Just Me has a fine rebuttal to this Washington Post hit piece aimed at Americans living abroad. Add Al Kamen to the Isaac Brock Hall of Shame.
Kamen writes:
Seems the new law also requires foreign banks and other foreign financial institutions (FFIs) to turn over the records of their U.S. citizen customers.
So under FATCA, the FFIs may alert the IRS about all that money fat cats are trying to hide. (Curious that Congress couldn’t come up with a “T” word, like transactions or something, to make the acronym FATCAT.)
Fair usage prevents me from repeating any more of this outrageous piece here. Kamen is an award winning propogandist at the Washington Post, and you can read his bio page here.
Yeah, Mr. Kamen. I am a FATCAT. So are all the grandmothers, disabled folks and other innocent Americans abroad that are living in fear daily because their bank may give their private information to the IRS.
I wonder too if it is normal these days for journalists to write hit pieces like this without ever doing any homework. It really must be nice pulling down a nice FAT salary for writing bullshit like this. Where can I get a piece of the action? It would be better than getting nothing for blogging and trying to reveal the true story.
Some of Kamen’s readers are equally enlightened (is it any wonder that folks are brain-dead in the United States when they read award winning “journalists” like this Al Kamen?) Here is a sample of two readers:
ricochet2525:11 PM EST
I actually do have a problem with these tax cheats. I’m guessing a fair amount of them make their money in the US. And then quite easily ship the profits out of the country, without paying taxes on them.Yeah, I have a problem with this. I say if they renounce their citizenship, that makes them an enemy of the state. Isn’t that what a TeaPartier would say? You know, the old love it or leave it, and if you leave you better stay gone?
However I’m not a TeaPartier. Perhaps this is one common ground I MAY have with them.
discostud4:15 PM EST
No big loss here. Most of those people living overseas and ready to renounce their citizenship were likely already skipping paying American taxes. Just making it official.
Al,
Appreciate you drawing attention to FATCA and the implications for those that have offshore accounts. It is not discussed enough in the US yet, but the rest of the world has woke up!You mention Expats, but I point out, that the vast majority are just middle class average folks who have normal checking and savings accounts, and have nothing to do with the current IRS and Congress jihad against Tax cheats at home. They are not FATCATs like you cleverly point out.The new FATCA statues are placing yet another burden on these folks, as discussed in the recent National Taxpayer Advocate Report to Congress. It is almost impossible now to stay compliant due to the tax law complexity. The administrative burden is immense. Homeland Americans have no idea!All of this raises the question, why is the US doing this? In pursuit of some cheats at home, it is creating enormous burden on its citizens overseas, but why? Revenue?You do know, I assume, that the US is unique in the world with its Citizenship taxation policy that asserts its right to keep its Citizens under a life long tax paying contract (some would say servitude) no matter where in the universe they live, be it the Moon, Mars, Canada, New Zealand, Brazil or France. This is all based upon the lottery of birth or Greencard!The rest of the world taxes its residence based upon a “territorial” taxation system, that is logical and makes sense, and every country except Eritrea follows it. We keep good company, eh?If you move from New Zealand, and take up residency in Australia, New Zealand doesn’t tax you on your income in Australia while you are residing there. It does not expect you to file out endless forms or assert huge penalties for not reporting your normal Australian checking account back to the NZ IRD
Analogous example would be if you were born in California and later moved to Kansas. You would not expect California to continue to assert its right to tax you now that you are resident in Kansas, right?
The US in contrast wants you to file 1040s every year, report your bank accounts and assets, and to penalize you, at a minimum of $10,000 for each “nonwillful” failure to report an account on a FBAR form. The penalties can be as much as 50% of the account if they consider your failure to be willful. Lovely, eh? FATCA just brings more forms and penalties!
And your choices? Return to Kansas, relinquish your citizenship, or just suck it up yet again, and listen to the press constantly characterizing you in a broad brush as FATCAT tax cheats. Very frustrating.
There is one unintended consequence that no one measures, but is real. . US Expats around the world are joining in a negative advertising chorus to all would be skilled immigrants to know the risk before going to America in pursuit of Citizenship or Greencard. Don’t do it! It is just not worth the Cost anymore!
PS: Why do you have to get permission to give up your Citizenship? Think about it!
It does get your blood going, doesn’t it? I had to stop everything I was doing and write a rebuttal to what I saw being posted there.
I would invite others to join in, as there are some pretty lame and ignorant. But that is what we have come to expect. Have to continue to work on the education campaign any chance that arises.
Now back to NZ tax preparation. Yes, it is really taking that long!
@Just Me: That article is one of the most outrageous I’ve ever seen on the subject. I doubt that Kamen spent five minutes studying the subject. But there he has a lot in common with the Senators and Representatives who passed the bill. So ignorance is endemic in Washington, not only from the press but from the politicians.
Here was my own response to the article:
“Do you really need someone to spell out the answer to your final question? It’s painfully obvious to those of us who are being immorally victimized by this country’s fundamentally flawed system of citizenship-based taxation.
Virtually none of the six-million or so “American persons” abroad is either a “FATCAT” or a tax cheat. Please take the time to fully research this topic before simply parroting IRS press releases.”
Restez Zen, my friends. I threw in my .02 over there as well. Thank you, Petros, for the link and to Just Me for the fine rebuttal.
Disgraceful but not surprising. I’ve added my comments as well. Unfortunately, I’m sure we will see more stories like this over the next year or two. All in the name of being “patriotic.” Blind nationalism is indeed a vile and dangerous thing.
wow.. me.. a Fat cat?? 🙂
My daily “uniform” is a tee-shirt, shorts, and flip-flops.
If the US wanted to get fat cats, then they could have set the bar to something, let’s say $5 million. It takes out the unaffected people are makes enforcement more pratical and realistic.
But the US didn’t do that, nor will the ever. That makes too much sense.
They need to go after Mitt Romney and keep their fat IRS hands away from us–and off education savings of children born in other countries who have the crime of having a parent born in U.S.
Victoria… I just read your comment at the Washington Post. Very good! I did a little rebuttal to MikeC09 who is trying to tell you that you are not affected by FATCA. Boy, this education process is exhausting! 🙂
Deckard1138. Didn’t mean to slight you. Your comments and responses to others were good also. I recommended both you and Victoria’s to help move you up the list. We need to replace the only one that is in the Top comments lists, with something more positive to our perspective than the simpleton one there.
Thank, Just Me. You’re right, there are a lot of people there who just don’t get it. Low-information Fox viewers, I suspect.
Some good new additions on that thread. Roger Conklin has jumped into the fray as well. I also put in a plug for the Isaac Brock Society.
I hoped he would! Be sure to do your “recommended’ plugs to get the better comments moving to the top!
@Just Me – it is indeed exhausting. I went back and looked at the comments again and it is clear that some folks have two ideas in their heads: 1. We are rich (ha! I wish…) and 2. we are “temporary.”
I think we need to start talking about things that people can relate to like owning a home, saving for retirement and little savings accounts for minor children. Stuff like that.
Unfortunately, they have the typical provincial view, that since America is so exceptional, why would you want to be anywhere else? Just give up your Citizenship or pay up for the passport privilege, is how they see it. That is exactly the kind of response I got over at Accounting today..
http://www.accountingtoday.com/news/Taxpayer-Uncertainty-Prompts-Citizenship-Renunciations-61441-1.html
I am too tired tonight to respond, but probably will in the morning.
@Just me, based on the first guy’s comments, I think there is the *misconception* that we make or made money in America. That may apply to a small few, but the majority, no. Usually, those few who did that are smart and renounced A LONG time ago.
Ahh.. the FACTA is actually so much more destructive than just this. There’s barely a mention about how we are told “No!” or our only choice for investments is America, etc..
Oh yes, lots of misconceptions. I was talking to an accountant in Seattle one day and he was floored when I told him I didn’t have any assets in the U.S. “Nothing?” he asked. Nope, I answered.
And then there was the little problem of what to do with my refund check. Yes, after I paid my taxes last year in the U.S., the U.S. gov decided I had overpaid by 5 USD. So they sent me a check. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. The Banque Nationale de Paris would charge me MORE to cash a check in USD than the check was actually worth. I finally sent it to a family member in Seattle. Think about it, that little check made a round-trip trans-atlantic voyage – the postage alone probably exceeded its value.
I will give them points, however, for honesty. I was touched. Truly.
@Just Me – I had a look at the comment you mentioned at Accounting Today and I added my own comment. I was a bit harsh but it’s true and I thought it might be useful to point it some of the limitations of “protection” and the scarcity of services.
@all James Fallows said we should change the name of our site to make it more palatable for voters in the United States who can change these issues. I have no hope that his readers or the readers of any progressive site like WaPo or Atlantic, or any conservative site for that matter, would even take the time to understand our issues. That’s why I believe it is necessary to fight it as Isaac Brock would have, by preparing Canadians for war. I could not bring myself to make a comment on that site. I looked at the ignorant comment of one person, MikeCo9, who responding to Victoria, with a sanctimonious and insufferably know-at-all attitude, and whom Calgary and Victoria debunked in succinct and forceful manner. Now what ignorant wrong-headed idiot thinks he can figure out from a single webpage what we as Americans abroad have to do? Not only is he completely wrong, but as an American taxpayer, he should have been able to intuit the absurdity of his suggestion. How can I hope to help the readers of the WaPo, when they are incapable of critical thinking. It is casting pearls to swine. But please be my guest and keep up the good work! May be thereby we can gather the lost sheep!
@Petros – I’m rather fond of “Isaac Brock Society” and if some folks think that it’s impolite, well, perhaps part of our current problem is that we have been far too polite for far too long. My .02.
@Calgary – I wanted to thank you for jumping in response to Mike. Your answer was *perfect*.
@Victoria…
I saw your comment, and did not see it as harsh. I ended up putting in a rebuttal too, for what it was worth! 🙂 I won’t change this persons mind, but the audience is broader. However, frankly, I can’t imagine that Accounting Today is a widely read publication! 🙂