For Immediate Release
Wednesday, July 24, 2002
202-285-0244
www.freedomandprosperity.org

CFP Hails Death of EU Savings Tax Directive
Bush Administration Rejects Tax Cartel

Washington, DC (July 24, 2002) -- The Center for Freedom and Prosperity was told Tuesday by several senior Bush Administration sources that the United States has rejected any participation in the European Union (EU) "savings tax directive."

According to one highly placed White House official, "We are not signing the European Union's 'savings tax directive.' There is ZERO support in the Administration for signing."

This is the death blow to the EU's proposal since it is based on unanimous participation of 21 targeted nations.

"I am very pleased that the hard work of the Center for Freedom and Prosperity has yielded dividends for the world's taxpayers," said Andrew F. Quinlan, President of the Washington, DC based Center for Freedom and Prosperity. "CFP has been lobbying against tax cartels since October 2000, and defeat of the EU savings tax directive was our number one priority." Quinlan added, "This decision is a victory for tax competition, financial privacy and fiscal sovereignty."

The European Union "savings tax directive" would have required financial institutions in low-tax nations to report private financial information about nonresident investors so high-tax nations could tax income earned in other jurisdictions. In addition to the 15 EU nations, six non-EU nations were being asked to participate – including the United States and Switzerland.

Daniel Mitchell, Senior Fellow at the Heritage Foundation said, "This is a huge victory for pro-growth tax policy and the Bush Administration's economic team should be applauded. The EU tax cartel would have undermined America's competitive advantage in the global economy and weakened US financial markets."

Veronique de Rugy, Fiscal Policy Analyst at the Cato Institute said, "The EU wanted to create an 'OPEC for politicians' and export bad tax policy to other nations. With the defeat of the EU 'savings tax directive,' high-tax nations hopefully will now choose to lower tax rates and reform anti-growth tax codes. This is the way to improve growth and reduce tax evasion."

For additional comments:
Andrew Quinlan can be reached at 202-285-0244, quinlan@freedomandprosperity.org
Dan Mitchell can be reached at 202-608-6224, dan.mitchell@heritage.org
Veronique de Rugy can be reached at 202-218-4601, vderugy@cato.org

See CFP's dedicated web page on defeating the EU "savings tax directive" for additional information:
http://www.freedomandprosperity.org/eu/eu.shtml

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