http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/business/The-high-cost-of-Fatca_11273476
Daily Archives: April 18, 2012
Who is the other Peter Dunn: Survey
Peter Dunn, blogger, Canadian citizen, Petros, former US citizen
or
Peter Dunn, Pete the Planner
You decide.
A Very Sad Case
I noticed a news feature on CNN this morning, concerning a man named Joe Stack who committed suicide in 2010 by flying his plane into an IRS building in Austin. I vaguely remembered the incident though doubt I noticed at the time that it involved the IRS because my own issues with FUBAR, etc, had yet to happen. Apparently they will air a show (“The Faith and the Fury”), about this on Sunday night; it seems to also be available on the CNN website and there is also a version on YouTube.
Among other things, Mr. Stack felt destroyed by the fact he could not work independently as a software engineer. This was due to a law which affected the 1986 Tax Reform Act. According to the NYT:
This is the government of the United States. I have nervous attacks. I cry all the time.
No the above are not words spoken by an American expatriate, although we can all relate.
Freaking Americans causing people all over the world to have nervous attacks and cry all the time!
No one can serve two tax masters
Badger made the following comment which is well worth pulling out of our busy comment stream:
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The ‘lords’ and ‘masters’ grant or deny us travel passes, and grant or deny us the ability to change our status – via US citizenship.
An update from Geneva
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – This is the day when Americans back home are scrambling to get their tax forms to the IRS, but outside the US the difficulty of remaining tax compliant is leading a growing number of citizens to hand in their passports: on average, 7 Americans a day took the oath to stop being a US citizen in 2011.
Americans meet in Lausanne as tax filing day raises new questions
Thank you Mr. Steven Mopsick!
Note the following comment from Steven Mopsick:
The law which requires U.S. Persons to submit worldwide income to US taxation must be changed. It is unfair, it makes no sense, and it has a chilling effect on commerce, jobs creation, and free trade. Perhaps more importantly, our world image has suffered enough over the last few decades. People over the world who have been on the fence about whether America has lost its mind can only be convinced with this new compliance initiative which removes all doubt.
Thought I would thank him in a more public way as follows: Continue reading
