Argentine president proposes amnesty for tax dodgers

Argentine President Mauricio Macri, who has been swept up in the Panama Papers controversy over offshore assets, announced plans Friday to grant amnesty to those who repatriate undeclared funds from overseas. The conservative president, who has launched sweeping pro-business reforms since taking office in December, said the country needed Argentines to invest at home to boost the sputtering economy.
"Argentines have billions of pesos overseas because they didn't trust in the state. We need to tell them to join us, to be part of our new era. We invite them to wipe the fiscal slate clean," said Macri. The president himself acknowledged he has $1.25 million in an account in the Bahamas in a mandatory asset declaration published Thursday, which showed his fortune had doubled from the year before, to 110 million pesos ($7.8 million).