EU's 27 leaders agree to important step in fight against tax evasion by year's end

''The European Union's leaders took a major step in tackling tax-dodgers Wednesday by pushing to end bank secrecy across the bloc's 27 members by the end of the year.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel hailed the agreement to set up an automatic exchange of bank information among the EU's tax authorities — which has been long resisted by Austria and Luxembourg — as a "breakthrough".

European officials say tax fraud and evasion costs the 27-nation bloc's governments an estimated 1 trillion euros ($1.3 trillion) a year at a time when much of the region is in recession and governments are forced to tighten their budgets.

One tactic used by individuals to get out of paying tax on income and investments is to hide money in another country's bank. By sharing information on account-holders' interest and other capital gains, the banks' data will help authorities track down tax cheats..''

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