"Tax evasion has been in the news a lot recently, both by corporations and by individuals. But what of those people who blow the whistle on tax evaders?"
- Luke Balleny, Thomson Reuters Correspondent
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Tax evasion has been in the news a lot recently, both by corporations and by individuals. But what of those people who blow the whistle on tax evaders?
The Swiss government is currently trying to extradite a man from Spain at the moment who formerly worked at HSBC Switzerland and who leaked a number of bank accounts to various European countries. Now these European countries were very grateful for that because they have since been able to collect tax revenue on those leaked bank accounts. But the Swiss government claim that he is a criminal and they have charged him with data theft – amongst other things.
Now is this man a criminal or is he a whistleblower?
The German state of Rhineland-Palatinate was recently leaked the details of a number of bank accounts. We don’t know the individual who leaked these bank accounts to the German state but we do know that they were paid 4 million euros for this information. They believe that they can recover as much as 500 million euros in tax revenue.
Now, again, is this person who leaked the details a whistleblower or a criminal and does the fact that money changed hands matter in that instance? And if he or she is a criminal, is the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate in some way complicit in the criminality.
And, lastly, if that person is being paid 4 million euros, does that person have to pay taxes on it?
