For the second time the president of the Central Bank is proposing the elimination of bank secrecy so that cross-checks can be carried out in order to control tax evasion and increase tax revenues.
Just eight months ago, the president of the Central Bank insisted in Congress on the need to eliminate bank secrecy in order to minimize tax evasion and improve tax collection.
The president of the Bank of Guatemala has stated that in order to sustain the fiscal debt, the tax burden in the Guatemalan economy will have to rise from 11% today to 14%.
An article on Lahora.com.gt reports that, Edgar Barquín president of the Bank of Guatemala, said "... in order to maintain economic stability and ensure social spending for the benefit of the population, the level of taxes needs to rise to 14 percent of GDP this year.
The president of the central bank said that this would prevent Guatemala from being regarded internationally as a tax haven.
This was explained by Edgar Barquín, president of the Bank of Guatemala (Banguat). He added that approval next year in the U.S. of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (Facta) will be incompatible with Guatemala where there is no law to release bank secrecy.