Will Canada’s hard line on Eritrea’s ‘diaspora’ tax apply to the U.S.?
How nice to see Canada taking a very hard line with the government or Eritrea and its attempts to impose a diaspora tax on Eritrean citizens now living in Canada. This country really does have a backbone when it comes to standing up to oppression and injustice.
How to explain, then, that while we send the Eritrean consul packing and threaten to shut down the consulate, we let U.S. Ambassador David Jacobsen stay put in Ottawa with nary a word of protest over America’s “diaspora” tax?
@Arrow.,.
Excellent. You have done it again! Yes, it is the Power GAP! 🙂
Lebron James fouled out last night and there are some that think that he shouldn’t get called for a clearly illegal screen, just because that rarely happens against a star like Lebron.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnTFOGmF_m8&feature=player_embedded
Americans are quite used to double standards, demand that double standards exist in the world. What if they are also terrorists? What if droning is an act of terrorism that kills innocent people? Then their expatriate taxes goes to terrorist activities and they are worse than Eritrea in some respects.
Thank you Don Whiteley. I hope you’re feeling better 🙂
@bubblebustin
I’m good. I’m in my two week window of feeling halfway normal, but back in chemo next week. Thanks for asking.
Excellent! Now does anybody have any ideas on how to get this message spread across Europe and elsewhere in the world?
When that UN resolution was approved by the United Nations condemning Eritrea for this practice of subjecting its citizens residing abroad to this tax on their income, the other members of the UN security Council which voted in favor of this resolution were
1. Bosnia and Herzegovina
2.. Brazil
3. Colombia
4. Germany
5. France
6. Gabon
7. India
8. Lebanon
9. Nigeria
10. Portugal
11. South Africa
12. United Kingdom
13. United States
Two nations abstained. They were:
1. China
2. Russia
There were no nations which opposed this resolution.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Security_Council_Resolution_2023.
Why nobody in the United States is asking if the Eritrean Embassy in Washington is also shaking down its citizens in the US, the answer is probably no. Why?
Because it is this exact same practice followed by the US Government in other countries in shaking down US citizens who live in those countries. Believe it or not there is no moral justification for the US criticizing the actions of a foreign government when the US does exactly the same thing.
Great article Arrow. Bravo, well done!
Nice article! Thanks, Arrow, for reminding the readers of another related part of the problem.:)
Excellent piece, Arrow, and be well, fullway, soon as possible. Your G&M article is on my list of frequent visits for purposes of “up arrowing” all the good comments.
Today’s NY Times has an article discussing why the fate of Susan Rice has been different than that of Victoria Nuland. Although both were heavily involved in putting a positive face on the Benghazi debacle, Susan Rice’s career took a fall while Victoria Nuland’s career has continued on:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/30/us/politics/2-diplomats-treated-differently-in-benghazi-uproar.html?hp
A primary reason why Susan Rice has taken a fall is that she was the public voice papering over the Benghazi incident and became a lightning rod for the ensuing criticism while Victoria Nuland worked in the background. Another factor, which is likely less important and that is not mentioned in the NY Times article, is that many Americans abroad used the Benghazi incident to even the score with Susan Rice. As IBS readers already know, Susan Rice led the hypocritical charge to condemn Eritrea at the UN Security Council for taxing its diaspora while Victoria Nuland did not incur this wrath.
Susan Rice is now Obama’s national security adviser. Let’s not shy from attacking her in the press as opportunities present themselves for her hypocritical condemnation of Eritrea’s taxation of its diaspora.
Don,
I couldn’t sleep early this morning, so for amusement I went an read all the comments to your article. I recognized a few Brockers, but there were some other good ones too. Gave them all thumbs up, along with appropriate replys to those that got my thumbs down. It was fun. Got amusement out of Ericka of America. She was attacked by the swarms of thumbs down.
@all
Thanks for all your positive comments and your good wishes.
DW
I’ll add my good wishes and my hopes that you are doing well. Thanks for your latest contribution to Canadian journalism!
@ Just Me
I must say you kept me busy for a few minutes this morning up arrowing or up thumbing all your great replies at the G&M — particularly the ones to Ericka. We can never thank you enough for your efforts. Hope it wasn’t those FBAR forms on your To Do List that caused the sleeplessness.
@Em…
The hubris of Ericka needed a reply. 🙂
What a fabulous article. Thank you so much Don Whiteley for writing it. Have emailed it far and wide and tweeted it!
The Swiss Federal Police is reviewing whether the methods to collect the 2% tax from Eritreans in Switzerland is criminal, according to an article in today’s NZZ.
http://www.nzz.ch/aktuell/zuerich/stadt_region/gespaltene-gemeinschaft-1.18093873
“Exil-Eritreer müssen zwei Prozent ihres Einkommens an den Staat abliefern. «Wer nicht bezahlt, muss um die Sicherheit der Verwandten in der Heimat fürchten», sagt Girmay. Die Geldüberweisungen sind auch in den Fokus des Bundesamts für Polizei (Fedpol) geraten. Im Rahmen von Vorermittlungen prüfe man, ob bei den Geldeintreibungen ein strafbares Verhalten vorliege, heisst es dort.”
Note: the focus of this article is on the tensions between earlier groups of Eritrean immigrants, who support the current Eritrean regime, and more recent immigrants who left due to oppression by the Eritrean regime. Several days ago there was a fight between these two groups outside of Zurich.
Sounds like they are some ‘stepford wives’ amongst the Eritreans too.
@Innocent, the Investigation has been going on since the end of 2011 (at least):
http://www.tagesschau.sf.tv/Nachrichten/Archiv/2012/01/30/Schweiz/Asylbewerber-aus-Eritrea-Schutzgeld-Erpressung
I called the federal police to inquire on this, and they said that I could initiate a similar investigation against the US by filing a compliaint with the local police.
@swisspinoy, re; “I called the federal police to inquire on this, and they said that I could initiate a similar investigation against the US by filing a compliaint with the local police.”
That is too funny. Wonder what they would actually do if you did lodge a complaint against the US?
@badger, they wouldn’t do anything, but that’s beyond the point. It would have to be done in such a manner that it helps to raise awareness about America’s diaspora tax and the timing for such now is better than ever before since WWII, given that America is currently attempting to force Swiss to change Swiss law with undefined consequences, causing the US regime to be less popular than even under George W. Bush. I’d have to collect facts and figures and package it together to submit to the press and political parties as an attempted criminal investigation concerning the blackmail used for the foreign tax collection of Swiss nationals in Switzerland.
As has been discussed previously, extra-territorial taxation is per se not against international law. The method of collection can, however, be against national laws when it involves coercion, extortion, etc. Similar to Eritrea, this may be the area to focus in calling attention to the US citizenship-based taxation laws. If the US Embassy in Switzerland were involved in illicit practices to collect US taxes on Americans in Switzerland, e.g., denying renewal of passports to Americans in Switzerland who could not document that they had filed US tax returns, then charges could likely be made against the US Ambassador to Switzerland with the goal to have him/ her expelled and to embarrass the US.
Some of you may recall that GW Bush cancelled a trip to Geneva in 2011 probably due to fears that he could be arrested for torture charges. Small countries also have laws and agreements to follow international laws. There can be consequences for those who do not follow them:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/05/us-bush-torture-idUSTRE7141CU20110205
@Innocente
How about this. The Canadian embassy links to this:
Once lured into the program, a Canadian who didn’t previously know that they were America get’s a 5% FBAR penalty reduction on the extreme fines:
Doesn’t that kind of sound like tax blackmail being advised by the US Canadian embassy?
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