Globalnews.ca reporter Anna Mehler Paperny is hoping to interview Canadians who have renounced US citizenship in the last few years for a story on citizenship/IRS/FATCA-related issues. Ideally she would like to use people’s real names.
Pls contact:
Anna.Mehler Paperny (at) globalnews.ca
(416) 443-6003
http://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/texas-senator-born-in-calgary-to-renounce-his-canadian-citizenship-1.1418453#commentsForm-426802
http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2013/08/19/ted_cruz_canada_calgary_born_texas_republican_has_dual_us_canadian_citizenship.html
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2013/08/20/us-ted-cruz-canadian-citizenship.html?cmp=rss
Looks like Huff Post is censoring most of my comments …. oh dear.
@nervous investor
Ignorant and presumptuous.
An interesting comment that I just read at The Star:
redsignal
23 Minutes Ago
My son was born in Quebec. We moved to the US and he became a US Navy pilot. After 3 years in the US Navy, the US Attorney General hunted him and others down because they had dual Canadian and US citizenship. ( 9 -11 fear of anything foreign) He was told to renounce his Canadian citizenship, or, to resign his commission as an officer in the Navy. He was to do it immediately. He decided to renounce his Canadian citizenship. It was not an easy process. He had to go to the Canadian consulate in Los Angeles and announce his intention in person. It took two trips to accomplish. He was cautioned about the seriousness of what he was doing. When it was over, it was a sad day for the entire family.
One of your comments has made it, nervousinvestor.
@watcher: While the Finance Bill 2013 was going through its parliamentary hoops, I tried to raise the FATCA issue (and its implications for the UK economy) with my MP, the Guardian (twice) and the BBC. No success.
@usx: in my darkest moments, I have felt the same. And have acted on it.
Calgary411 – that is an interesting story about the Navy Pilot ! Yet out in the war zone the same US pilots need to cooperate and trust the Canadian and Brit and other allied pilots in real time ….. and vice versa …. how funny (peculiar … not ha ha).
Many of us have likely spoken up in other causes. Spreading awareness as much as we can has been effective remedy for my mental health. It may even help others who have no voice. Doing nothing is complacency. I don’t think we want to be rescued — I think we want what is just.
http://careers.state.gov/uploads/7a/3e/7a3e09941d0d9861c0906b45b2af86d2/DualCitizenship.pdf
The issue of dual citizenship of Department employees and applicants for employment has recently engendered questions about Department policy. The purpose of this notice is to explain existing Department policy for all employees and to inform potential applicants for both the Civil Service and Foreign Service of the possible effect of dual citizenship on security clearance determinations. Dual citizenship can present a security issue whether to permit access to classified information which affects recruitment, employment, and assignments.
Thanks for that information, Benedict.
Free us all who want freedom from the US — as well as our “accidental US children” given the unasked gift of US citizenship. It should only be a right to a claim of US citizenship.
It seems to fit in with US security philosophy.
Calgary411 – there are also many members of the US armed forces that are NOT US citizens at all …. and some of these were given accelerated paths to citizenship after serving in the Iraq war.
nervousinvestor,
I’m sure they didn’t receive the “small print” consequences of US Citizenship-Based Taxation and Reporting. Neither are US Persons being recruited for the Canadian oilpatch jobs.
@calgary411
I also saw on the local news that there’s predicted to be a huge shortage of forest workers too.
Calgary411 – most of my comments are slowly appearing on huf post … but I see that I am being labelled a “bagger” by one of the huf post contributors, poor thing. ah well .. it takes all sorts with all manner of prejudices …
‘bagger would mean two different things depending on whether you are in Canada or the US 🙂
The Star comment about the navy pilot just emphasizes the paranoia in Mordor Over the Border (MOB). I imagine he only went to the Canadian consulate to speed the process up because the Canadian website indicates this can all be done by mail with notarized documents. I am “in moderation” at CBC. I took the opportunity to take a jab at CBT.
@nervousinvestor…
your comment “Now will the US Media understand that FATCA is….” should have been posted here or forwarded to Globalnews to pick up on…
I would hate to think that CBT would become the global common denominator…that would halt the engines of the world in their tracks..( and beat John Galt to it 😉 )
Ok Benedict Arnold ….. here it is by your request ….
Now will the US media understand that FATCA is idiocy?
So Cruz is planning to renounce his Canadian citizenship … should Canada ban Cruz ever visiting again , eh Mr Schumer and Mr Levin ?
Should Canada treat Cruz as a tax evader? Is he running from high taxes in Canada to the tax haven of the USA?
Should Canada charge Cruz an exit tax? and penalties for failing to advise them of his foreign aka “overseas” (US) accounts?
Isn’t it time that US Persons abroad get treated fairly and for the US to limit themselves to taxing only persons resident in the US (like the rest of the world does excluding Eritrea) ? and to limit themselves to imposing compliance costs to ONLY US residents rather than the entire world?
If the US wont change then maybe the rest of the world needs to impose taxes on their diaspora residing in the USA …. like Indonesia and Kenya taxing President Obama …. and Mexico taxing the millions of Mexican nationals and their dependents residing in the USA … and Cuba taxing half of Miami? and Afghanistan and Iraq taxing the millions from those countries now residing in the USA? and Poland taxing half of Chicago.
There is a big picture here of injustice that the US media needs to begin to take seriously.
@Bendict Arnold
Cant you just see a Global CBT system – Guaranteed to destroy ALL economic activity
enforced by a United Nations Revenue Service with spies and enforcers everywhere:
a National Royalty tax per head paid by each person born on your soil regardless of where that slave ends up living – this money allocated to each country for their internal affairs
a Global Income Tax and a Global Asset Tax to be divided 1/5th to the Nation where the slave lives for local pork distribution and local Social Security and 4/5ths to the United Nations Enforcement Body to divide 1/2 thereof amongst their spies and enforcers and the remainder amongst the Politburo and its hangers on crowd
Oh Happy Day (not)
@ nervousinvestor
Just Me redirected us to an excellent piece written by Andy Sundberg of what a nightmare CBT is and oh the horror if it should go global. Oh Happy Day (not) indeed! It’s worth a redirect of Just Me’s redirection I think …
http://isaacbrocksociety.ca/2012/02/16/what-is-the-systemic-risk-to-the-worlds-economy/#comments
I was reading about Cruz last night and I am not surprised that this is a major issue for him, considering his POTUS aspirations.
The US was better off before the 1986 ruling that prohibited them from banning dual citizenship b/c they are a nation of zenophobes, who can’t permit people to leave and switch their primary allegiance to the nation of their choice.
My husband reminded me the other day that the US is not unique really in wanting to hold onto citizens by any means necessary. If citizenship was truly a choice than emigration would be easy. We are all – more or less – owned by the nation of our birth. The reasons vary but if people could vote with their feet, it would be interesting to see which country had the most wanna-be citizens and which would be deserted.
The US though practices peculiar fiction about citizenship and for the most part, people there buy in, but I think it’s mainly because they lack choice and accurate knowledge about what it is really like to live in other countries.
According to my husband, Cruz’s expatriation should be simple because he left as a child and his expatriation date would be the day he left rather than the day he applied to renounce. As a four year old, he didn’t have assets to declare and wouldn’t have been expected by the Canadian govt to inform them of his intent to leave and be a non-citizen for tax purposes. Not sure about that being true, but wouldn’t it be nice if shedding US citizenship had that kind of retroactive dating? Or even if there was a mechanism for declaring oneself a non-resident.
More and more the whole idea that US citizenship is simply a form of slavery becomes harder and harder to ignore. Of course, we are not truly free regardless of who claims us, but USPs are about as free as citizens of the former Soviet Union were.
Canada’s departure tax is based on residency not citizenship and was created in 1996 long after he split as a child with no assets anyway…
@ nervousinvestor and bubblebustin,
nervousinvestor wrote:
You guys and me both. Perhaps the hypocrisy of these arrogant Americans got my blood going or perhaps it was the black humour in this story addling my brain. But when I saw Calgary411’s comment quoting from “the Star,” I automatically went to look up the full article on the Montréal Star’s website. Then, DUH, the Montréal Star went out of business 35 years ago.
I agree that Cruz’ decision to expatriate (from Canada) seems to be quite non-controversial (from a Canadian perspective) and stands in stark contrast to how an American expatriating from the US to become a Canadian would be treated.
I’m curious though–there HAVE been times when Canadians who expatriate have generated considerable controversy in the press and I’m wondering how people in IBS feel about that. I’m referring, in particular, to the whole “Canadians of convenience” thing a few years back. Canadians were evacuated from Lebanon at Canadian government expense but this was controversial as many of these Canadian citizens had few ties to Canada–but still had the option to receive government services when needed.
Is there anyway that Canadian banks can force Canadian citizen to close a Canadian dollar account?