Cabinet vows support for Ticino in tax amnesty

The Swiss cabinet has assured the Ticino cantonal government of its backing during Italy’s current tax amnesty.

In a letter to the Ticino authorities the cabinet noted that it had taken a series of measures to counter action by the Italian authorities against the Ticino financial centre.

Steps included appointing a politician to handle tax matters with Italy, summoning the Italian ambassador over raids at Swiss banks, and suspending revision of tax accords with its southern neighbour.

Italy has a tax amnesty underway aimed at repatriating hidden funds back home. So far it has found that more than two-thirds of the assets and capital hidden by Italians abroad and declared in the amnesty were held in Switzerland.

In response to a request by the Ticino government, the cabinet checked whether Italy broke Schengen border rules by placing cameras at the border to track cars moving between the two countries. The cabinet found that the surveillance cameras were not a method of systematically watching people but measures for fighting against international crime, and so were not against the Schengen border code.

swissinfo.ch