Rep. Dave Camp Has New Plan to Simplify Tax Code; Report: Credit Suisse Hid Money from IRS
BLITZER: And now a new plan to try to simplify the U.S. tax code being proposed by the Republican chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, the Michigan Congressman, Dave Camp. It includes several surprising new taxes targeting the rich. Alison Kosik is joining us from New York, taking a hard look at Congressman Camp's new plan. Alison, pretty unusual for a Republican to offer up some new taxes on the wealthy. What exactly is in his proposal?</s>ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: OK, so what this proposal looks to do, Wolf, it takes the existing seven tax brackets that exist right now and actually kind of collapses them into two. So it would slash the top income tax rate from almost 40 percent all the way down to 25 percent, with the lower bracket set at 10 percent. But it also adds 10 percent surtax on certain types of income over $450,000 a year. That would be for married couples. There has been some analysis on this legislation, and it shows that, believe it or not, a majority of the taxpayers would not see much of a change in their tax bills. Though the "Washington Post" does say that the poorest taxpayers earning less than $20,000, they would see a small rise initially. But analysts also say that that would evaporate within a few years. You know, what's interesting when you see this new plan being put out there, you know, so many politicians over the years, they have tried and tried, with little success to push their tax code reforms. Who can forget Herman Cain's 999 plan, quite the headline grabber. And now House Republicans offering up their latest try to simplify the U.S. tax code -- Wolf?</s>BLITZER: What does it mean, this promo -- it's just a proposal right now by Congressman Camp -- for some popular tax breaks?</s>KOSIK: Yeah. I mean, the simplification for those tax breaks really means that taxpayers could wind up, believe it or not, losing things like the deduction for home mortgage interest. But it may be worth it for some people. You know, just to have, you know, a simpler experience when filing their taxes. Others say, good luck, because some Americans are concerned about eliminating those kinds of things during an election year. It could cost voters. Regardless, though, none of this likely to happen any time soon. Lawmakers will maybe get around to it by 2017. And something to keep in to it, but this plan itself has been in the works for three years now -- Wolf?</s>BLITZER: It has been in the works for a long time. Don't expect this current president of the United States to sign anything close to that into law either. He has a different view. Maybe one of these days they will work out a grand bargain, grand deal, if you will. That will take some time. All right, Alison, thanks very much. A Senate investigative report finds that the Swiss banking giant Credit Suisse hid billions from the IRS. Clients were apparently whisked off to a private banking suites in secret elevators and one was said to have stuffed a quarter million dollars in her panty hose to sneak the money out of the United States. Credit Suisse executives and Justice Department officials have been up on Capitol Hill testifying. Brian Todd has been watching what's been going on. What have you learned today?</s>BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, learning all about some cloak- and-dagger tactics, some of the ones you mentioned that Senate investigators say Credit Suisse, the bank, tried used to hide their money from the IRS. You mentioned a couple of them, but some were extraordinary. There was a secret elevator in at least one branch of Credit Suisse that whisked a client up to a secret banking suite where they could discreetly do their banking. This elevator had no buttons and was operated by remote control. This bank, according to investigators, specialized in helping clients avoid a paper trial. According to secret court documents that CNN reviewed, one wealthy client had $250,000 in panty hose wrapped around her body. There was one instance where a banker met a client at a hotel in the United States and handed that client bank statements hidden in a copy of "Sports Illustrated" magazine. They were going to lengths, Wolf, to avoid a paper trail. Then the case of a very discreet branch of Credit Suisse that was in the Zurich Airport where clients could fly in, very discreetly do their banking and then fly out, or according to one bank official, they could go to the ski slopes. Senator John McCain grilled bank officials about that a short time ago.</s>SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, (R), ARIZONA: So really didn't mean much that you had an office in the Zurich Airport?</s>MANS ULRICH-MEISTER, SWISS PRIVATE BANK AND WEALTH MANAGEMENT: I didn't say it didn't mean much. That's what I learned in the meantime because I was not as I said accountable for this part. Perhaps he can be ignored.</s>BRADY DOUGAN, CEO, CREDIT SUISSE GROUP: Senator, if I could add, this airport office, as you mentioned, I think Ulrich-Meister has outlined some of the parameters of it. It was really in an office where as you say was office of convenience for clients--</s>MCCAIN: It certainly was.</s>DOUGAN: -- would come in. But basically, they held relatively small amounts of money and there was no active management. And actually, in our investigation, which was a very detailed investigation, we didn't find systematic issues in that area.</s>TODD: That's a common theme of Credit Suisse bank officials, this was a few bad bankers doing things the wrong way. But, Wolf, here is staggering figures. Over a period of about seven years, Credit Suisse handled accounts for 22,000 wealthy Americans customers with assets totaling $12 billion and about 95 percent of that was never reported to the</s>IRS. BLITZER: Brian will have more on this story coming up later today in "The Situation Room," 5:00 p.m. eastern. Brian, thanks very much. From the heart of violent political protests comes the sound of a piano. That story is next.