The reach of Uncle Sam?s taxman in pursuit of unpaid revenue has apparently extended even to Singapore, despite the banking secrecy laws here in the U.S..

The Republic has reportedly become involved in an attempt by the United States tax authorities to identify tax evaders among an estimated one to two million American citizens who have opened offshore bank accounts.

The fact the taxman is going to this extent may seem astonishing to Singaporeans. But it makes sense when you realize that all income earned by US citizens is taxable, whether it is held locally or in other countries.

The information, which the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) hopes will stem the loss of between US$20 billion and US$40 billion each year in tax revenues, is being sought from MasterCard International. This is because offshore bank account holders often use credit cards issued by MasterCard, Visa, American Express and other payment specialists to gain access to their funds from the US.

But whether the IRS will succeed in obtaining information such as the names and transaction records of such account holders is still an open question, because of the present US banking secrecy laws.

The main subject of the text is

Les ordinateurs et les calculettes tournaient depuis quelques semaines déjà ... Les syndicats du ministère de l'économie et des finances ont pourtant préféré attendre que les députés votent la baisse de 5 % de l'impôt sur le revenu (IR) en 2002, jeudi 18 juillet, pour rendre publiques leurs études d'impact censées répondre à la question : à qui profite cette mesure, que Jean Pierre Raffarin
présente comme « la première étape » d'une réduction globale de 30 % sur le quinquennat ? Bercy (Ministère de l'économie et des finances) n'a publié aucune simulation des retombées de cette réduction forfaitaire de 5 % sur le revenu avant réductions. Les réponses fournies par le Syndicat national unifié des impôts (SNUI) et la fédération CFDT des finances sont à la fois sans surprise et riches d'enseignements. « Cette baisse ne concernera qu'un foyer fiscal sur deux (ceux payant l'impôt sur le revenu) et procurera un avantage d'autant plus important que les revenus seront élevés », déplore-t-on au SNUI. « C'est surtout pour la France de « très haut » que la baisse de l'impôt 2002 sera véritablement tangible », concluent les responsables de la première organisation syndicale à la direction générale des impôts.

(Le Monde 22 juillet 2002)

Le texte « La baisse de l'impôt sur le revenu profitera surtout aux foyers aisés » dit que:

The reach of Uncle Sam?s taxman in pursuit of unpaid revenue has apparently extended even to Singapore, despite the banking secrecy laws here in the U.S..

The Republic has reportedly become involved in an attempt by the United States tax authorities to identify tax evaders among an estimated one to two million American citizens who have opened offshore bank accounts.

The fact the taxman is going to this extent may seem astonishing to Singaporeans. But it makes sense when you realize that all income earned by US citizens is taxable, whether it is held locally or in other countries.

The information, which the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) hopes will stem the loss of between US$20 billion and US$40 billion each year in tax revenues, is being sought from MasterCard International. This is because offshore bank account holders often use credit cards issued by MasterCard, Visa, American Express and other payment specialists to gain access to their funds from the US.

But whether the IRS will succeed in obtaining information such as the names and transaction records of such account holders is still an open question, because of the present US banking secrecy laws.

According to the text,

Classes	Frequência ( f )
29,5 - 39,5	4
39,5 - 49,5	8
49,5 - 59,5	14
59,5 - 69,5	20
69,5 - 79,5	26
79,5 - 89,5	18
89,5 - 99,5	10

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