The Isaac Brock Society consists of individuals who are concerned about the treatment by the United States government of US persons who live in Canada and abroad.
If clicking on a link brings you to the wrong page in the comment thread, click here to arrive on the current page of the thread: http://isaacbrocksociety.ca/2011/12/14/about-the-isaac-brock-society/
The United States is one of two countries in the world that taxes its people no matter where in the world they may reside. The other is Eritrea, which the USA has condemened for terrorism and for its diaspora tax. The majority of US persons who live abroad are not aware of their filing requirements. But recently, the US government has decided to crack down on those who are not in compliance.
But what is more, the US government has begun, since about 2004, to apply with great pressure a long-neglected requirement of 35-year old law called the Bank Secrecy Act. That requirement is FBAR, the foreign bank account report, which the United States government expects annually from those who have accounts outside of the United States which exceed $10,000 in aggregate. The fines for failure to file this form are extortionate, and virtually no US person who lives abroad even knew about FBAR, while most of them, over a certain age, own bank accounts with retirement savings exceeding that amount. The threats of fines and imprisonment has frightened many people who as a result have consulted expensive accountants and tax lawyers to get this mess sorted out, only to face high accounting or legal fees on top of potential fines and back taxes. In 2009 and 2011, the IRS offered voluntary disclosure programs (OVDI). Some who entered into the 2009 OVDI, because of fear of the penatlies, were shocked when the IRS assessed them fines in the tens of thousands, essentially treating them as tax evaders instead of a law abiding citizens in their countries of residence.
For many US expats, renunciation now seems like a really good idea. Why not? Many haven’t lived in the US for years and now they have few ties there except perhaps some family members. So they want to renounce their citizenship only to find that the laws regarding expatriation are confusing and that the exit tax requirements are at best complicated and invasive, and at worst, extortionate and utterly in violation of their right to expatriate.
The media coverage of this issue has been uneven. There have a been a few balanced stories, but most of the time, the media has merely publicized the purposes of the US government; this is especially true of US media sources. The Canadian media has generally done a much better job of grabbing the attention of the world about the abuses of the US government. That being said, even the Canadian media sometimes falls into the IRS trap of projecting fear in order to force compliance. Overall, we regret when the media offers only condemnation and fear without telling the story from the side of the victims or informing them of their rights and alternatives.
US persons abroad also face US border guards who are starting to put pressure on all those who have a US place of birth to travel only on a US passport, even if the person has not been a US person for decades–an arbitrary change of policy making those who relinquished citizenship into would-be loyal taxpayers to a profligate government that has to borrow 40 cents on every dollar its spends.
The Isaac Brock Society is here to fight. Sir Isaac Brock prepared Canadians for war with the United States and gave his life in repelling a US invasion in 1812. So we also want to fight for US persons who are frightened by the IRS, the border guards, the compliance condors, and the media. We are here to provide one another with resources and strategies, comfort and advice.
But not only so, we are here to warn other Canadians about the illegal incursion of the US federal government into the lives of the US expat community. Pretty soon, with the new FATCA legislation, this arrogant attitude of the United States will affect every man, woman and child on the planet who wants to open or maintain a bank account or to invest in a retirement fund. Now, according to FATCA, you will have to tell the United States whether you are a US person when you open up a bank account in, e.g., Australia or Thailand. This makes every country in the world a protectorate of the United States, for, if they comply with FATCA, they are ceding their very sovereignty to a nation which has not invaded or conquered the rest of the world, but only uses its waning hegemony over the financial sphere to coerce other nations.
So whether you are a US person living in exile, a Canadian or a citizen of any other country, we ask you to join us in this struggle for freedom and justice.
The OH has cleared a lot of stuff out for me and now it’s working fine. Hoorah!
@ AT
Nice try but the only country Schumer would want to visit is Israel and Israel would never sign your proposal.
“You know, my name …. comes from the word shomer, guardian, watcher. My ancestors were guardians of the ghetto wall in Chortkov. And I believe Hashem actually gave me that name. One of my roles, very important in the United States senate, is to be a shomer — to be a or the shomer Yisrael. And I will continue to be that with every bone in my body … “ — Chuck Schumer — 2010 interview
http://www.uss-liberty.com/2010/05/19/democrat-senator-chuck-schumer-thinks-hes-on-a-mission-from-god-to-protect-israel/
Happy Persons Day everyone.
Even the NYT recognizes that we are better off here.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/17/opinion/greenhouse-a-tree-grows-in-canada.html?hp
I guess I jumped the gun by 1 day. Henrietta would not approve.
@kevin clarke – care to elaborate? Or are you just one of those who refuses to see the truth and can’t come up with a good argument so resorts to useless mouthings instead. Don’t worry we’ve dealt with plenty of your kind on various websites, getting the truth out there despite your kind trying to pretend we don’t know what we’re talking about.
Or maybe you just think you can get people to vote for you by insulting their intelligence.
The question as to whether you are an American dual citizen or not follows on the law in both Canada and the US at the time you were given Canadian citizenship. Up until the American Supreme Court case Afrozim vs. Rusk in 1967, all Americans that took out Canadian citizenship lost their status to American citizenship. Up until this time, the established law in America automatically stripped Americans of any citizen rights if they took out citizenship in another country. This changed after 1967, but the law was unclear until 1990 when a series of laws were enacted that made the picture clear. After 1990, there is no doubt that you could hold dual citizenship with the US and Canada and In fact you were considered to be such by both countries at this time, unless you specifically formally renounced your American citizenship in writing to the appropriate American authorities. The period between 1967 and 1990 was unclear. Even though the Supreme Court overturned the established practice of automatically stripping citizenship from Americans if they took out citizenship in another country, this was established practice up until the laws were clarified in 1990, although it can be argued by the American authorities that you were still an American citizen if you took out a foreign citizenship between 1967 and 1990, even if this was not established government practice. Between these dates, unless you formally renounced your American citizenship, you are in a grey area. Before 1967, there is no doubt you lost your American citizenship, even if you did not formally renounce it. That being said, a person that lost his/her American citizenship prior to 1967, can still ask for their citizenship back, but before 1967, you automatically lost it and unless you have asked for it back, the Americans have a poor case in suggesting you are a dual citizen. Interestingly, Canada did not recognize dual citizenship until 1967, but this has little bearing on the arguments that can used by the American Government. My own opinion is that if you fit into the 1967-1990 age group, and did not officially renounce your American citizenship, it is difficult to asses if you are a dual citizen or not. It will probably take a court challenge to determine this.
@Dr, Barber
Quite a number of people who contribute to this site have successfully relinquished with dates between 1967 and 1990. I think you define the overall situation very well. We discussed this quite a bit at the meeting in Toronto, Solving the Problems of US Citizenship yesterday (Jan 25). While this may have no bearing really, we have often discussed the idea that it was helpful if one had not exercised any of the rights/obligations of citizenship; use of passport, voting and paying taxes.
Has any thought been given to identifying legal ways of imposing costs on the US govt to underline the point that the FATCA approach will not be worth the reaction it provokes?
@Don Butler
They’ve been told, but the ideologues aren’t listening. I guess they’re just going to have to find out the hard way. As far as imposing costs on the US goes, the victims of extortion aren’t in an position to do that are they? BTW, I heard on the news this morning that the band Skinny Puppy from Vancouver is billing the US military $666,000 (symbolic for the evilness of it) for torturing the inmates with their music. I say, good luck but I really appreciate their gesture.
http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/vancouver-band-demands-compensation-after-learning-music-used-for-guantanamo-bay-torture-1.1671312
what a mess! American, Mexican, French, Canadian, Costa Rican, Puerto Rican, what else? the worst administration ever.
Plan to attend London Uk meeting 2nd March.
Waiting for venue.
My last couple posts have been erased. Have they been moved to spam?
I don’t see them in spam nor in pending. A couple of my comments are gone as well — on a different thread.
I also had a comment up this afternoon but too it is gone. I don”t see any comments posted between 12:44 and 16:00.
very bizarre. Akismet must have trashed them once it started working again.
I see a good one that was supposed to have been posted by Anon0percent, and I got the notice, but when I checked it is no where to be found…..not in Trash, Pending, or spam.. Something strange happening…
BTW, some very legit comments are sitting in the Pending basket…
Reading your article at first glance looked as if your society is for justice and freedom! To my dismay, I found out that you are no better than the government and system you are attacking and trying to build your case. You are so ignorant and shallow minded individual or individuals to call our beloved Country Eritrea “Terrorist thug Nation”. To your surprise neither the corporate media nor Mr. Harper’s Government has ever engaged in such derogatory and belittling name calling game. Though I sympathies with your case, mathematically comparing a wealthy nation collecting 30% and a poor war torn young nation, collecting 2% on voluntary bases is incomparable.
Estifanos N.
@Estifanos N.
You may be surprised to learn that there a people here who think that the Canadian government owes Eritrea an apology!
http://isaacbrocksociety.ca/2014/03/10/canada-will-have-to-apologize-to-eritrea/
@bubblebustin, that post was picked up by a pro-Eritrean website and tweeters.
@Estifanos, tell you what, I will change the language to be less categorical.
@Estifanos N. Ok, you can see the changes that I made. It is more neutral and simply says that the US condemns Eritrea for terrorism.
However, we have heard diaspora tax called voluntary before. I disagree with the use of 2% tax by Eritrea, but keep in mind, it is less intrusive than US taxation of its expats.
What happened to the March 11 meeting in Hamilton?
Cancelled because they couldn’t get the venue.
Peter;
If your understanding on Eritrea is based on American politics and the American – Canadian corporate media propaganda; your society needs a lot of hard work and research to combat the injustices you are trying to fight ! Unless you are naive or deliberately trying to be naive!
Estifanos N.
@ Estifanos N.
I did a bit of reading awhile back about Eritrea and as far as I could tell the war with Ethiopia ended ages ago and so I presumed the 2% diaspora tax was about rebuilding the country from the damages of that war. Is that correct? I’m afraid I don’t know much about the current government there but it can’t be any more dictatorial than the current US government is. The main point I think that most of us agree on is that the American and Canadian condemnation of Eritrea’s rather benign 2% tax is over-the-top hypocritical in view of the USA’s extraterritorial taxation.
Estifanos, I’m the last person to accept as true what a government or a media source says. So my statement that USA claims something is actually neutral. So much is objectively true: go to the Susan Rice video and you will hear her claim that Eritrea is involved in terrorism. I make this concession to you because I know very little about Eritrea and its foreign policy. I do however disagree with diaspora tax–only a country of residence and where a person works should have the power to tax. Taxes should be local.