As reported by Brian Knowlton in the NYTs and Badger pointed out here a Presidential Commission is being Sought on U.S. Expatriates. The Bill number HR 6263 with details can be found at here .
American Citizens Abroad (ACA) is encouraging members and supporters to contact their representatives and ask them to support this bill. This is a positive step forward for Americans living and working overseas. A Presidential Commission would be invaluable in our efforts.
ACA Press Release follows:
WASHINGTON, DC – Reps. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), Mike Honda (D-CA), and Charles Rangel (D-NY) have introduced legislation to create a Federal commission to study the impact of government policies upon the millions of Americans living overseas.
“Americans living and working overseas constitute a kind of unsung constituency,” Maloney said. “They pay taxes and vote, but U.S. policies and laws can have unintended and sometimes irrational consequences on their lives– because no entity in Washington is paying attention. These hardworking citizens are our country’s informal ambassadors around the globe and help strengthen the U.S. economy and promote American influence. Their concerns about how their government interacts with them deserve to be heard– and paid attention to– here in Washington.”
“As a member of the Congressional Americans Abroad Caucus, I am proud to fully support the Commission on Americans Living Abroad Act, authored by my friend and Caucus Co-Chair Carolyn Maloney,’ Honda said. “Millions of U.S. citizens who are living and working abroad have voiced their concerns regarding the harmful impacts of federal policies– often unintentional– on their lives. These Americans abroad promote U.S. influence around the globe and help our economy thrive, yet our federal policies often disenfranchise them from becoming citizen ambassadors or even returning to the U.S. It is time we acquire a thorough, comprehensive understanding of the federal policy impacts on these Americans, which this bill would provide.”
“This commission would give Congress an opportunity to look under the hood of this issue and see what’s working, what isn’t, and what can work better,” Rep. Rangel said. “It’s our elected responsibility to ensure American citizens here and abroad are equally protected by their nation’s laws and Executive actions.”
Full text of the bill is viewable here:
BACKGROUND ON THE LEGISLATION
Rep. Maloney is co-founder and Chair of the Americans Abroad Caucus in the House. Find out more at hereThis legislation creates a 15-member bipartisan Executive Commission to study the impact of U.S. laws and Executive actions on the overseas Americans community. The study would then be used to make recommendations for actions Congress and the Executive Branch could take to improve collaboration and communication of policies impacting this community. The intent of the review is to ensure awareness, coordination, and integration of the activities of the federal government relating to Americans abroad. Specific areas of federal policy the Commission is charged with looking into are tax and banking policy (including FATCA, Banking Secrecy Act, USA PATRIOT Act), immigration, voting, access to federal benefits (Medicare, Social Security), and student loans. There is an initial study due one year after enactment, and then one year following that report an update of what actions the federal government has taken based on recommendations from the initial report.
I just received this comment privately, and am passing it on.
“Caroline Maloney is really going out on a limb with her bill to create a presidential commission for US expats. I really think she needs some political cover here and I think it would be a good idea for us to write to her and thank her for her initiative even if we aren’t her constituents.
Her contact info is here. She has a special form for comments from people outside her district.”
You can visit the new ACA web site here.
*Rep Honda is the Congressman who a few months back introduced a bill containing the provision that would totally abolish the limited Foreign Earned Income Exclusion; an action that would totally destroy the ability of several million to Americans living abroad to survive.. I certainly hope that his sponsorship of this legislation really means that he had undergone a fundamental change of heart in his attitude towards Americans living abroad.
Wonders never cease, (although they are not at all frequent.)
Interesting to know that a Congressperson is out on a limb to protect US citizens from abuse.
I’d like to read any report on the issues and unintended consequences burdening US citizens abroad, that was produced back in President Carter’s time – since according to the history of the ACA, he tried to identify and ameliorate (unsuccessfully) the barriers that US expatriates faced. They are the same ones we face today. The ACA site used to have a timeline that detailed Carters’ efforts on behalf of US citizens abroad, but that webpage seems to have disappeared.
@all- the answers are so simple but they fail to see what is right before their eyes because they are blinded by idea that U.S. citizenship means U.S. government ownership. What country in its right mind would count it as a loss if 6-7 million of its citizens were to voluntarily cease to live under the supervision of its treasury but rather live under the treasury of another country? Why would you think that the loss of having to meet yearly spending obligations for the emigrant group is somehow harmful to your own treasury?
We don’t need U.S. government student loans. We don’t need U.S. government medicare or medicaid. Many of us actually have better post secondary funding and medical coverage where we are. All that we want is to be left alone and to not have our Constitutional rights in our country of residence abridged by the groundless logic of the U.S. Congress. This doesn’t call for a massive government study. Just get rid of citizenship based taxation. It is that simple.
In the almost 27 years that I have lived in Canada I have never once thought that my life would be better if I have U.S. funding for my roads, schools or student loans. The governments of Canada, Norway, Sweden, U.K., etc do a very good job of taking care of their citizens and residents.
The only thing that I want to hear from the U.S. Congress is an apology for the wrong that they have done me and my children.
*I sent a fax to Rep. Maloney and Rep. Honda. I did not find a way to cmmunicate with her except for faxing her. I tried Rep. Rangel and he does not list a fax. We all should be sending messages to these people although after reading Roger´s poster I am wondering about Rep. Honda. I also wrote to my State Reprsentative, Van Holler.
@Recalcitrantexpat – HEAR! HEAR!
@All, good luck with this. As a Canadian, I don’t in any way consider myself an American living overseas, so will be leaving this one to those people who do.
Charles Rangel was the main backing behind HEART and the “exit tax” in 2008, and has been banging on about “offshore tax evaders” for years. As a former chairman of Ways and Means he’s responsible for a lot of the current mess. It’s utterly impossible to believe he’s had a sudden conversion.
The same Congressman Charles Rangel who “has been banging on about offshore tax evaders for years” was found guilty by Congress in 2010 on 11 counts of violating House ethics rules, including failure to comply with US tax laws, including not reporting Offshore Income from his real estate investment in the Dominican Republic.
*My God…why are these people sponsoring this bill? I hope that at least Maloney is on our side.
Awesome, I’ll have to sit down and write some letters this weekend. I assume we should write both our Representatives and Senators.
@Recalcitrantexpat, I agree. It’s very simple what needs to be done–end citizenship-based taxation. And then the pieces easily fit into place and it just works. Less complication. Less maintenance expense etc. It’s the morally right thing to do anyway. But of course, most politicians just want ‘political cover’ for any actions they take so they can blame it on someone or something else should it turn out differently than expected, they’d rather be able to say “well it wasn’t me, it was the commission’s study that said xxxx, which is why I voted for it.” And even the good ones (Edit: I hope…), like Rep. Maloney appears to be, have to work the system to try to build support by creating commissions like this. Nothing is efficient in government.
What we have to hope for is that this commission reveals the many, real damaging effects of citizenship-based taxation upon all US persons (to individuals abroad, damage to our exporting sectors, harming jobs domestically, cost to government to maintain the flawed & broken system, breeding resentment toward the US federal government by expats abroad for being treated like they are ‘owned’, etc). So we need to continue to make our voices heard and especially contacting congress people directly. If the commission can present such findings, which are all true if they care to look, then we can at least hope it will help inform the uninformed in Congress. I hope that someday the strong will have courage to vote to repeal citizenship-based taxation because it’s morally right and the cowards will be given the political cover they need to at least do what is morally right anyway.
It seems we’re being heard, surprisingly enough. I bet FATCA was the tipping point, given that Congress was able to see the harm caused to domestic banks by even the suggestion of reciprocity! And Mr. McGurns great articles probably helped too to raise attention.
Anyone know what was the impetus behind this? Was it the ACA that deserves credit? If we knew what was the impetus behind this we could better understand what has actually worked to get us heard.
“My God…why are these people sponsoring this bill? I hope that at least Maloney is on our side.”
Oh my. I didn’t know Rangel was one of the main backers of the HEART Act and the exit tax. And Honda that wanted to repeal the FEIE! That’s crazy. Who are these people? What in the world could their motive be? I was all excited for this, now I don’t know.
*I fear you will be wasting your time. Congress works to the bidding of the lobbyists with the deepest pockets. Some industries such as big pharma have 1 or more lobbyist for each congressperson. General Electric writes tax law for its benefit ang gives it to their captive congressmen. Unless you can raise millions which I assume is rather unlikely, your voice will be lost in the wilderness.
As for me, the full ostrich.
I greatly anticipate the first report of this valuable Commission. They can call it To Serve Americans Abroad. Of course it’ll be in Orcish rather than English, but we can get people to translate it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_Serve_Man
@Michael, maybe by having taken direct aim at us they were put in the spotlight with some direct words aimed back at them.
@all
Being the biggest cynic of all, I still would not dismiss this attempt to shed some light on Expat issues. I don’t imagine it will make it to the floor of the House, much less be voted on in the Senate. They just all went on recess leaving a lot of work undone, including not acting on a comprehensive a farm bill for their conservative friends suffering under a drought in the Midwest. I think after they return there is only about a dozen or so working days left before the election, so this probably will not have high priority this year.
That said, we should still show some appreciation for the effort, and it does signal some understanding that there is a constituency that is being ignored, and over time, maybe that awareness will build. It also gives many of us lazy constituents (that is me) an excuse to email our legislators over something that is currently being proposed, and be supportive rather than always bitching. I will find a way to ask our Senators to reconsider their support for FATCA too in the same email.
As for poor ole Charlie Rangel, having to stand in the well of the House and be censored over his so called ethics violations and tax evasion, I almost felt bad for him. These unethical clowns, taking special interest money daily from lobbyist, then having the nerve to act high and mighty censuring him was a bit much, I thought. Calling the kettle black, as they say. And, I don’t like his politics, so not an apologist for him.
He claims not to have known that his rental income from his condo in the Bahamas was reportable, and he had some CPA firm doing his taxes for him. He probably did not file an FBAR either, although that is speculation on my part. I find it credible that he may not have known, as it does seem very illogical when confronted with the knowledge for the first time. “I have to do what?”, would be a natural reaction. Having now felt the sting of the IRS, he may be more sympathetic to expat issues than you would have first thought.
*Just Me
One thing about Charlie Rangel and Carolyn Maloney is their districts border each other in what is a highly built up urban area. You can walk in a half hour(across Central Park in NYC) with a good pair of shoes from Carolyn Maloney’s house to Charlie Rangel’s
Carolyn Maloney’s district
http://nationalatlas.gov/printable/printableViewer-cd.html?imgF=images/preview/congdist/NY14_110.gif&imgW=750&imgH=452
Charlie Rangel’s district
http://nationalatlas.gov/printable/printableViewer-cd.html?imgF=images/preview/congdist/NY15_110.gif&imgW=750&imgH=452
Hot off the press!
“The Renouncers: Who Gave Up U.S. Citizenship, and Why?” By Laura Saunders
http://blogs.wsj.com/totalreturn/2012/08/02/the-renouncers-who-gave-up-u-s-citizenship-and-why/?mod=google_news_blog
@John Brown.
Thanks for that. Eric also posted that one also. There are some good comments there, especially by Julian Hudson who is a SME. I see him commenting around the internet a lot. I put up a comment in support of some of his comments also.
*I wonder if these congressmen who are expressing concern about the abuses bein heaped on US citizens trying to survive in spite of US tax laws while living and working oveseas have some sort of a death wish As I recall the last time a congressman did something like this, Bill A.lexander was his name, his opponent in the next election used it against him. He was acused by his opponent of being more concerned about tax evaders overseas than of his own consisituents; a theme that rang loud and clear among the voters who lived in his district who were led to believe he didn’t really care about them. . So when election time came around Congressman Alexander was out.
I am sure the lesson of Bill Alexander has not been lost on the current sponsors of this investigation of the treatment of our citizens who live abroad.
@Just Me: Having now felt the sting of the IRS, he may be more sympathetic to expat issues than you would have first thought.
Personally I don’t see this happening. The only reason Charles Rangel would have for involvement in this committee is to uncover yet more ways to screw anyone trying to flee the plantation. If you cut him open you’d find he’s composed of nothing except spite.
And two years to investigate and report? Two years? ACA has already done all of the work, and for a lot less that $3MM as well. TAS has too. The problems are all well known and documented. The time for investigation and reports has long passed. A new committee is a boondoggle. This is just a few in congress trying to hold on to their jobs by presenting a once-every-four-years façade of caring about voters.
*Here’s my first letter:
John Brown, that’s a pretty good article. The author mentions taxes, but she at least touches on a couple of those issues, like being compliant with US laws. They create so many damn laws, how in the heck can we keep track of them all?
Travel to Cuba – can’t;
Buy a t-shirt that is pirated, but the vendor insists it’s not – they can nail you;
Do business with a company located in a country that just got added to the “axis of evil” or similar list – they can nail you. Who knows whenever a country will get added to the list and for whatever reasons. Of course though, the FATCA is the winning reason, by far. Taxes are nowhere in the equation.
There’re many more laws. Some of them, I’m familar with, others I’m not.
Majority Whipper Harry Reid led the passage of the senate version of S1813 (fortunately eradicated by the House), which was to have been the first instance where personal IRS records would have been released externally.
Today he says he has a credible source that knows what Mitt’s taxes were. Let’s hope he is having an affair with Ann Romney, because the only other way he could see Mitt Romney’s tax records would have been to steal them from Romney’s accountant or from the IRS archives.
@Mark Twain…
Oh, Harry Reed. One Mormon attacking another. Jon Stewart took this on last night, and you might enjoy…
You, Harry Reid, are Terrible
@Watcher… I just never rule out the possibility of conversion or redemption.. Silly me. 🙂
@Tim..
After you look at those constituents in light of the Jerusalem Post story, and you might be on to something there. I think that this effort might be appreciated by some dual citizens. I keep waiting to hear AIPAC weigh in on this subject. I occasionally tweet (tweak) them @AIPAC. 🙂 I have to believe there is some behind the scenes efforts and unhappiness amongst it’s leaders. Wonder how many mentioned it at Romney’s fund raising efforts in Israel.
@swisspinoy
Good letter. I like how you focused on a specific problem, rather than just a generalized fear or bitch. That should resonate. Reminds me. I need to do my own today.
@John Brown and geez.
Eric mentioned that Laura Saunders piece was put on on Yahoo, and I see that it has over 1680 comments so far. Haven’t decided if I should bother or not to post one or not.
Justme, thanks for the link. I went to the yahoo link to read the comments. I couldn’t count the number of time I read “Don’t let the door hit your @$#% on the way out.” – It’s really shocking those people are so ignorant. Welp, it’s not a battle I think anyone in our shoes is going to win.