Swiss Referendum Breaks Through Fear of Retaliation

Unlike Canadian Bankers Association who insist there is nothing that can be done to stop FATCA, some in Switzerland disagree.Switzerland
LegalEra reports FATCA Can Be Overturned–Breaks Through Fear of Retaliation
The article says:

There is an atmosphere of vague fears, mostly half-formulated and at best half-expressed: such as losing access to the American market or even reprisals against Swiss corporations. These fears have gone to the point of leading the Swiss Parliament to accept an Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) with the US, which will not bring any benefit to the country other than averting retaliation.

That is not stopping citizens in Switzerland from advocating for a referendum on FATCA. They need 50,000 signatures by January 16 for a referendum to be held. I’m sure we all wish we could sign!
The article also says:

FATCA opponents calculate that the Swiss referendum may slow down, where still possible, the process of IGA signing [Inter-Governmental Agreements] started by the US Treasury. But it seems to have slowed down anyway: since the agreement with Germany on May 31, no new IGAs have been signed. Admittedly, France’s IGA had been on the agenda for French Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici, when he was visiting the US in October 10-12 [but the signature meeting had to be called off because of the partial shutdown]. Even counting France, the Department of Treasury has therefore scored only 9 IGAs so far.
Considering that at least thirty IGAs would be needed, in as many countries, in order for FATCA to be a success, it appears that the Department of Treasury is still far off the mark. One major country, China, has apparently declined to go along the road to an IGA.
 

 

4 thoughts on “Swiss Referendum Breaks Through Fear of Retaliation

  1. Way to so, Switzerland citizens. I wonder if people there are more aware of FATCA than here in Canada. I don’t think we’d have a hope of getting 10,000 signatures, much less 50,000.
    However, through the great efforts of so many from here, and on Isaac Brock, the word is starting to spread a bit, I think?

  2. @Outraged,
    I think we (Canada) could get 50,000 signatures easily! We have 100’s of thousands of ‘US persons’ each of whom have family and friends. Yes, the awareness is not out there yet, but its getting there, and if a referendum was needed, you can bet, that a couple hundred Brockers and Maple Sand Boxers would be out every day getting signatures.

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