I saw this comment castigating the Globe for its article, “Four tips for Americans looking to come clean on their taxes“:
Oblique wrote:
“Come clean” ? What kind of toady wrote that?
The IRS has decided to attack people who can’t defend themselves, and this editor has sided with them by telling people to “come clean”, as if they were criminals? It’s like the inquisition has come to town and the village idiot is up there on the platform denouncing neighbours.
I’m looking forward to when I can read in the Globe about how when Canada is invaded by a foreign army, what the best way to comply with their rules will be, or how to know when to denounce my neighbours as resistance members.
I responded:
Great comment!
If judging by the way the press is handling this extra-territorial taxation of US persons in Canada and the FBAR requirement, it is certain that the Globe & Mail and the Financial Post, among others, will simply become the publishing wing of the new occupying force. Look at how they have called 1 million Canadian residents dirty, needing to be come “clean”, and the IRS has yet no coercive powers over their publishing powers. What would they do if the US then occupied Canada?
It is absolutely incumbent upon the press in Canada to get this story right. Stop telling Canadians to cede their rights to the IRS. Insist instead that the United States government back off. That is why we startedhttp://isaacbrocksociety.com, because Sir Isaac Brock prepared Canadians for the coming invasion of the United States and gave his life in repelling that invasion when it happened. Where are the Isaac Brocks of today? Certainly not in the press corps.
In an earlier comment I wrote:
I recommend very strongly that instead of taking the recommendations of this article, that all residents of Canada first inform themselves about their rights in Canada (the Human rights codes) and also their rights under US law. Congress and the IRS are trying to enforce rules upon US persons abroad, rules which are functionally a violation of their 4th, 5th, 6th, 8th, and 9th Amendment rights under the United States Constitution. It is incumbent upon all affected by this to study the problems associated with FBAR, for if they fill out the FBAR form, they are functionally waiving their constitutional rights (esp. 4th and 5th Amendments).
I recommend various sources, but now a new site has been started by a growing group of concerned individuals under the name, The Isaac Brock Society (see http://isaacbrocksociety.com ). As Bob Marley sings, “Get up, Standup, Stand up for your rights.”
For those of you who don’t know the song:
Here is a fantastic comment on the same article. His/her comments on this issue are superb. Check them out, bur for now:
Wetbaque wrote
12:17 AM on December 14, 2011
Four Tips for Globe and Mail Reporters Looking to Come Clean on Their Profession:
1) Stop the criminalizing rhetoric. Hear the growing chorus of angry Canadians on these comment pages? Tax-compliant here at home in Canada for years, decades? They might be onto something– like maybe the IRS trespassing on the solvency of former-resident and never-resident “U.S. persons” who don’t owe them a dime. No Second Come-Cleaning required.
2) Dig a little deeper. Title 31, the FUBAR-enabling Bank Secrecy Act of 1970? Still crazy after all these years. Its $10K threshold remains untouched and un-indexed. Try to find an accurate warning of its consequences in IRS Publication 54 or other official sources? Not there. Sea changes in personal account management plus years of negligent non-enforcement didn’t deter IRS opportunism from weaponizing this barnacle-encrusted statute once the Social Security trust fund ran dry. The Act is in dire need of reform and the constituency is there– or should I say here.
Think Obama might listen? He signed onto the law when he doubled down with FATCAT. Think the likes of Mitt Romney might take this on? “Ten thousand bucks? Ten thousand dollar bet?”
3) Look for the long-range story. FATCAT-FUBAR is part of a larger narrative. It’s not the only instance of U.S. statutory attempts to deputize the galaxy. As fiscal policy, FATCAT will make America and Americans financial outcasts throughout much of the world; as post-9/11 presumptions of guilt, the abuses of FUBAR, left intact, ultimately become just another tool for enforcing worldwide asset seizures and detentions of U.S. citizens and “persons” under the proposed National Defence Authorization Act. Feel comfy cuddling with that snoring elephant now?
4) And finally, ixnay on the infomercialsway– for all those designated “cross-border tax specialists” whom Globe writers have plied as sources since breaking the thread last June. The inevitable tagline? “Phil N. LeBlanc recommends seeking professional advice.”
To paraphrase California legislator Hiram Johnson, the first casualty of tax war is integrity.
Yes, I saw that. Wetbaque, you are unofficially an honorary member of the Isaac Brock Society.
“Think Obama might listen? He signed onto the law when he doubled down with FATCAT. Think the likes of Mitt Romney might take this on? “Ten thousand bucks? Ten thousand dollar bet?”
No harm in trying to get his interest – he doesn’t want to ever “apologize for America”
http://renounceuscitizenship.wordpress.com/2011/11/11/open-letter-to-mitt-romney/
I think that a letter should go to every candidate. Whether they would actually make this an issue or not, I suspect that both Ron Paul and Jon Huntsman would find this interesting.
And No I don’t think Obama would listen. As Romney points out:
Obama means not working.
Add to that:
Obama means no freedom.
Nothing lost in writing to them and it should be done.
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