In the eyes of the Swiss, the reputation of the United States of America has for various reasons been in sharp decline, and America has been presenting itself to Switzerland less and less as an old friend, and more and more as an enemy. I want to remind our friends in Switzerland, as well as every American in Switzerland, that the US is a friend of Switzerland, and I want to tell you what the Swiss as friends must do.
The US and Switzerland are two of the worlds oldest democracies, and both share the founding principles of freedom and independence. At the time of the American revolution, Switzerland was surrounded by tyrannical monarchies, and its fierce independence and stubborn refusal to submit to these despots earned it the title of ‘Sister Republic’ to the United States of America.
How things can change. In 2010, the US Congress with FATCA decreed that every bank in the world must report to the IRS, or face severe consequences. This is nothing less than an act of war on the sovereignty of every nation. Switzerland must under no circumstances submit to these threats, and we must as friends tell America that they are out of line. Brute force has replaced enlightened thinking, and the language of threats and intimidation have become the norm of US foreign policy.
Swiss politicians talk of appeasing the Americans to preserve our friendship. Real friends however don’t allow themselves to be bullied or intimidated by their friends. America needs to be brought back to its senses, so that Switzerland and America can sort out their differences as equals. Switzerland must not allow itself to be bullied and treated as a vassal state.
This is why I wish to encourage every person in Switzerland who values real friendship between the US and Switzerland to sign the referendum to repeal FATCA in Switzerland.
The Swiss government recently agreed to enforce FATCA on every Swiss bank. They must report on accounts defined as belonging to ‘US persons’. The US government is however the only one who can decide who a ‘US person’ is, and Switzerland has already agreed to accept all future modifications to FATCA.
This is pure bullying against Switzerland, and were any other country to attempt similar legislation aimed at the US, it would be considered an act of war. The criminal actions of a few Swiss bankers are leading to the subjugation of the entire Swiss banking sector (not to mention other sections of the economy), and Swiss politicians have accepted this with hardly a word of protest.
The referendum to stop FATCA has been launched, and a core group of volunteers is fighting tooth and nail to get the necessary 50,000 signatures before the deadline. It’s a difficult struggle though.
The banks and the large parties are too afraid of the US to mount any resistance, and the average Swiss voter doesn’t yet see how FATCA will affect them personally. By the time they do, it will be too late.
This referendum is a small grass roots movement that needs your help.
Here’s what you can do:
– Go to www.stop-fatca.ch, download the referendum sheet (http://www.lldc.ch/wa_files/referendum_fatca.pdf), and get as many signatures as possible. If you can’t sign yourself (you must be Swiss to sign), find a friend who is willing to sign.
Then send the sheet to:
FATCA
Le Lobby des Citoyens
Rue du Conseil-Général 20
1205 Genève
Please try to send your letters before 16 December. The holiday season means that most communes will be closed, and it will be very difficult getting the signatures validated in time for the 16 January deadline. Every signature counts though, so keep them coming until the very end.
If every American in Switzerland could just get one or two signatures, we’d easily have enough signatures, and we would be making a giant leap towards killing FATCA for good.
– We need every volunteer who is willing to help us. We are working hard and setting up stands to inform people and to collect signatures. But we need help. If you have the time, and are willing to stand outside in the ever colder weather, we’d love to have your support. Send an email to: info@lldc.ch or call 022 807 08 32 to find out more.
– Contact your local representatives and political leaders and ask what they are doing about FATCA. The large Swiss parties have sold out the country to protect the interests of the large banks. They are hoping this law will pass unnoticed. We need to make some noise and stir things up.
FATCA is a steamroller coming down on the world economy, and Americans abroad are going to be this law’s first victims. We can choose to fight and stop FATCA in its tracks, and if we work together we will succeed.
Spread the word to as many people as possible, and good luck!
Richard
@AJ
Very nicely written. I wonder what Canada would do if a Swiss referendum took place and FATCA was defeated. It seems a lot depends upon your country and mine. Hopefully you will have enough signatures by Jan 16 and Canada will not have signed. Best of luck, really rooting for you! Go Swissies!!!
@AJ
I wish you so much luck in getting all those signatures. I wish we could have a referendum in Canada like that.. Instead we have secrecy.
I especially liked what you wrote:
“How things can change. In 2010, the US Congress with FATCA decreed that every bank in the world must report to the IRS, or face severe consequences. This is nothing less than an act of war on the sovereignty of every nation. Switzerland must under no circumstances submit to these threats, and we must as friends tell America that they are out of line. Brute force has replaced enlightened thinking, and the language of threats and intimidation have become the norm of US foreign policy.”
@AJ Good luck, and God Speed in getting this done! Excellent post, and I hope your petition and eventual referendum succeed. It will likely be an uphill battle among most Swiss, as it seems to be among most Canadians, who aren’t so-called US persons. It is too easy for a cozy, comfy citizen to think, “what does it matter to me, I’m not going to be affected by this,” but in fact any assault on any nation’s sovereignty, such as what the US is doing to every country on the planet (or trying to), is the thin edge of a wedge that needs to be blocked. If the former Soviet Union had done something comparable, the “free world” would have been up in arms and manning the barricades. Yet the US proclaims something as invasive and imperialist as FATCA, and the so-called “free world” rolls over and agrees to be the US’ doormat.
At least you have a constitution in Switzerland that gives you the chance to overturn anything your politicians do, if you can get enough signatures and then votes. With our so-called Harper so-called-majority government, we in Canada won’t have that option until the 2015 election. That may be too late, and I am skeptical of the attention span and memory of the average voter, especially for things that don’t seem to affect them personally and directly.
Best wishes. Maybe as a sideline to your signature collecting, in some of the ski areas you might be able to do a little enlightenment and lobbying among US homelander ski tourists, most of whom probably have absolutely no idea of what their government is doing.
@AJ
Do your petition gatherers have a snazzy hand-out like this one? If you don’t, maybe you could script one for Switzerland and ask our graphic artist at Brock to create one for you?
http://isaacbrocksociety.ca/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/FATCA-Fact-Sheet-2013.11.21.pdf
Go Swiss.
Coming from California which looked to the Swiss when that referendum system was put in place, I know its power. I wish you success and hope and pray it gets the necessary votes.
This is an important post AJ. Perhaps one of our admin people can ‘sticky’ it so it stays at the top.
I am praying that our Swiss friends get the 50,000 signatures they need!
I plan to collect some signatures as well.
The German version of the peition is:
http://www.stop-fatca.ch/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/fatca_referendumbogen.pdf
As I understand it is important to mention:
– The Stop Fatca committe will validate the signatures
– You can only use 1 form per Gemeinde/Commune
As my understanding all I have to do is collect the signatures and send it off to the committee. Anyone please advise if this is not correct as this is the first time I get involved in a referendum.
Worth noting…
At the same time that FATCA wil require the Treasury to manage and enforce totally new data input from hundreds of countries and hundreds of thousands of financial institutions and millions of so-called “US persons” (many of whom are also long-term citizens of other countries), it must also take on the enforcement of Obamacare, which is being called is “… its largest expansion of responsibilities in recent history…”
Recently in the Washington Post:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/for-beleaguered-irs-a-crucial-test-still-awaits-after-troubled-rollout-of-health-care-law/2013/11/24/1cb80142-5161-11e3-a7f0-b790929232e1_story.html?hpid=z4
“For beleaguered IRS, a crucial test still awaits after troubled rollout of health-care law”
“Whether the new law can be enforced will be up to the Internal Revenue Service, an already beleaguered agency charged under the act with carrying out nearly four dozen new tasks in what represents the biggest increase in its responsibilities in decades. None is more crucial than enforcing the requirement that all citizens secure health insurance or pay a penalty.
While failures in launching the federal insurance Web site and online exchanges have thrust the Department of Health and Human Services to the center of public attention, the IRS has a huge role in carrying out the law, including helping to distribute trillions of dollars in insurance subsidies and penalizing people who do not comply.
Enforcing compliance with the law is just part of what one Treasury Department official calls ‘the largest expansion of IRS responsibilities in recent history.’ And the increased workload comes as the IRS is suffering from high turnover of senior managers, years of budget cuts and congressional inquiries into the alleged politicization of the agency.”
– Washington Post, Nov 24, 2013
Wondering…you are correct but this is the era of Big Data and eventually computers will just handle the coordination and cross check taxpayer and bank info and also connect the dots to particular taxpayer US Persons.
@Southerner
“….. – You can only use 1 form per Gemeinde/Commune”
I think that each sheet can only have signatures from the same Gemeinde, but you can have as many sheets as you like per Gemeinde.
I hope I got that right. 🙂
Are you planning on actively collecting signatures?
I haven’t been very active and only have 3 signatures. I’m tied up with the family and work. Generally, the people around here either don’t know about FATCA or don’t care. It has nothing to do with them, they say. There has been some growing interest in German Switzerland on facebook, though, generally with the SVP.
@Tell – I hope to have around a 100 signatures but hope others will take the initiative otherwise we’ll never reach the 50’000 minimum. I’ve been keeping separate forms per Gemeinde but plan to send them all together to the Committee in Lausanne.
@Swisspinoy – when I talk to people about it, the initial reaction is they think it only affects Americans, but then I explain about how it is a precedent-setting assault on Swiss sovereignty. I cite as an example how any unilateral changes from the US side are automatically taken over into Swiss law.
@Swisspinoy – I have to add that most of the Swiss from whom I’ve requested a signature seem really happy to be asked to engage in the political process. I really can recommend that you ask all your Swiss friends and acquaintances. The reaction is really suprising in a positive way, something that I didn’t expect before asking.
@ Southerner
Actually, please send them here:
FATCA
Le Lobby des Citoyens
Rue du Conseil-Général 20
1205 Genève
The Lausanne address is for after they’ve been validated, I believe. They’ll still probably find their way to the right place, but easier if you send it to Geneva.
If you have 100 signatures, that’s fantastic!
For the Brockers in Switzerland:
If you have the energy, try contacting the local commune (or larger nearby town) and get permission to have a stand at the local market. Let me or the Lobby des Citoyens know, and we’ll try to provide you with volunteers and an A-frame with a STOP FATCA poster. We can also try to get local media involved.
I posted this earlier on another thread …. I think that it is particularly relevant to the Swiss referendum however and urge people to read it and to draw the similarity in circumstances.
The text in this document – a draft for the King’s Speach at the outbreak of World War II – is so relevant today:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2512662/Its-long-winded-What-George-VIs-adviser-thought-early-draft-Kings-Speech.html
@AJ
Is it possible to find out how many signatures have been collected to date?
I’ll try my best to get at least 1 form filled out and sent in on time, but if worse comes to worst then it’ll be just my own John Hancock! 🙂
I’m not sure of the exact number, but I can tell you we still have a lot of work to do. I can also tell you that without the effort of everyone we won’t succeed. Almost none of the big parties are helping, and we need more boots on the ground getting signatures and getting attention. The next three weeks are critical. Send in your signature, and ask your friends and neighbours to sign. Set up your own stand, or try to convince local politicians to take action.
My plea to the Swiss Brockers:
This is our fight. Those in Switzerland that haven’t (yet) been directly affected are apathetic to our cause and don’t see how serious the problem is. The big parties aren’t going to fight this battle for us, and the outcome of this referendum depends on us.
We all know somebody should do something about this. Once we realise that we are that somebody, we can move the earth.
Is ACA willing to help in that effort and forward the letters to all their American members in Switzerland?
Have they been contacted?
They won’t help. Their role is to represent us in America. Getting involved in Swiss politics would undermine their position in Washington.
Their role is to represent Americans leaving abroad. They have been pretty openly against FATCA.
All we’re asking them would be to relay that info to some of the people in their database.
@ White Kat, Good point! I put it at the top of the sidebar under “Anti FATCA Petitions! Sign Now!” The box used to be just for the Parliament petition, but now we’ve got three going 🙂
An interview of Marc Studer on STOP-FATCA:
http://www.toutimmo.ch/article/2522
@Chris…
To paraphrase something told me by an ACA director…
It is beyond the scope of American Citizens Abroad. ACA doesn’t get involved with approaching any foreign government, nor can we suggest to our membership that they do so. That is beyond our mandate (which is to represent Americans abroad in working for change within the USG). Furthermore if we, as ACA, adopted this, it would be tromping in the domain of the Foreign Service. Out of our league.
They are working for change from within, and don’t want to be seen as working against U.S. interests with another government. But, it is a long strategy, that has limited success in 30 years, but they have gotten serious attention to the RBT. The jury is out whether or not some measure of it survives the “Max and Dave” show in the Senate and the House with their tax reform efforts.
On the 5th to 8th of December, my small town of 6000 people will be packed with over 100’000 people for the Christmas market. That could be a good method of collecting signatures:
http://www.weihnachtsmarkt.ch/
here is the google translate of the interview link posted above…
AN INTERVIEW WITH MARC STUDER, HEAD OF CITIZENS LOBBY
FATCA: the world is watching with hope the Swiss referendum
Lobby with its citizens, Marc Studer was involved from June to efforts to launch a referendum against FATCA, which was finally done in October, under the direction of the League Vaud. As an authorized lobbyist in Parliament, Marc Studer is a privileged observer of what is happening behind the scene: terrified bankers (again) by retroactive agreements with the United States.
– What is your position on FATCA agreement?
– With the Lobby citizens, we have identified four possible attitudes: capitulate, do not enter in, request a conditional reciprocity – knowing that the Americans do not apply, or and this is the position that we have proposed to the National Council, postpone the debate until the view more clearly. The agreements negotiated by the Treasury Department with certain foreign states are not currently applicable by U.S. banks.
– However, Parliament why has chosen the path of surrender ?…
– It has capitulated in February 2009, and the Swiss people have started to ras-le-bol of the supremacy of the United States. The news was grafted onto this feeling still widespread: with the NSA spying methods, people begin to see how Washington is.
– FATCA is not it, as we are serine in the Bernese lobbies and large parties, a “necessary evil” to “save the Swiss financial center”?
– Comparing recent developments shares market for cross-border management, Switzerland is losing ground, while the British won 8% and the Chinese, Hong Kong, 6%. The next figures will be even more unfavorable for Switzerland already fallen below 20% after being credited with 27%. The Swiss financial center is endangered and FATCA will only accelerate this trend.
– However, the big banks argue for surrender ?…
– UBS and Credit Suisse are 52.45% of assets under management. Fourteen other banks hold 28.59%. There are still 42 establishments that 13.73% of funds under management, while 89 banks, representing 65.5% of the total share only 5.23% of assets. The latter, which have between 1 and 10 billion under management, will disappear, and with them, many trustees, managers and other financial intermediaries. Even the big banks are not spared: Credit Suisse has given customers 50 nationalities each representing less than 200 million.
– The announced Aug. 29 by the U.S. Department of Justice and Federal Councillor Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf PBD (see page 8) U.S. program is this not an opportunity for banks?
– They will pay their fines that result loss. This is a foretaste of what will happen with FATCA. With the latter, which will be costly to banks, it will demonstrate that they have nothing to be ashamed of, because even banks with no U.S. customers will be subject to FATCA. Controls will be extremely expensive, especially as the burden of proof is reversed here. The United States based on the idea that everyone is guilty of this is already the case with the program from the Department of Justice (DoJ) where all banks are preparing to announce in category 2, those something wrong, because it is easier to negotiate an arrangement that demonstrate his innocence.
Under these conditions, one wonders why banks argued for FATCA ?…
– They did so because they expect mercy from the DoJ in the program from August 29. What terrifies the banks, especially private banks because of their legal structure makes them indefinitely (or largely for those who have changed their legal status) responsible for the affairs of their bank is the retroactive effect of U.S. laws . Banks may be subject to fines for offenses dating back several years. They know, and try to coax Americans. Banks accept everything, so do not be pursued for the past. In this perspective, they obviously defend FATCA, without arguments “reason” and pressure on parliamentarians.
– Parliamentarians who also give in, act out of fear ?…
– Yes, but when asked about it, they say they have information that they can not give: it would be particularly threatened major Swiss companies retaliation. Yet 90% of Swiss companies – which are SMEs – are not affected. Accept FATCA is even more dangerous than that: it is applied in our law of a foreign country. Tomorrow, it may be the laws of the Chinese or any other State with little muscle. Submit!
– Elsewhere, people do not seem to care about FATCA?
– Think again. In the United States, four senators and a congressman opposed for several months this law, remember not approved by Congress. Complaints have been filed against the IRS (the IRS) and the Treasury by banks in Florida and Texas. In Canada, where 12% of the population is directly affected by FATCA, the opposition grows. An MEP from the Netherlands has requested information from the European Commission, but to get them, it took the ombudsman who has given until 30 November to the EU executive to explain. Lobby citizens is in contact with the international anti-FATCA, which looks at the Swiss referendum with hope.
Interview by Mohammad Farrokh