Die Auslandamerikaner sind erbost
Bernerzeitung – Jon Mettler – 30.04.2013 11:05
I attempted a quick translation of the the latest news. Please excuse spelling mistakes or other errors:
Americans Abroad are Furious
The strengthened US tax laws are heavily burdening Americans in Switzerland. They are reporting the serious consequences this is having on their jobs and family lives. Now, this is inciting resistance.
The nerves of many Americans in Switzerland are on the edge. The reason is the hardened move by the USA against tax cheats. Two abbreviations are causing the hair of Americans living abroad, also called Expatriates or short Expats, to stand up: FATCA and FBAR.
FATCA and FBAR
The FATCA-law is the same as an automatic exchange of information (see box). The FBAR-report demands from US citizens that they expose foreign accounts with more than 10000 dollars. This includes business accounts with spouses of a different nationality. Americans also have to report foreign bank connections for which they have signature access, even when they have no direct beneficiaries of these accounts.
What Fatca and FBAR actually cause, is seen with the following examples in Switzerland: A private banker with a Swiss and US passport got fired by his employer. The man is convinced that such is related to his US citizenship because he reported the accounts of his clients to the IRS over which he had signature access. With such, he violated banking secrecy and Swiss laws.
Facing the divorce
An American who lives together in Switzerland with her Italian husband is going through a divorce. Her husband is not willing to allow the US government see their shared banking connections. She is also burdened with the uncertainty of having correctly declared her financial data in the past. Now, she fears punishment from the US tax authorities on their joint account.
A third American reported that his bank account got cancelled. He lives and works in Switzerland. Yet, he needs a local bank account to pay his bills and mortgage. Other expats feel restricted in their profession or fear returning to the US.
Those involved fear being openly named. Too great is the fear of being targeted by the US tax authorities. One exception is Edward Karr. He is Co-president of Republicans Switzerland, president of American International Clubs in Geneva and financial adviser of his own company. “This is how far we are now. The US authorities are ensuring that simple Americans fear speaking openly with journalists”, said the 44 year old. Karr also experienced the rigorous methods of the US-fiscus. As the holder of a simple salary account by a large Swiss bank, he gets redirected to a special counter for US citizens whenever he wants something from the bank.
Karr is unhappy about the situation facing his fellow countrymen abroad. He created a working group for Americans abroad which listens to the concerns of 20000 to 24000 estimated expats. At the end of 2012, the working group led in Bern, Basel, Zürich, Genf, Lausanne and Lugano citizen meetings. These so-called “Town hall meetings” were very emotional, reported some present. US ambassador, Donald Beyer, was confronted with fear, anger, panic, uncertainty and feelings of betrayal.
Damaged national pride
Expats fail in understanding why their own nation practices general suspicion of tax evasion – while they view themselves as being good national representations. That continuously more dual citizens in Europe are abandoning the US pass, strongly targets the national pride of Americans abroad.
The working group further wrote a report on its recognitions and recommendations. The most important demands are: The USA needs to abolish citizenship-based taxation. Instead, it needs to tax based on residency. Furthermore, Americans living abroad need representation in Washington and an ombudsman service.
The working group wrote in September 2012 to every individual member of US congress in Washington, to raise their awareness of the miserable situation expats are in. The reaction from the capital was limited. “There were a few responses, written from the student workers in the parliament”, said Karr. As a result, he changed his strategy. The working group is now focusing on winning the favor of the the US economy. US tax law has also made it increasingly irritating and burdensome for US corporations to employ Americans abroad. Karrs calculation is simple: politicians are more likely to be bent in the lobby-dominated Washington when they are pressured by US corporations and thereby exposed to money. Karr also has high hopes in social networking on the internet. His dream is to connect Americans abroad through Facebook and Twitter. This would, in his view, also increase the pressure. “The weapons lobby, NRA, has 4.5 million members and is one of the most influential groups in America. There are around 7 million Expats. If we work together then Washington won’t be able to ignore us”.
@SwissPinoy
Thank you for the quickie translation.
I feel the same way about the NRA as I do the Tea Party. They may be able to help us, but I wouldn’t want to get any on me.
Edward Karr is a really good guy. He deserves as much support as possible from ex-pats and so does Rand Paul.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XY40rxbRxkQ
As far as the US goes, renouncing US citizenship and burning the flag would be the order of the day if America’s founders were alive today.
Re Edward Karr’s
It looks like lobby-dominated Washington wants, at least, the IGAs of FATCA, and Ron Paul is “stirring business ire”.
From the Ron Paul article Senator Paul stirs business ire over blocking of U.S. tax treaties:
Oops, it looked to me like Karr meant we should work together with the NRA, whew! Duh!
As an aside, I once wrote to the Tea Party about the the treatment expats were getting. They wanted to know more but I couldn’t see allying myself with them.
On a personal level I am pissed at the USA, I actually hate to be considered an American. I hope Canada makes any new expat sign a form explaining how the USA is going to persecute them for living in a foriegn country. I have my relinquishing appointment coming in a couple of months. It is not soon enough for me.
This article really hit home with me, I used to try to purchase made in North America. now I purchase what I want as long as it is not made in the USA. I refuse to support a country that persecutes me. If we all quit buying, selling or supporting anything from the USA, they will get the message.
@oktc971,
Glad you are pissed enough to come to Isaac Brock and tell us you’re pissed at the USA. Thanks for letting us know that you have your relinquishment appointment booked. All of us, you can be sure, wish you the best of luck with that. Please feel free to ask any questions and view the Consulate Directory Report for experiences of others in Canada, both for relinquishments and renunciations, http://isaacbrocksociety.ca/consulate2/. If you want to be included in the database we’re building (no names), we’d also be glad to have your information, http://isaacbrocksociety.ca/relinquishment/.
Yes, wouldn’t full disclosure, full education be more effective? We’ve all been lulled into complacency.
@oktc971, while translating the article, I had to erase a few personal additions and refrain from making any additional comments. Otherwise, the outcome would have been very different with a bunch of slander, and then the mods here would have had to have censored the entire translation! It is not easy trying to be polite and professional while continuously having to erase the emotions and feelings which fight for their right to be published!
@calgary411, American expats are really being attacked on all fronts. They are attacked where they live, attacked by the US government, by US corporations, by US political parties, ignored by the US population, etc. But, hey, no worries for those who renounced.
Its refreshing to see an article that expresses the issues is such a direct way without glossing over anything. Maybe only the title ‘Americans are furious’ is an understatement.
“If we all quit buying, selling or supporting anything from the USA, they will get the message.”
A noticeable boycott of Amazon would do far more than all the letter-writing to Congressmen.
I really wish journalists in other countries were as sensitive to the plight of US expats as the Swiss journalists are. One could get the false impression that only the US expats in Switzerland are persecuted.
@oktc971
Yes, I boycott products and services from the USA as much as possible as well. Primarily for political reasons, but in the case of the food industry for health reasons as well. (Genetically engineered products from the USA are not required to declare it; high low-quality fat and high sugar content in many products; products for export are generally lower quality than those in the USA; etc. Just recently I learned that Coca-Cola sold outside the USA contains carcinogens at such high levels that it could not be marketed in the USA. Rather than change the recipe for all countries, they continue to market carcinogenic Coca-Cola in those countries which don’t explicitly forbid it. No, thank you!)
Which is just how the US mainstream media wants to portray the whole issue: they want to give people the impression of Americans who “flee to tax havens”. Another example of this: I’ve seen non-US media reports on roughly a dozen public figures who renounced US citizenship so far this year. The only ones that Bloomberg & WSJ reported on were the Hong Kong banker & the mayor of Zurich.
can you believe this?
http://people.opposingviews.com/tax-benefits-living-abroad-6837.html
no possibility to comment or rebutt.
@Orwell “no possibility to comment or rebutt.”
Given their slogan: “News. Controversy. Opinion. Opposing Views.” that’s quite ironic, isn’t it?
Sad but entirely expected. Mainstream media is bad enough, but “Demand Media” is even worse: they go down the search engine tail, look for profitable keywords to slap ads onto, and get underpaid freelancers to write clueless “evergreen” essays on the topic. I can’t even summon up the energy to get mad at the guy who wrote that, who certainly has never been abroad whatsoever and is just repeating what he read on mainstream media sites before he moves onto his next assignment to write about popular dog breeds or five cures for spring allergies.
The mainstream US media doesn’t want to hear my story because it isn’t conform with the common stereotypes and conflicts with what the US government want for people to believe.
@Orwell
I love the picture too. Ah, the idyllic life of the American abroad! Realistically should be a photo of a banker’s box full of paper.
@Eric, re; ….”Another example of this: I’ve seen non-US media reports on roughly a dozen public figures who renounced US citizenship so far this year. The only ones that Bloomberg & WSJ reported on were the Hong Kong banker & the mayor of Zurich….”
And where in the US mainstream media is coverage of Hamid Karzai’s brother’s renunciation of his naturalized US citizenship? Mahmud (var. Mahmood) Karzai owns a significant portion of an Afghanistan bank. He had significant real estate and business interests in the US and abroad http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/k/mahmoud_karzai/index.html?inline=nyt-per http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/04/world/asia/karzai-family-moves-to-protect-its-privilege.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
Why no comments from US media and US politicians on par with the coverage and critique applied to Eduardo Saverin and Denise Rich http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ex-PATRIOT_Act ? The US renunciation of a figure as significant and wealthy as Karzai’s brother would usually be considered newsworthy and politically significant.
Where is the grandstanding by the Ex-Patriot Act’s sponsors? See; “…………..sponsored by Chuck Schumer (D-New York) with initial co-sponsors Bob Casey, Jr. (D-Pennsylvania), Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut), and Tom Harkin (D-Iowa). It was introduced on May 17, 2012 and referred to the Senate Committee on Finance, of which Schumer is a member (on the Subcommittee on Taxation and IRS Oversight, among other subcommittees). Schumer’s fellow Subcommittee on Taxation and IRS Oversight member Ben Cardin (D-Maryland) joined as an additional co-sponsor on May 23.[5]….” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ex-PATRIOT_Act
Many stateside Americans, such as Feldstein, Feenberg & MacGuineas, believe that having expats costs stateside Americans $7 billion per year:
However, in the latest news, the Tax Foundation argues that double-taxing all but 2% of expat income would slow economic growth:
@swisspinoy
“@calgary411, American expats are really being attacked on all fronts. They are attacked where they live, attacked by the US government, by US corporations, by US political parties, ignored by the US population, etc. But, hey, no worries for those who renounced.”
All I can do at this point is live my life the best that I can, and look forward to where I can renounce and be done with it. Otherwise, it’s really easy to become depressed if one fixates on these issues. (which I’m sure it’s what the US wants, anyway) I just read today on the New York Times where suicide rates amongst middle aged Americans has risen sharply in the past ten years. The commentary there was quite eye opening, and my story regarding my father’s later life, how he was screwed over by the system there, how hopelessness basically took his life (even though it was technically a stroke), was really one of many such stories.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/03/health/suicide-rate-rises-sharply-in-us.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20130503&_r=0
Meanwhile, I was stateside for a few hours last week visiting my mother, and just….wow. It’s like there’s this really dark cloud that seems to just linger over there among the people. Happy to be back home. In Canada. :^)
20 months to go before I can apply for Canadian citizenship. Just counting the time….