I personally would like nothing more than to see a TUC general strike.
http://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2013/06/14/what-we-want-from-the-g8-the-tuc-view/
This is the result of the USA’s new commitment to automatic information exchange with countries all over the world that hold information on the foreign taxable income of US citizens. This commitment was embodied in US law in 2010 in what is called the Foreign Accounts Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). This becomes operational in 2014. This Act specifically only applies to US citizens. All the FATCA agreements made by the USA are bilateral – which means that they are strictly between the USA and other individual countries. But to make FATCA work, any country that wants to hold deposits from US citizens needs systems to provide this kind of information. Once in place, these can be used by other countries to demand the same automatic exchange of information to track the overseas income of their tax residents. Full transparency has become a realistic possibility for the first time. Almost certainly as a direct result of FATCA, together with strong campaigning against tax abuse by unions and others, UK ministers have changed their position on what is called automatic information exchange (AIE). AIE happens when income earned in one country by a person who is resident in another country is automatically reported to the country where the person lives, whether the person involved likes it or not. This can be done bilaterally – that is between two countries – or multilaterally, which happens when many countries sign up to the same system. European countries are already used to the second system as a dilute form of this has been in operation in most EU states since 2005.
Thanks for posting, Tim. I haven’t seen anything previously showing that trade unions are aware and have a keen interest in of all this. It will be interesting to monitor.
Will this comprehensive review tell how Canadian registered accounts shall be treated if an IGA is signed here — June 14 update: Bloomberg BNA: U.S. FATCA Update: Final Regulations, Intergovernmental Agreements and Their Impact on the Fiduciary and Asset Management Industries
Has FATCA marked the beginning of the end of dual citizenship?
Tax Research UK is a paid mouthpiece for the TUC, with Richard Murphy as its head hack. As such, there is nothing independent about it. Not much ‘research-y’ either, mostly just reiteration and post hoc justification of trades union positions. To call it left wing is putting it mildly — the only thing to the left of Richard Murphy is the wall. A lot of what Tax Research UK writes is, well… let’s be kind here and call it economically dubious. More here:
http://timworstall.com/category/ragging-on-ritchie/
I see one or two brave folk have tried to reason with Richard Murphy on his site. I have observed his ‘debating’ style for a while, and tried the same once or twice myself in the past, and what you see here is par for the course. Steadfast refusal to consider any alternative viewpoint, or even to consider that there might be one. No interest in ‘researching’, despite the site’s name. When caught out, a belittling put-down or ad-hominem. And finally, he moderates away or ignores anything that runs counter to his argument.
Oh, and he has the look of a believer searching for another heretic to burn at the stake. Yes, I can do ad-hominems too…
That explains his position and responses!
I’ve never heard the Tax Justice Network discuss citizenship-based taxation one way or the other (they only think about international tax issues in terms of corporate taxation, and I guess they’re worried that acknowledging the complex reality of the situation would muddle their message), but Murphy is a loud advocate of what he calls a “passport tax”, because apparently he thinks the U.S. system has been oh-so-successful at catching billionaires while not imposing burdens on ordinary wage-earners
http://www.bing.com/search?q=site%3Ataxresearch.org.uk+passport+tax&form=MOZSBR&pc=MOZI
I haven’t read many of the responses or even gone back. Murphy though continues to be a big critic of Davie Cameron. In some ways that is more important because Davie Cameron is the one calling the shots in the UK at least.