BBC News, 18
June 2013
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Discussion of the bill was rejected by 126 votes to 67 |
The bill is
the result of pressure from the US following revelations that Swiss banks had
helped American account holders to evade taxes.
The US had
demanded action by 1 July, but the Swiss parliament summer session ends this
week.
The bill
will now return to the Senate.
The lower
house decided by 126 votes to 67 not to discuss the bill. A second rejection by
the lower house would effectively kill the draft law.
The bill
would allow Swiss banks to sidestep strict secrecy laws and release information
relating to clients' accounts.
It also
contained secret clauses requiring the banks to pay an estimated $10bn (£6.4bn)
in compensation for lost tax revenue.
Swiss
politicians are in no mood to change their laws because Washington tells them
to, reports the BBC's Imogen Foulkes from Berne.
The Senate
very reluctantly approved the bill last week, after it became clear the US
would indict Swiss banks, and possibly even cut them off from the dollar market
if it did not go through.
A long
tradition of banking secrecy is becoming a political crisis for Switzerland,
adds our correspondent. Switzerland has also come under pressure from the EU
over the issue.
In January
Switzerland's oldest private bank, Wegelin, closed after being indicted and
fined $58m by the US authorities after admitting in court to helping American
customers to hide more than $1.2bn from the Internal Revenue Service.
In 2009,
Swiss bank UBS paid $780 million and handed over details of more than 4,000
accounts in order to avoid indictment.
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