Austria relents, agrees to tax talks
Source: Agencies |
April 10, 2013, Wednesday
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AUSTRIA will join Luxembourg for talks with the European Union on how to crack down on cross-border tax cheats, Chancellor Werner Faymann said yesterday, signaling an easing of its hardline stance on bank secrecy.
But the Social Democrat's conservative coalition partners cited legal obstacles to sharing for the first time personal information on bank depositors, a touchy subject ahead of elections due by late September.
The European Commission warned Austria on Monday that its banking secrecy regime would leave it in a "lonely and unsustainable position" if it did not follow the same rules as other countries in sharing information on foreign depositors. "We will hold negotiations together with Luxembourg," Faymann told reporters after a cabinet meeting.
Asked if that meant Austria was giving up its decades-long resistance to sharing the identities of savers, he said: "We are conducting these talks together with Luxembourg so that something comes out of it. That is what it means."
He said the issue was how to address accounts held by foreigners rather than by Austrians.
Conservative Finance Minister Maria Fekter stressed that Austrian law does not let the country share personal information about bank depositors with other states.
"In our constitution, privacy and data protection get very high priority. That really does not fit with an automatic exchange" of depositor data, she told reporters.
Deputy Chancellor Michael Spindelegger, leader of the conservative People's Party, also took a more cautious line, saying Austria was always ready to go after criminals trying to abuse the banking system but would not expose all bank accounts.
"We want full enlightenment but this ... does not mean all savings in Austria will automatically be addressable by foreign authorities," he said. "We will enter negotiations and see that we achieve just what we want in these negotiations."
As part of a drive to curb tax evasion, Germany has been pressing all "offshore" banking centers in Europe to apply uniform rules on exchanging account holders' information.
But the Social Democrat's conservative coalition partners cited legal obstacles to sharing for the first time personal information on bank depositors, a touchy subject ahead of elections due by late September.
The European Commission warned Austria on Monday that its banking secrecy regime would leave it in a "lonely and unsustainable position" if it did not follow the same rules as other countries in sharing information on foreign depositors. "We will hold negotiations together with Luxembourg," Faymann told reporters after a cabinet meeting.
Asked if that meant Austria was giving up its decades-long resistance to sharing the identities of savers, he said: "We are conducting these talks together with Luxembourg so that something comes out of it. That is what it means."
He said the issue was how to address accounts held by foreigners rather than by Austrians.
Conservative Finance Minister Maria Fekter stressed that Austrian law does not let the country share personal information about bank depositors with other states.
"In our constitution, privacy and data protection get very high priority. That really does not fit with an automatic exchange" of depositor data, she told reporters.
Deputy Chancellor Michael Spindelegger, leader of the conservative People's Party, also took a more cautious line, saying Austria was always ready to go after criminals trying to abuse the banking system but would not expose all bank accounts.
"We want full enlightenment but this ... does not mean all savings in Austria will automatically be addressable by foreign authorities," he said. "We will enter negotiations and see that we achieve just what we want in these negotiations."
As part of a drive to curb tax evasion, Germany has been pressing all "offshore" banking centers in Europe to apply uniform rules on exchanging account holders' information.
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