A first-of-its-kind agreement reached this week allowing New York City access to U.S. Treasury Department bank data is expected to spur other cities, counties and states to follow suit. The deal, announced Tuesday, allows the city's Department of Finance to mine a database maintained by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) for information on suspected municipal income tax cheats. The bureau's database, accessible via software, contains tens of millions of bank suspicious activity reports and currency transaction reports among other data. The arrangement could "open the floodgates" to other revenue-starved municipalities and states seeking data on suspected tax evaders, according...
New York City will begin sharing data on municipal taxpayers with investigators as early as March in an effort to crack down on tax evasion, money laundering and fraud.
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