computer technician in the tiny European country of Liechtenstein, came forward with the names of US citizens who had set up secret accounts there• He has been branded a thief by the government of Liechtenstein for violating the country's bank secrecy laws• He is now in hiding but scheduled to testify to the Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations via a video statement from a secret location
