The Atlantic magazine, read widely by progressives on the East Coast, has a good article about the consequences of the recent announcement that Germany will be signing (has signed) a FATCA IGA.
The title is:
The Unintended Consequences of Cracking Down on Tax Dodgers Abroad
A regulation makes banks report foreign accounts to the IRS, but some are finding loopholes in the law aimed at closing loopholes.
This article was first posted by SwissPinoy here, and there has been some subsequent discussion and comments around this article that needs more attention and comments. I encourage Brockers to post on The Atlantic because, frankly, you need to engage the progressives where they live and read. I, for one, am going to paste it on Sven Giebold‘s web page, where he doesn’t let comments out of moderation, unless they come from Victoria… 🙂
Comments regarding this article are included below for easier reference…
Here is a thought in this wonderful article in the press today:
Will America’s nearly 100,000 expats living in Germany challenge FATCA in court? It’s too soon to tell.
But experts say they might have a very good case.
The Unintended Consequences of Cracking Down on Tax Dodgers Abroad
***********************************************************************
@SwissPinoy…
That is a great break through for a Progressive magazine like The Atlantic. Thanks for drawing my attention to it. We need to spread this one around, as Progressive will probably NOT read “The Daily Caller” if it published a similar story.
I just sent this off to James Fallows of the Atlantic, that wrote the FATCA trilogy about a year and a half ago…
James…
I assume you saw this today? Just for your reference file should you return to the FATCA subject someday. Awareness is growing even in progressive circles, that good intentions have bad consequences.
The Unintended Consequences of Cracking Down on Tax Dodgers Abroad
A regulation makes banks report foreign accounts to the IRS, but some are finding loopholes in the law aimed at closing loopholes.
One of the Major things this report didn’t address about the Unintended consequences, is that Treasury and the Obama administration, via the 2014 budget, page 202, intend to impose the same reporting requirements onto the US financial Institutions via a request for more regulatory authority. They have promised reciprocity in the FATCA IGAs under the “What is good for the goose is good for the gander?” I call it a domestic FATCA or DATCA. But, they have no such authority to do that , YET! Do you think Harry Reid and Joe Biden will give up Nevada and Delaware beneficial ownership opacity for the greater good in a FATCA reciprocity deal?
Treasury seems to think they will. From a recent EU Parliament FATCA public hearing.
Transcript of part of the final comments made by Treasury’s Robert Stack…
And finally on reciprocity, we would simply point out that under our IGAs that are reciprocal, the IRS agrees to exchange information on interest, dividends and other income that is already collect, which is substantial and in some cases more extensive than what has to be, uh, reported under FATCA.
The US recognizes the importance of reaching equivalent levels of exchange, uh, under all our law, that we are getting from other jurisdictions. And the administration has included in its budget proposal a provision that would permit U.S. Financial Institutions to make such equivalent exchanges.
Under the U.S. political system, uh, different from some Parliamentary systems, we need to work that through Congress but we are um, we are committed to doing that. Once we’ve done that, to go to the question of beneficial ownership in Delaware, once we have equivalent levels of exchange, we would expect our own financial institutions would be required to look through entities and report on individuals just as non U.S. institutions are required to do under our IGA
I have the entire transcript attached…
***********************************************************************
@swisspinoy, that’s a great article. This in particular;
“….Data protection experts believe there exists an inherent conflict between FATCA and data protection laws in Germany– laws which protect foreigners living in Germany just as they do German citizens.
FATCA could potentially violate an individual’s right to informational self-determination, a right enshrined in the German constitution.
Will America’s nearly 100,000 expats living in Germany challenge FATCA in court? It’s too soon to tell.
But experts say they might have a very good case.”
This phrase stood out for me “… laws which protect foreigners living in Germany just as they do German citizens..”
This is what should be the case for permanent residents in Canada – on the same basis as should be available for Canadian citizens. I guess we’ll see.
@JustMe, how brilliant to have sent on that EP FATCA hearing information on re Stack’s comments on US ‘reciprocity’. Not many US homelanders would have been following the EP’s moves on this, and Sophie in’t Veld’s pursuit of transparency and documents on FATCA talks and negotiations behind the scenes. Therefore US homelanders – and perhaps US banks do not know exactly what the US, through people like Stack, are offering the rest of the world without telling the US public what they are committing to. If this was all above board, they wouldn’t have to hide it – from all those affected, the citizens of the countries where the IGAs are being negotiated, AND THE US PUBLIC and Congress.
FATCA stinks. If you have to do it behind the woodshed, how likely is it to be a true public good in a democracy?
*************************************************************************
June 6, 2013 at 12:21 am
Thought I would take another whack at Sven…borrowing liberally from some comments here.. I posted this that will never see the light of day, but he or some staff will have to read it.
Dear Sven,
I know you are not letting my previous comment out of moderation. Nor will you let this one either. That is your prerogative. However, I must say, it doesn’t show much courage. While the mission of my first message was not to berate you publicly, I am very disappointed in your unwillingness to engage in discussion with those who disagree with your position. I had hoped that you would rise to the challenge of showing the same communication transparency you want every person in the world to have on their financial transactions and tax payments.
Transparency for us, and obstruction and opaqueness for you, I guess.
I must say, your failure to address forthrightly the questions that Victoria raises speaks volumes about the political positions and moral standing of the Greens, whom you represent. I had expected better.
I thought you might be interested in an article published in an U.S. east coast Liberal magazine, The Atlantic. Some Progressives, that you would naturally align with, seem to be willing to look the consequences of FATCA issues more clearly than you.
Title: The Unintended Consequences of Cracking Down on Tax Dodgers Abroad
I think you need to do some real soul searching on your willingness to throw so many Europeans under the bus in pursuit of your idealistic goal “in your mind” of some grand global automatic exchange that is NOT going to stop offshore tax evasion by the very rich. They are laughing at you. By the time you get this all set up, and all of us innocent and collateral fodder enslaved, handed over to the US for processing, the rich will have already found other means to avoid your clutches. You might not like it, I might not like it, but that is the reality. Your cure is worse than the disease, as it condemns all to the same medicine regardless of their symptoms.
Frankly, given the prospects of what this means for an Orwellian world of your construct, I would rather live with 10% tax evaders, and 90% freemen, than your vision of 100% tax compliance or full enslavement to your demands and visions of “tax justice” via some global GATCA. If that doesn’t work, and it won’t, what next? What will be enough for you? Frankly, your position and what it means for a Big DATA total financial surveillance future, scares the hell out of me.
Thanks for a wonderful article which finally shows the folly of the law FATCA and citizenship-based taxation.
Most expats would like to scream “HELP!!” to homelanders, but their suffering is not being heard nor addressed.
Perhaps with the dawning realisation that citizenship-based taxation along with FATCA is hurting homelanders in a much more sinister way, there can be tax reform.
“The Atlantic magazine, read widely by progressives on the East Coast, has a good article about the consequences of the recent announcement that Germany will be signing a FATCA IGA.”
Past tense – Germany has signed a FATCA IGA on 31.05.2013.
http://www.bundesfinanzministerium.de/Content/DE/Standardartikel/Themen/Steuern/Internationales_Steuerrecht/Staatenbezogene_Informationen/Laender_A_Z/Verein_Staaten/2013-05-31-FATCA-einvernehmenserklaerung.html
http://www.bundesfinanzministerium.de/Content/DE/Standardartikel/Themen/Steuern/Internationales_Steuerrecht/Staatenbezogene_Informationen/Laender_A_Z/Verein_Staaten/2013-05-31-FATCA-abkommen-deu-usa.html
@Just Me, thanks for posting this. If anyone is interested, this is the feed aggregate that I’ve been using for most of the articles I’ve posted:
http://www.google.com/reader/bundle/user%2F07962253972545555346%2Fbundle%2FExpat
I haven’t updated it in a while because Google will shut it down at the end of the month. With it, I attempted to be up-to-date on most issues involving American expats. It contains links to the following:
103 Weeks
American Expat in Chiang Mai
Barlow’s Cayman
Expat Tax Blog | Artio Partners
Democrats Abroad Switzerland
blog.global-money-matters.com
US Tax & Financial Services Blog
Let’s Talk About: US Tax
American in Spain
Expats in Canada
Expat Women
Federal Tax Crimes
Expat American
Expat Info Desk – News
GenevaLunch
Tax-News.Com Live Tax Headlines
Center for Freedom and Prosperity » Press Releases
The Freedom Watch
German-American Abroad
In-tax-icating
International Tax Blog
The Isaac Brock Society
An American Abroad
An American Expat
Maple Sandbox
Steven J. Mopsick
Oregon Expat
Freedom from the tyranny of U.S. citizenship-based taxation for U.S. and dual citizens outside the U.S.
An American Abroad
Stop Double Taxation
STOP FATCA In Canada
Stop Unconstitutional Double Taxation
Switzerland for Ron Paul 2012
Tax Justice Network
Tax, Society & Culture
The Bilzerian Report
The Franco-American Flophouse
US and Mexican Taxation for American Taxpayers in Mexico
U.S. Citizens in Canada InfoShop
America Abroad RSS Feed
AAM News and Media updates
An American Abroad
EurObama Blog
ExpatExchange Blog
Expat Forum
Expatistan blog
iExpats
IRS Medic
Living in France Blogs
Nicaragua Dispatch
nostate.com
OppositeOcean
Overseas Exile
Republicans Abroad Europe blog
Thailand Lawyer Blog
Google FBAR
U.S. citizen bank
Américaine renoncer
Google US Expatriate
Google Renounce
Google Bürger
Google US Person
Google Ami Overseas
Google FEIE
Google FATCA
Google News: stateless
Google Ami Abroad
Offshore Tax Evasion
@swisspinoy
“I haven’t updated it in a while because Google will shut it down at the end of the month. “
Nice set of feeds. Tip (I’m just a user, no financial interest in it!): When Google announced that they’re retiring the Reader I switched to Feedly. It will automatically import your feeds from Google Reader and is available as an Android app and a Chrome web app (not sure about iPhone). I actually find it to be better than Google Reader.
@notamused
Yes, Germany has now “signed” the IGA (it previously “initialled”) but FATCA in Germany ain’t a done deal just yet.
There is a protocol of signature to the IGA that immediately shields all German financial institutions from US withholding while Germany’s legislature decides when, how – and whether – it will ratify and implement this IGA:
With reference to paragraph 1 of Article 10 (Term of Agreement) of the Agreement:
The United States understands that the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany plans to present the Agreement to its parliament for its approval in 2013 together with draft legislation that is to implement the provisions of the Agreement with the goal of having the Agreement and the legislation enter into force not later than September 30, 2015.
Based on this understanding, as of the date of signature of the Agreement, the United States Department of the Treasury intends to treat each German Financial Institution, as that term is defined in the Agreement, as complying with, and not subject to withholding under section 1471 of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code during such time as the Federal Republic of Germany is pursuing the necessary internal procedures for entry into force of the Agreement.
The United States further understands that the Federal Republic of Germany’s Ministry of Finance intends to contact the United States Department of the Treasury as soon as it is aware that there might be a delay in the German internal approval process for entry into force of the Agreement such that the Federal Republic of Germany would not be able to provide its notification under paragraph 1 of Article 10 of the Agreement prior to September 30, 2015.
If upon consultation with the Federal Republic of Germany, the United States Department of the Treasury receives credible assurances that such a delay is likely to be resolved in a reasonable period of time, the United States Department of the Treasury may decide to continue to apply FATCA to German Financial Institutions in the manner described above as long as the United States Department of the Treasury assesses that the Federal Republic of Germany is likely to be able to send its notification under paragraph 1 of Article 10 by September 30, 2016.
It is understood that should the Agreement enter into force after September 30, 2015, any information that would have been reportable under the Agreement thereafter (and prior to its entry into force) had the Agreement been in force by September 30, 2015, is owed on the September 30 next following the date of entry into force.
@notamused
You are correct. I mistated that, and should have said ‘signed’. At a technocrat level that is true, but this is hardly a finished deal yet… But that usually does NOT get reported by media sources in their trumpeting of a “done deal.”
@Todundsteuer
Boy, this paragraph which is in all IGAs, if I am not mistaken, sure gives lie to the bi-lateral and equal provisions of reciprocity. Where is the similar statement on USA timeframes and understanding on its providing to Germany “reportable information” , or as the article says the US is “Owing” on September 30, 2015 ?
Yes, it’s clear that ‘signed’ doesn’t mean ‘ratified’. As far as I know, of the handful of countries which have signed an IGA to date, none of them have yet ratified one.
(At the same time, it’s also true what you say, Just Me. The media does tend to gloss over that pesky little detail of legislative process which is necessary to get an IGA ratified. 😉
@Just Me
Shhhh….
Victoria’s tact is her best tactic for infiltration 🙂
Here is good article in French, intitled “Le fisc américain menace-t-il la souveraineté des Etats?”
Does the IRS threaten states’s sovereignty.
First time I’ve seen something like that, in a country where the finance minister claims it supports FATCA and wants a European version of it.
http://finance.blog.lemonde.fr/2013/06/06/le-fisc-americain-menace-t-il-la-souverainete-des-etats/
http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=fr&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Ffinance.blog.lemonde.fr%2F2013%2F06%2F06%2Fle-fisc-americain-menace-t-il-la-souverainete-des-etats%2F&act=url
Well, I received this email this morning from…Florian van Megen Parliamentary Assistant to MEP Mr Sven Giegold, Head of Office & Tax Policy Researcher
Dear Just Me
Re: Your Comment on Sven-Giegold.de
Just a quick reply: We do of course intend to publish your comments. The commenting function would not be of use otherwise of course. We don’t believe in censorship. We have to moderate the comments because we are suffering from a lot of Spam on the blog.
I hope we can publish your and others’ comments and questions with some answers before the end of the week. This is a pressing topic and we are happy to discuss it with you.
Thanks for your patience.
Kind Regards,
Florian van Megen
To which I replied…..
Dear Ms Van Megen…
Thank you for your reply, and the spirit in which it was sent. I do understand the spam problem, so can commiserate with that. Thank you for the fuller explanation. Maybe I was impatient, and I appreciate your willingness to discuss this “pressing topic” more. It was disappointing and frustrating not to see a fuller discussion on the issue in the EU public hearing, and you should have serious questions about unequal nature of ‘tax resident’ definitions. The US should follow the German model, and Germany and the EU should insist upon it, as a minimal condition of FATCA implementation, if you are determined to capitulate to US 30% extortion threats.
This subject is of great concern to many long term Americans living in Europe. It is especially so, since the IRS started its offshore jihad with such a broad brushed application of Draconian penalties for failure to file FBAR forms, where penalties for failure according to GAO reports have been as high as 127 times the tax revenue loss! Does Germany do that? Additionally, the IRS has been been unresponsive even to its National Tax Advocate who has told them to stop their practices.
Then comes FATCA, with its many negative consequences for those NOT the original target of the “good intention.” America is carpet bombing the world in a punitive way, when IMHO, it needs more targeted and precise missile strikes to deal with what it sees as an “offshore” problem. DOJ prosecution works, and you don’t need great BIG EXPENSIVE and EXPANSIVE global schemes to accomplish a mission of compliance and deterrence.
We do not need a “stop and search all” GATCA approach for dealing with a small percentage of offshore tax evasion. Frankly, no matter how many walls are built, and how high the razor wire placed, man’s desire for freedom will not be deterred from a GATCA Berlin wall. Find simpler and creative means to deter evasion. It is the small things that matter most when it comes to impacting human behavior, and GREAT BIG BUREAUCRATIC PROGRAMS are less successful than much simpler solutions. Learn to ‘sweat the small stuff’ instead.
Then on a practical matter, in the scope of tax revenue lost, FATCA revenue estimates as determined by the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) in the US is minuscule compared to the ID theft, false refunds and child tax credit scams happening on domestic American shores. TIGTA estimates that loss at $21 billion over the next five years compared to a mere $800 million a year ($4 billion over 5 years) that FATCA is ‘supposed to’ collect! The US mainline is where the real bleeding is occurring, not amongst Americans living and tax resident in “offshore” Germany for gods sake. The priorities of the effort are all screwed up and EU capitulation to these demands makes you complicit in the misdirected efforts! Tell America to clean up its homeland problems before it goes abroad looking for global demons to slay! A global GATCA will not solve the U.S. deficit problem, nor Europeans revenue problems, I might add. That austerity argument that Robert Stack threw out for creating this monster, is just poppycock.
Setting aside the issue of whether or NOT a FATCA IGA is the best way to accomplish your mission of “tax justice”, (I think not) this unequal treatment of tax residents in your country is especially egregious and needs addressing before more EU nations sign these un-lateral IGA agreements which require you to change your laws. There is NO similar requirement on America, just vague promises of intent to pursue legislation.
These IGAs are NOT treaties, and therefore in America, they won’t get the most meager of democratic and transparent ‘advise and consent” that they will get in Germany. Neither are these IGAs and reciprocity promised ever mentioned as even an oblique intent or authority from FATCA when it was passed (hidden) inside a stimulus bill, the Hire Act. Now that America is waking up to FATCA blowing back on the US domestic shores, it is not liking what it sees. Call it hypocrisy if you wish, but the gander does not want what it demands of the goose.
This Treasury “policy laundering” is even worse than what has been going on EU parliament, where technocrats make decisions without regard to a democratic process and transparency, but I will give you this, at least you finally had a meager public hearing, and Americans have NOT even been afforded that.
The unequal demands of US Treasury, that many EU countries are capitulating to without regard to common definitions of “Tax residence”, is a serious concern. In addition, signers are NOT going to get full reciprocity the IRS is ‘promising’ in Article 6. There is no way Senator Harry Reid is going to force USFIs to give up or hand over to the EU, beneficial Corporation ownership information which the ‘tax haven’ state of Nevada provides shelter for. As for Delaware, that Treasury’s Robert Stack was promising up, do you really think that ex Delaware Senator Joe Biden will jump on board and say, “Boy that is a good idea, let’s do it!”
I am afraid in your eagerness for a GATCA, you swallow Treasury misrepresentation without understanding the political realities of DC. I understand the ‘ideological mind set’ that might cloud your thinking on what is being offered, and what you might receive, but notice Stacks careful use of “our Law” in relation to what he “recognizes.”
There is no way that House of Representatives, given the current escalating nature of the IRS scandal in DC, is going to allow an Obama budget proposal (page 202) which gives the IRS more regulatory authority to impose a domestic FATCA (DATCA) on its USFIs under “our law”. There hasn’t been an Obama budget in 4 years now, and this first one won’t happen, unless the Democrats take the House in 2014 elections which is highly unlikely. You need to think more clearly about your negotiating partner here. They are not operating under any normal treaty authority from Congress. The Treasury is off the ranch and on its own, making up agreements that do not express the will of Congress, have a dubious legal pedigree. You are going to be sorely disappointed, if reciprocity is what you want. That is the political reality.
However, all that said, from a strategic point of view, (even though I disagree with you on the auto exchange mechanisms for many other reasons.) if you could eliminate the conflict from the US designating EU citizens as ‘U.S. Persons’, via real negotiations, and force the US to keep its hands off your treasury and don’t just hand over residents that are either dual citizens, Greencard holders, or accidental Americans living on EU shores, then you would find greater acceptance in Europe amongst those who don’t have their heads in the sand about this coming global GATCA that you seem to support.
Thank you again for taking the time to write and listening. It is appreciated. I stand ready to revise my opinions about Green transparency or philosophical consistency. Don’t let good intentions cloud your vision of discriminatory and unintended negative outcomes.
Sincerely,
Again, bravo, Just Me. What would we do without your knowledge, your gift of communication and your staying in this important fight for what is right? Really, we have such good people fighting this / advocating for justice for US Persons Abroad. Thank you!
@Just Me, I called the Swiss national criminal police today to inquire on their investigation concerning Eritrea. There was a documentary at the end of 2011 which wrote:
Translation: The federal criminal police are investigating if money is being collected through punishing methods.
Unfortunately, they are not allowed to tell me the results or status of the investigation. But, they did tell me that I could launch a similar investigation against the US through the local police.
@calgary411
We all do what we can, and I thank you for your continuing efforts too…
@SwissPinoy…
Now there is an idea! 🙂
Well said, though it must have made her eyeballs start to spin.
I don’t think they really understand what is happening here. By supporting FATCA and GATCA they are ipso facto giving power to fiscal bureacrats to create a gestapo-like regime based on information that only the bureaucrats are privy to with no restraints. Not only that, but they have put NO safeguards in place for either transparency in the information, means to challenge the information, or any oversight at all on limiting the kinds of information that the fiscal gestapo can gather, or how they can use it, or how an ordinary citizen can have redress against abuse or misuse of it, and – especially! – penalties that individuals within the fiscal gestapo would incur if they DO abuse or misuse the information. Thess things are so critically important and are ENTIRELY overlooked by Giegold!
When I worked at CNN in the early 90s, I was responsible for building out its network throughout the former Warsaw Pact. I found in Poland, for example, that there was a law that made it illegal to use a satellite broadcast without government permission was both a civil and criminal offence and “punishable”. They did this to prevent the populus from watching any “deviant western capitalist propaganda”. This law, of course, was actually good for CNN because it protected our IP. Here was the problem: Under the communists if something was “illegal” and “punishable” it was always UNdefined so people lived in fear lest there be the very real prospect of a knock on the door in the middle of the night – which really, REALLY did happen all the time then. By the time I got there, though, the secret police were gone along with the fear, and along with it the discipline. As a consequence, if someone stole our program for commercial uses, although it remained “illegal”, there were no procedures for identifying the thief and detailing the terms of theft, there were no jurisdictions of the court to apply to for relief, there was no process and procedures for serving a warrant or court-order on the thief, there was no trial procedure, and – especially – there were no penalties established – civil or criminal – if they were found guilty. Hence, the illegality was immaterial because there were no consequences.
Now look at all of the shenanigans that the IRS is pulling in the USA with the audits, the harassment, the misspending of funds, etc. Watching Fink today testify about the malfeasance of spending on lavish conferences was simply laughable: He “apologized” – of course – and said “in hindsight, it shouldn’t have happened”. SO WHAT? No one is losing their jobs; no one is being fined; no one is going to jail – there are no penalties and no consequences for illegal, unethical, and abusive behavior. So Fink gets berated for a couple of hours – that’s the only price THEY pay; if this were YOU, however, there would be fines and jail time. So how is this ever going to stop?
People in the EU are as at risk to this as people in the USA, especially if they are connected in an unholy data exchange with the IRS through FATCA because if there IS anything that goes wrong, each will blame the other and “apologize”, but there are no consequences for anyone who abuses it – only the ordinary people who will have been abused who had the audacity to complain.
Put it this way: The IRS proclaims that anyone lying or misrepresenting information on their forms is liable to 5 years in jail and up to $50,000 – where does this work the other way?
Permitting the fiscal gestapo the right to determine what information they force you to answer, and having no limitations, no safeguards, no way to challenge how they use it and to whom they give it, and no penalties for any of them if they abuse or misuse it is simply giving them carte blanche to terrorize anyone they way without even having to torture them physically.
Hands up all who think this is a great regime and will REALLY stop tax evasion and catch tax cheats?? I’ll give you some more time….
@Plato…
Well said. You see the lack of understanding everywhere, although yesterday there was a bright spot with a young libertarian I ran into while I was buying a Verson cell phone hot spot. He was a quick study in understanding the implications, even if he was unfamiliar with FATCA. I just sent him an email to thank him for the excellent service Costco provides (they were really good!) and I added this….
Regarding our discussion on FATCA
This is a hard subject to quickly get ones head around, and for most Americans, including bankers, when I say FATCA, I get a blank stare back. I can see you are a quick study and understand some of these issues better than your other mates at the cell phone kiosk, who probably don’t give a shit. I understand that, and don’t hold it against Americans, as generally these subjects are seen as too nerdy or wonky for most Americans to want to follow. BUT, they ARE IMPORTANT, as they erode away freedoms bit by bit to enslave us more and more. We are literally the lobster in the pot, who gives no resistance because we don’t see the hand turning up the flame and the gradual warming of the water doesn’t bother until it is too late.
You might want to spread FATCA awareness amongst the Libertarian community and progressive who are not just reflexively Dem partisans.
There was a raging debate on the issues on Mother Jones a few weeks back. The real education was in the comments, not in the article itself, but still worth reading. Headline is totally wrong, but the story is not that bad. I am of the opinion that any media is better than no media, because it does give an opportunity to counter mis perceptions about what FATCA is and focus on what its actual impacts are.
FATCA is ignored by the US media, as if anyone journalist know anything about it, it is seen as just affecting foreign financial institutions, so who cares, right? However, the cost and consequences of this compliance regime is blowing back on US shores, and it is often those that live abroad that understand it best.
If you didn’t think FATCA was about a bigger agenda. See this comment by Mark Twain…
Mark Twain says
June 6, 2013 at 1:17 pm
http://www.acfcs.org/by-taking-certain-steps-the-irs-may-share-bank-data-it-gets-from-foreign-banks-under-fatca-with-other-us-agencies/?goback=%2Egde_4118437_member_247324492
This might be Another key explaining the joy of FATCA implementation.
By taking certain steps, the IRS may share bank data it gets from foreign banks under FATCA with other US agencies
FATCA data could help military, intelligence agencies in ‘threat finance’ work
Section 6103 also permits disclosure of “return information” to certain Federal officers and employees and law enforcement agencies for purposes of combating terrorism.
This information may also be shared with US intelligence agencies for their use in “investigation, collection or analysis.” This work by intelligence agencies has been given the name, “threat finance.” This work includes not only the pursuit of terrorism cases but also those involving other national security threats, including trafficking in nuclear materials, weapons of mass destruction, humans and narcotics, as well as foreign corruption.
Pretty scary. And it might explain why all the media and politicians are on full radio silence.
And, of course, since the Guardian newspaper – a UK publication, not one of America’s “protected” by the 1st Amendment (ask AP and Fox News DC bureau chief why not), the NSA can get a “friendly warrant” to download data and mine it for MILLIONS of Americans supposedly to “fight terror” because of the Boston bombing of just two young men!
Friends – this all should scare the be-jesus out of you. The very idea that either the IRS or the Eurocrats will “respect privacy laws” is a JOKE!! They will manufacture any and all excuses under the sun to use this information against the individuals all in a perfectly plausible “name” but that name will remain “Fascism!” (Or communism – take your pick!!).
and now this ‘general warrant’ of collecting everyones data…
NSA collecting phone records of millions of Verizon customers daily
Exclusive: Top secret court order requiring Verizon to hand over all call data shows scale of domestic surveillance under Obama
Good debate and discussion around this issue on To the Point….
http://www.kcrw.com/news/programs/tp/tp130606nsa_collects_verizon
Audio will be up soon, and discussion is in the first half of the program.
and this from Politico. I am sure there will be alot around the internet…
http://www.politico.com/story/2013/06/report-nsa-verizon-call-records-92315.html
Coalition for Tax Competition Urges Support for FATCA Repeal Bill
(Washington, D.C., Thursday, June 6, 2013) The Center for Freedom and Prosperity, joined by 20 of the country’s largest and most influential free-market, taxpayer protection and grassroots organizations, sent a letter to Senate members urging support for legislation introduced by Sen. Rand Paul to repeal the majority of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). The bill, S. 887, would repeal FATCA’s most costly and privacy-violating provisions.
Link to Coalition for Tax Competition letter: http://freedomandprosperity.org/2013/letters/ctc-letter-on-sponsoring-fatca-repeal/
This site is a PARODY but it strikes very close to the truth regarding the all-seeing, all-knowing NSA. I really don’t know what to call the “system” we are living under right now but it is heavily reliant on “the state of fear”. We fear their power and they fear our rebellion against their power.
http://nsa.gov1.info/data/index.html
Orwell said it best: It’s called “Newspeak”. “We are putting into a maximum security state for your own protection….” How absolutely wonderful of them – this is all the HELP us.
No Warrant, No Problem: How the Government Can Get Your Digital Data
This from ProPublica
Journalism in the Public Interest
So, we need to hitch FATCA to the new found Progressive concern about civil rights, privacy and how government can get to your data so easily now.
Why Mega-Data is more instrusive than Content.
When you read everything the NSA is sucking up into that Total Awareness state, you wonder, why the hell is FATCA even necessary?
JUNE 6, 2013
WHAT’S THE MATTER WITH METADATA?
POSTED BY JANE MAYER
and if that isn’t depressing enough, a little humor from Borowitz…
No, the NSA can not help you figure out your Verizon bill.
@Em
That link of yours is too true to reality to be a parody! It does amuse me to see Progressives getting all up in arms, except for the apologist who would have been (and were) apoplectic when Bush was creating his total information awareness program. Did we ever really think they stopped?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_Awareness_Office
@Em, Just Me
RAND PAUL: ORWELL’S ‘1984’ HAS ARRIVED
“Paul cited the term “doublethink” from George Orwell’s novel that was so influential that government policies and actions considered oppressively invasive and a violation of rights are called “Orwellian.”
“The Ministry of Peace concerns itself with war, the Ministry of Truth with lies, the Ministry of Love with torture and the Ministry of Plenty with starvation.”
IS BIG BROTHER FINALLY HERE? Your chance to vote!
Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2013/06/senator-1984-has-arrived/#WS2Pvu0zXLdpvlsh.99