Just Me invited us to respond to Jack Townsend’s invitation to comment on an Open Forum; here is my comment awaiting approval:
I was born in the United States and lived there until I began graduate work in Canada in 1986. On February 28, 2011, I relinquished my United States citizenship because of HEROES (2008), and its requirement of an exit tax which is a violation of United States expatriation Act of 1868, the Freedom of Emigration in East-West Trade (USC Title 19 § 2432), and international law–particularly when applied to someone like me, who has all his wealth in another country, Canada, where it is part of the Canadian tax system and was never earned in the United States. Was HEROES designed to destroy my life? I decided I had to relinquish my United States citizen before I became a covered expatriate, in order to protect my wife and her wealth, not just my own. You see, I am married to a Canadian, and she is the top earner in my family. HEROES is the financial version of the Berlin Wall, an attempt to keep rich Americans in the country. But it affects normal every day US citizens living in other countries.
I was once proud to be an American. Now I experience only deep frustration with my former citizenship. It is because of the laws passed by Congress. Take for example FBAR. It is a violation of the spirit of the 4th Amendment, which requires that information of this sort be handed over to the government only because of a specific warrant with the person’s name on it. It is a general warrant treating everyone with foreign accounts as though they were suspects of a crime. Handing over the account information at this point, now belated because I didn’t know about FBAR requirement, is a violation of my Fifth Amendment rights not to incriminate myself (I am not the only one saying this, but some courts seem to be agreeing with this view). So if a major criminal like a Tony Soprano could plead the Fifth to avoid FBAR, how much more a law abiding citizen living in a foreign country? This law is an extreme violation of the constitutional rights of law abiding United States persons living abroad.
By the way, I have indeed filed my taxes for the last 10 years at least. I have been in compliance. It is a colossal waste of time and money both for me and the US taxpayer, because I’ve never owed anything. But the filing requirements on citizens abroad, especially those who own businesses, and the non-exemption of the Canadian Tax Free Savings Account, were other factors forcing me to relinquish my United States citizenship. Now that I am no longer a US person, I have opened a business, and I am able to enjoy the same rights and privileges (i.e., tax breaks) that other Canadians enjoy. This is a high tax country. I am not avoiding taxes by living in Canada. I came here to study, and I met my wife. So I stayed. Is that un-American?
Let me say this: I used to love the United States and the American people. Now my feeling is not love at all but a deep resentment for the treatment of expats around the world, but especially of those in my adopted country of Canada. I, along with five other Canadians experiencing similar issues, started a website called the Isaac Brock Society. We protest the treatment of US persons abroad. Only one other country has extra-territorial taxation of its citizens: Eritrea–and the United States has condemned Eritrea’s extra-territorial tax on the official record. Well, I condemn the United States for taxing its citizens abroad. It is an odious practice that has lead to great economical harm to the United States, due to it citizens being unable to live freely in other countries and therefore be able to expand the United States’ missions and exports around the world.
Now recently, the Offshore Voluntary Disclosure program has been used to attack law-abiding residents of Canada and other countries who happen to be US persons. It has created a great dread among us, and many of us are renouncing our US citizenship, and will experience lifelong scars as a result of the shoddy treatment that we have received at the hands of the United States government. The laws have made anti-Americans out of us. If bad publicity is what the United States wants, then by all means, continue with the current extra-territorial tax and offshore account policies. This means that few of us have a desire to spend our money in the United States; on Florida real estate, Disneyland, or Hawaiian vacations. Some of us who see apples from the United States choose New Zealand galas instead. Few of us retain any feelings of loyalty and patriotism towards the United States, but only a feeling of regret and nostalgia, of what once was and now has been lost. The greatest, freest country in the world has become a starving predator seeking taxes high and low, to the point of stalking its own citizens abroad. It disgusts me. And it offends my new patriotism for Canada whose tax base is being invaded by the extra-territorial claims of the United States. I will not stand by idly but I will fight this, because the well-being of my country and my compatriots depend on it. God save the Queen!
@Petros, I love it! Great Post!
Excellent, Petros – a fitting statement to underline why your shiny new CLN is so important, and something to celebrate, and at the same time, why the United States so desperately needs to take a long, hard look at itself in the mirror.
It’s pretty simple the average “domestic” American is insular and doesn’t understand the world beyond US borders.
If you look at US newspapers from the 1980s and earlier world events often made page 1 – very rarely these days.
It used to really annoy me when visiting the US people come up to you and ask “don’t you lose your citizenship when you leave the country?” For me the thought never crossed my mind – it doesn’t bother me now because in my mind I believe my standard of living is better overseas than I’d have in the US.
However I think the average American would take the attitude “well if people want to renounce let them – we have people massing at our borders wanting to come here”
What they don’t realise is it’s the “poor, hungry, and desperate” at the borders or just “economic refugees.” They don’t particularly care which country they can make a living in, as long as they can make a living – there’s a difference. If Cuba suddenly became the economic beacon of the world, these same people would head for the boats to cross and leave the US in the dust – they have no loyalty whatsoever only to a convertible currency so money can be wired back to their families in Mexico or Central America etc.
Domestic Americans really believe these people come to the US because it’s their first choice. – I hate to break the truth.
Domestic Americans don’t seem to realise the “smart, wealthy, and mobile” don’t see the US as a place of opportunity anymore as they did 50+ years ago. When the “Leave it to Beaver” era domestic Americans come out with statements like “we’re the most powerful country on Earth” it makes me sick. Who are these imbeciles living in the US – what has being the “most powerful” gotten them.
It’s gotten them crapped out infrastructure, a healthcare system that doesn’t cover everyone, a crime-ridden dangerous society particularly when it comes to guns, and a political system where politicians chase lobbyists for PAC money (not lobbyists chasing politicians) because the average Congressmen has to raise $1M every two years or $10K a day to stand a chance to be re-elected. In fact politicians see lobbyists as pre-budgeted “pots” of money that allows them to cut back on the inhumility of “real” fundraising of begging for campaign contributions on the telephone or fundraising events.
I look at some of my relations struggling in the US with 2 cases of foreclosed houses, living in Section 8 houses, and struggling dollar to dollar and wonder what my circumstances would’ve been in the US if I had stayed – I believe I would’ve been worse off. I live overseas with a mostly paid off house and opportunities that wouldn’t be available to me in the US – why would I ever move back. Answer – I wouldn’t
So if my US passport turns into merely a “unlimited pass” to get through US immigration – well there’s more of the world to visit. If I want a dose of North America, a couple of weeks in Canada would more than satisify that need.
I have not considered renouncing at this point, however, if the IRS starts to hassle me than it would be pushed up my agenda. That’s something I could’ve never imagined myself saying 20 years ago. My mother used to criticised a relative for renouncing her US citizenship years ago to be a French citizen, but if that French citizen relative was still alive she would have no such criticism from me.
@petros, you’ve nail it. You’ve paid the ultimate price in protesting the current conditions that make it very difficult, if not impossible to maintain a life of freedom outside the US as a US citizen. I guess it truly is the land of the free, you take your chances if you choose to live outside it. A nation of the free? Certainly not.
Thanks, Petros. You speak for many.
My thank you to all for providing a forum for information and support. And thank you to Petros for writing down how many of us are thinking and feeling these days about the U.S. and its policies. I just wish that I could reliquinish my citizenship. Alas, our U.S. taxes are so fouled up that it would be ruinous. I’m an overeducated housewife with a learning diabled child; after all, I’m such an asset to U.S. governmental coffers!
Great post Petros. For many accidental Americans, the original feelings were probably more benign – a feeling of kinship and mutual respect. I think it’s safe to say those warm feelings are mostly gone now because of this situation and these people are more likely to view the U.S. as overbearing, grasping and having an extraordinary sense of entitlement.
It is posted at Jacks… So you were not edited! 🙂
Thanks for taking the effort. I need to work on mine today…
“Also, I do want to take some responsibility on non-RRSP as I am a long term US resident and new citizen of this country. 12.5% on 68K of non-RRSP is something I can take without much pain. ”
It is one thing to give money to the US Treasury as a thank you for making your life better by allowing you to come as an immigrant to the US.
Donate here:
http://www.fms.treas.gov/faq/moretopics_gifts.html
It is another thing to give the money as part of a penalty for having had a prior life in Canada (or India, etc.). That is not acceptable under any circumstances, and for any amount.
Every immigrant should understand this. Because of the guilt associated with the “penalty” the implications are far worse for the donor, because “penalties” are only applied if one has done something wrong.
Donating money to the US Treasury (or a related charity) does not have a bad or wrong or guilty or “willful” association that a “penalty” does.
This is something that immigrants unfamiliar with the US criminal or justice system have a hard time understanding.
Thanks for this Petros. Because I renounced when getting Canadian citizenship in 1971, I went to relinquish in Halifax on March 26, 2012, expecting to save the $450 fee. For various reasons, I was not successful and I was forced to pay it. At the time, I was very resentful and angry at the whole of American administration. Within days, however, I came to see the $450 fee as a bargain! For this relatively small amount, I’ll be free to travel across the border like any ordinary non-US Canadian. Odd, huh? I’ll also be able to ignore FACTA, the IRS, FBARs and all the rest of that tripe. What a deal! Now, I just need my CLN. 🙂
The real criminals are in the US Congress, the IRS offices, and the private law offices.
You should protect your money, not trust US Congress, the IRS or private attorneys. As you see, they all want your money.
Keep it well hidden.
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Here Petros, your opportunity to tell the IRS just what you think… 🙂
The Internal Revenue Service is asking for public comment on information collection tools relating to the Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program, according to a notice in the July 18 Federal Register
Notice Proposed Collection; Comment Request on Information Collection Tools Relating to the Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program (OVDP)
Action
Notice And Request For Comments.
Summary
The Department of the Treasury, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on proposed and/or continuing information collections, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, Public Law 104-13 (44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)). Currently, the IRS is soliciting comments concerning the Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program (OVDP).
DATES:
Written comments should be received on or before September 16, 2013 to be assured of consideration.
ADDRESSES:
Direct all written comments to Yvette Lawrence, Internal Revenue Service, Room 6129, 1111 Constitution Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20224. Please send separate comments for each specific information collection listed below. You must reference the information collection’s title, form number, reporting or record-keeping requirement number, and OMB number (if any) in your comment.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Requests for additional information or copies of the collection tools should be directed to LaNita Van Dyke, Internal Revenue Service, Room 6511, 1111 Constitution Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20224, or at (202)622-3215, or through the internet at Lanita.Vandyke@irs.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Currently, the IRS is seeking comments concerning the following information collection tools, reporting, and record-keeping requirements:
Title: Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program (OVDP).
OMB Number: 1545-2241.
Form Number(s): 14029, 14438, 14452, 14453, 14454, 14457, and 14467.
Abstract: The IRS is offering people with undisclosed income from offshore accounts an opportunity to get current with their tax returns. Taxpayers with undisclosed foreign accounts or entities should make a voluntary disclosure because it enables them to become compliant, avoid substantial civil penalties and generally eliminate the risk of criminal prosecution. The objective is to bring taxpayers that have used undisclosed foreign accounts and undisclosed foreign entities to avoid or evade tax into compliance with United States tax laws.
Current Actions: There are no changes to the burden estimates previously approved by OMB.
Type of Review: Extension of currently approved collection.
Affected Public: Individuals or households.
Estimated Number of Responses: 456,000.
Estimated Time per Respondent: 1 hour 35 mins.
Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 726,500.
The following paragraph applies to all of the collections of information covered by this notice:
An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless the collection of information displays a valid OMB control number. Books or records relating to a collection of information must be retained as long as their contents may become material in the administration of any internal revenue law. Generally, tax returns and tax return information are confidential, as required by 26 U.S.C. 6103.
Request for Comments: Comments submitted in response to this notice will be summarized and/or included in the request for OMB approval. All comments will become a matter of public record. Comments are invited on: (a) Whether the collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency, including whether the information shall have practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the agency’s estimate of the burden of the collection of information; (c) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; (d) ways to minimize the burden of the collectionof information on respondents, including through the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of information technology; and (e) estimates of capital or start-up costs and costs of operation, maintenance, and purchase of services to provide information.
Approved: July 10, 2013.
Allan Hopkins,
IRS Reports Clearance Officer.