Editors note: The Progressive Canadian Party has now sent out its official press release. Let’s pull out the stops for this event–show the media and our politicians that they must not tolerate FATCA. Email your MPs and the media. Use your facebook and twitter accounts. And above all, show up for the meeting if at all possible. Speakers will include Jim Jatras of Squire Sanders and Professor Allison Christians, H. Heward Stikeman Chair in Tax Law at the McGill University Faculty of Law. One fringe benefit will be that you can meet other brockers in the area (including Petros–yes, I will be participating). Thanks to everyone in advance.
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
A Fact Finding Forum on US Tax Grab in Canada
“The American government is attempting to tax permanent residents of Canada whom they deem to be U.S. citizens.” said Sinclair Stevens, Leader of the Progressive Canadian Party. “This contravenes Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms and must be challenged.”
The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) was signed into law by President Obama on March 18th, 2010. Originally to come into effect the 1st of January, 2013, it has been postponed one year. Briefly, it attempts to catch ‘U.S. persons’ (which includes, by their definition, a very large number of Canadian citizens) living abroad who are not paying income tax to the U.S.A. It by-passes the usual inter-governmental agreements and imposes the reporting of income and personal information on financial institutions in all other countries directly to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service … and that for no remuneration.
“Financial institutions which refuse to cooperate in this gathering of personal financial information are threatened with an enormous penalty – a 30% with-holding tax on all income on investments coming from the US to their clients. Can you spell ‘extortion’?” Stevens continued, “This expands the impact of FATCA from just ‘US persons’ living here to all Canadians who have investments in the US and may well force Canadian banks to increase their banking charges for all their clients.”
“In addition, to recouping unpaid income tax back several years it imposes very large penalties for non-reporting on such deemed ‘U.S. persons’.” Mr. Stevens added.
Finance Canada has posted a notice on their website soliciting comments on FATCA. The Progressive Canadian Party (PC Party on the ballot) will be making a submission.
So that the submission can be as complete as possible the PC Party is convening a fact finding forum at the University of Toronto on Saturday afternoon, December 15th – doors open at 10:00 for an 11:00am start. (see directions below). We have invited ‘expert witnesses’ from the legal and financial fields to provide further details on this international “extortion” attempt and to discuss suggestions from the audience for possible corrective actions including legislation.
“All Canadians, even those who have only a bank account, should be concerned and are invited to attend and participate in the discussions with our ‘expert witnesses’, Mr. Stevens said. “The press are particularly welcome and should see this as a convenient opportunity to get comment from both experts and concerned Canadians.”
Further information on the forum, including the speakers who have accepted our invitation, will be available shortly on our website http://progressivecanadian.ca/ .
The forum will be held in Room VC115 of Victoria College, 91* Charles Street West,
[*accessed via a one-way street between 89 (Burwash Hall) and 93 (Isabel Bader Theatre) – drop off only].
For both parking and travelling by subway the target is Museum Station on Queen’s Park. Parking is accessed on southbound Queen’s Park just after the subway station. After parking you should cross Queen’s Park via the subway station. On exiting the station you will be facing Emmanuel College and will have to go around either end to Victoria College which is exactly behind it.
Glad you are going Petros 🙂
I’m sorry I’m going to miss FATCApalooza!
Wish I could be there. The best to you all!
Superb! The abusive policy of “citizenship-based taxation with nothing in return” may finally begin to be exposed for what it really is — a gross violation of individual human rights and a violation of the sovereignty of every nation where American emigrants reside. GO CANADA!
War of 1812 – The Fight for Canada
I sent this off to my friend in Toronto who in turn sent it to her friend Leslie Roberts (fyi, news anchor for Global Ontario) whose brother (according to Wikipedia) happens to be an editor with the National Post. Crossing fingers that Mr Roberts might take an interest in this…
@bubblebustin, and calgary 411 ; maybe Petros can send you the souvenir t-shirt.
What do you think it should say?
“We didn’t fight the War of 1812, 200 years ago for nothing” or “Fight the FATCA ‘n FBAR fundraiser” or… My IBS buddy went to the FATCA FACT Finding Forum, and all i got was this lousy t-shirt”
: )
@badger
I don’t think I could wear in public what I’d want printed on a tshirt, but I appreciate the thought!
@badger, “FATCA: Forcing Americans to Throw their Citizenship Away”
@ShadowRaider, very apropos, I like it!
@badger, Shadow Raider,
All of the above!
So far, Petros and I are going. Who else? Lots of TO Brockers out there!
@nobledreamer.
And, this is a chance to show numbers of concerned USPs in Canada. This is so important and the numbers showing will be imnportant to make a statement. An opportunity to not miss. I wish I had the funds to get to Toronto from Calgary.
@calgary
Am doing the “Tweet” thing. 50 so far. Will be at it for days. Focussing on politicians and media. Don’t know how to get USPs involved. Don’t think I know any except those from IBS.
*Hit David Miller former Toronto Mayor and USP. Twitter below:
https://twitter.com/iamdavidmiller
@all
If the FATCA Forum needs to maintain momentum and go to another city, why not Vancouver? There is a great concentration of US people with families here and my husband can get hotel discounts for those from out of town.
FYI: My newest analysis on http://www.repealfatca.com , with ref to the Dec 15 forum in Toronto (excerpts below, full text at link, below):
http://www.repealfatca.com/index.asp?idmenu=4&title=News&idsubmenu=104
More Trouble for ‘FATCA’!
Upcoming Forum on “U.S. Tax Grab in Canada” (Toronto, Dec 15)
An essential, irreplaceable tool for the U.S. Treasury Department in trying to implement the otherwise unenforceable FATCA (the “Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act”) is to convince people of its inevitability: “Resistance is futile – you will be assimilated!”
This has been the consistent message directed at non-U.S. institutions and governments to convince them that, since FATCA will be imposed on them whether they like it or not, it’s best to sign an intergovernmental agreement (IGA) as what Treasury euphemistically calls a “FATCA partner” country and minimize the pain by imposing FATCA on themselves.
Consider the case of Canada, a country facing perhaps the most devastating costs, abrogation of civil liberties of its citizens, and loss of sovereign control of its institutions:
“[Canadian] Finance Minister Jim Flaherty has said Ottawa is ‘nearing a conclusion’ on the issue, suggesting a similar arrangement as reached by the U.K. is in the offing. . . . ‘An agreement with the U.S. to share information on a government to government basis, within prescribed limits, will bring certainty to the application of the FATCA regime to Canadians, and will also facilitate compliance by our financial institutions,’ he said in a statement. . . .
“[Canadian Bank Association President Terry] Campbell said [Canadian] financial institutions have no choice but to comply with U.S. law because the penalties can be onerous — a 30-per-cent tax on U.S.-source income. . . . ‘(But) short of having the U.S. authority change their law, and short of having the world financial system being radically restructured, neither of which is going to happen, authorities around the world have come to the conclusion they must deal with the United States to make this as administratively feasible as possible.’” [“Canadian banks wary of U.S. tax disclosure law: U.S. law FATCA forces dual citizens to file two returns whether or not they have paid in Canada,” The Canadian Press, 11/28/12, emphasis added]
How, as of November 28, can Ottawa already be “nearing a conclusion” on a U.S.-Canada agreement – said to be “in the offing” – when Minister Flaherty’s Finance Department only asked for Canadian public comments on an IGA on November 8? That, and the fact that Canada’s parliament barely has taken note of FATCA, much less debated it or authorized the government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper to impose U.S. laws on Canada’s financial sector – with Canadian taxpayers and consumers paying the costs! – hardly indicates judicious consideration of Canada’s options.
CBA President Campbell’s observation that “financial institutions have no choice but to comply with U.S. law because the penalties can be onerous” boils down to the following: we give up. The bitter fact is that Washington is threatening economic warfare – in effect, illegal trade sanctions –against Canada unless Ottawa agrees to enforce U.S. law against Canadian institutions and citizens. But that appears to be what the Harper government plans to do, as meekly and discreetly as possible.
So much for “O Canada, we stand on guard for thee” . . .
(Even more dubious is Mr. Campbell’s assertion that change of the U.S. law is not going to happen – when no one in the financial community has made any serious effort to try to change it. As noted by Nigel Green, CEO at the deVere Group: “The U.S government owes it to Americans to give public, in-depth justifications on why it remains committed to this highly controversial piece of legislation.” Right – if and when FATCA receives the kind of scrutiny in the United States it should have received before enactment, it is unlikely to survive. As Andrew F. Quinlan, co-founder and president of the Center for Freedom and Prosperity, accurately has observed: “[G]overnments are doing themselves and their financial industries a disservice by contemplating entering into FATCA agreements with the U.S. Backlash against the law is growing, and Treasury is in a race against time to lock it into place before a repeal effort can gain steam.” (emphasis added)
In short, by planning preemptive surrender to the U.S. on FATCA, Canadian authorities are helping to inflict on Canada the very harm they seek to avoid. To state this without sugarcoating is not to attack or insult Mr. Harper, Mr. Flaherty, or Mr. Campbell but to Appeal to them: before you take the ill-advised step of falling for Treasury’s bluff, give a fair hearing to what Canadian citizens are saying.
[ . . . ]
The question is: will Canadian media and parties represented in parliament – both Mr. Harper’s ruling Conservatives and opposition New Democratic, Liberal, Bloc Québécois, and other MPs – stop ignoring this peril to Canadians’ freedoms and pocketbooks?
http://www.repealfatca.com/index.asp?idmenu=4&title=News&idsubmenu=104
[More at the link above]
@Tim, Thanks and done. I was under the impression he was born in Britain. What’s his connection to US?
@Noble Dreamer, David Miller was born in San Francisco, but his mom was British and he lived in England for several years as a child. Apparently he’s also teaching at New York Univ now as well.
Good opportunity to comment at Forbes http://www.forbes.com/sites/frankminiter/2012/07/24/what-president-obama-doesnt-want-you-to-know-about-canada/ And point out that Canada achieves good results without imposing extraterritorial double-taxation of Canadians living abroad, and without imposing draconian and confiscatory Bank Secrecy and FATCA measures on innocent ordinary Canadian citizens and their children. Unlike the good ol’ USofA.
@badger
not sure it will have much effect? the article is from July…
@pacifica thanks, so is he triple?
I redid the Kijiji ad; the old one has 298 views and it is now Jim’s new release; it’s on the homepage and a top ad. Nothing major but my view is, anything helps. First round of 85 tweets, more tomorrow………
sorry @nobledreamer, didn’t realize it was an older article.
*I hope someone from Quebec attends this event.
Quebecers are probably the most vulnerable Canadians to FATCA among the reasons
1. large number of cross-border babies, even after implemtation of universal health it was easier to acces services in the US because of the road network and some border communities straddle the border.
2. transnational famalies– since the 1860’s people freely crossed the border for work in New England factory towns. If my family is typical: every marriage partner was either born in the US or the child of a US born parent.
3. Florida was so heavily promoted as a snowboard destination that the local credit union movement– Caisse Populaire Desjardins actually owns US bank in Floride with several branches
www.desjardinsbank.com
@Patricia;
You’re so right about the US-Quebec connections. And not just in Florida. New Jersey too, and Maine? Lots of Maritimers with US family, and lots of border babies. Would that this anti-FATCA show could hit Vancouver, Calgary, Montreal, and a Maritime capital – New Brunswick would be good since Alward is a USP. There are probably lots of others, and there was an effort to organize against US extraterritorial tax and FBAR terrorism there last year.
@Patricia
The tower of Babel helps situations like this, to keep one group of people from dominating another. I wonder how much of the scaremongering by the media even makes into the Quebec francophone news, and how many people are actually aware of their alleged filing requirements. Their ignorance protects them. The same with the millions of Mexicans that allegedly have US citizenship according to US law.
There are relatively few USCs in Quebec (second-lowest province after Newfoundland). OTOH US counties bordering Quebec have lots of Canadians.
The main concentrations of self-identified USCs in Canada are: the New Brunswick border area, the BC interior, Vancouver Island and the Yukon, and the cores of major cities. Not many in the Prairies, including Alberta (which surprised me).
Lots of interactive maps here: http://www.globalnews.ca/6442733844/story.html#map1
@Petros
The IRS position is that “the ignorance of the law is no excuse” and applies massive penalties for non-willful non-compliance. This ignores the responsibility of the soveregn to properly promulgate the laws of the land. The practice is now to promulgate US statutes in Spanish and English. Little or no effort is made to let presumed USC’s know of filing obligations in the local language
@A broken man on a Halifax pier. Few Quebecer would self-identify as USC’s. Many of my grandparent’s bothers and sisters were US born and moved back to Quebec. Neither they nor their children thought of themselves as USC’s, but the US would claim them as such,