Countries Band Together Against Tax Evasion

Fifty-one countries have agreed to new international standards aimed at reining in tax evasion. In a few years, countries would automatically share details of citizens' financial assets with one another.



Fifty-one countries agreed Wednesday to share their citizens' financial data more openly with authorities in order to combat tax evasion.



At an international tax summit in Berlin, dignitaries said they would implement new standards by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) that would facilitate the exchange of account balances, interest, dividends and sales proceeds from financial assets on an annual basis.



The framework would also make it more difficult for some governments to turn down other countries' requests for more details into a person's financial standing, as those parties could no longer claim that information is only available to credit institutes.



Signees included all European Union members, but not the United States. There are already a number of bilateral agreements in place to combat tax evasion internationally.



"Banking secrecy in its old form has become obsolete," German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble said, calling the deal an "important step" against tax dodgers.



A dozen other states, including Switzerland, signaled their willingness to join the treaty at a later time.



The deal is not expected to go into effect until 2017, when signees have had the chance to vote on the new standards in their national parliaments.



cjc/uhe (AFP, Reuters)