CEOs and business leaders on the COMPAS business panel were asked about the impacts of the unprecedented willingness of giant Swiss bank UBS to reveal the names of U.S. tax evaders holding accounts at the bank.
Panelists believe that

• There will always be tax havens for tax evaders somewhere on the planet;
  
• The crackdown on tax evaders will have no impact on the truly rich, who will avoid taxes legally by relocating to low tax regimes or living on yachts in international waters;
  
• Recovery of lost U.S. tax revenue is unlikely to have a palpable impact on the U.S. deficit; and
  
• The crackdown will nonetheless increase slightly pressure on governments to keep tax rates from growing.

Only a very small proportion of panelists report knowing people who use overseas tax havens or structure their multinational enterprise to concentrate revenue at locations with low tax regimes. Nonetheless, a percentage as low as 3-4% may correspond to many millions of dollars in lost revenue.

These are the key findings from this past week’s Internet survey of CEOs and business leaders on the COMPAS panel. The weekly business survey is undertaken for Canadian Business magazine under sponsorship of BDO Dunwoody LLP.

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