Daylife/AP Photo

Offshore tax havens used by rich Americans in Switzerland, the Cayman Islands and other nations are targeted for shutdown by bills offered by Democrats in both chambers of Congress.

The Senate bill expands on one co-sponsored last year by then-Senator Barack Obama and Senator Carl Levin, who has sought a broad crackdown on tax dodgers estimated to deprive the U.S. government of more than $100 billion a year. A thriving business in tax evasion developed in recent years on Wall Street among consulting firms, hedge funds and other elite financial players. Some purveyors even sought patent protection for their off-the-shelf schemes…

Similar legislation was introduced in the House by Texas Democrat Lloyd Doggett and more than 40 co-sponsors…

Mark Branson, chief financial officer of UBS Global Wealth Management and Swiss Bank, appeared Wednesday before the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which is chaired by Levin.

Branson appeared last July before the same panel at a hearing on the same topic. At that time, Branson apologized and announced the bank would stop offering cross-border private banking through its unregulated units to U.S.-domiciled customers. He also said then that UBS was working with the U.S. government to identify U.S. clients who may have engaged in tax fraud…

Branson maintained UBS’ stone wall: “the U.S. is attempting to resolve this diplomatic dispute in a courtroom, which is neither productive nor proper.”

“Productive and proper” according to Swiss law is why UBS is chartered there. That’s what being a hideout for tax dodgers is all about.