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Relevant clarification: People with less than €100,000 in their Cypriot bank accounts will have to pay a one-time tax of 6.75%, those with more w

by kmfrk 14y ago

Relevant clarification: People with less than €100,000 in their Cypriot bank accounts will have to pay a one-time tax of 6.75%, those with more will lose 9.9%. The measure is expected to net €5.8bn in additional revenues, Mr Dijsselbloem said, greatly reducing the country's financing need. Nevertheless, this sounds insane.

sbarre 14y ago
Really? I think it's a valid move. If people in a certain economic zone are using one of the countries as a tax shelter, and that is causing problems with regional stability, then an adjustment is required. The saying "we're all in this together" comes to mind.. Even though the tax shelter is legal, it doesn't change the fact that if the regional governments are going to step in and provide bailout money for the country that was the tax shelter in the first place, then the financial residents (so to speak) of that country should be made to chip in.. If Cyprus didn't have such an imbalanced tax and banking system (that led it to be a shelter in the first place), they wouldn't have needed the bailout..
- iwwr 14y ago
  It stems more from EU governments generally abhorring tax competition. Cyprus was in too weak a position to negotiate.
  - arkitaip 14y ago
    "tax competition" sounds like an euphemism for tax evasion.
    - to3m 14y ago
      Not really. It's more like, say, Ireland's corporation tax being lower than the EU average (though not as low as Cyprus's...), in order to encourage companies to set up there, rather than somewhere else.