February 3, 2014 UPDATE: Urgent:
Public submissions can be made from anywhere in the world. All that is required is a name, email address and phone number. But you will have to be quick as the link will be closed at midnight on Wed 5th Feb New Zealand time. (That is actually 3 AM the morning of Feb 5th on the West Coast of America.)
I hope you will find time to express your opinion to them. It is very much appreciated. The link is here:
http://www.parliament.nz/en-nz/pb/sc/make-submission/50SCFE_SCF_00DBHOH_BILL12926_1/taxation-annual-rates-employee-allowances-and-remedial (scroll down to “make an online submission”)
Plainly put, FATCA is more Stealth in New Zealand than in America.
Osgood has provided us good informational analysis of the pending Legislation for New Zealand to capitulate without a fight to the FATCA IGA.
This inspired a good article at The New American but nothing in New Zealand media. The last article I have seen is this at Interest.co.nz from November.
The Ministery of Revenue has NO IDEA OF THE COST of what they are doing, or HOW MANY U.S. PERSONs in New Zealand! Nor, do they or the Ministry of Justice seem to care. All they care about is finding a way legislatively to comply. Banks want their bailout, and the government is determined to give it to them, it would seem. Let ALL Kiwi bank customers pay the cost.
Osgood has recently sent an email plea for submissions from over seas, as when it comes to media coverage in New Zealand, FATCA is operating like a Secret CIA covert operation that the citizenry is unaware of.
See below for his request for help. Submissions are easy to do! They are due by February 4th, USA time.
Osgood writes:
Just a quick catch up with regard to the NZ submission. The deadline for submissions is now 10 9 1 day away. I had a look at the submission process and it is very straightforward. All you need to provide to make a submission is your name, a phone number and an email address. You do not even need to make up an attachment. If the submission is short (4000 chars or less) it can simply be typed (or cut and paste) into the text box provided.
Submissions can come from anywhere in the world. The link is here and at the bottom of this email.
I have made some attempts to raise visibility of this on Brock, but I fear that it is being missed by the majority and in any case, most peoples attention is focused on Canada right now (understandably). However, I think it would be of great benefit if as many people as possible can put in some form of submission opposing New Zealand signing an IGA for FATCA. The more that come from outside New Zealand, the better IMHO.
The New Zealand government has gone to great lengths to cover this legislation up as much as possible. They are trying to hide it from the parliament, and the New Zealand public. If they receive submissions from overseas this will at least alert them to the fact that their actions have been noticed elsewhere (perhaps more than in this country!). Also, whether they like it or not all submissions received must be made public on the website, and they must be addressed in the Select Committee report to parliament (due in June). It carrys a lot more power than letters to Ministers which can effectively be ignored (as I well know).
They are relying on the fact that people are unaware or too busy to make a submission. This is an opportunity not to be missed!
Many people that make detailed comments on Brock could simply modify them slightly and cut and paste them into the NZ submission form. It really is not difficult. The detailed analysis that was posted on Brock was a great help, but may put a lot of people off due to its detail. It is not necessary to go into that detail.
New Zealand needs to be made aware that this is a global issue. Other nations, such as Canada are starting to stand up to the bully and need support from countries like New Zealand. Anyone that can report the shock, anxiety and horror at finding out about this would also make a good submission.
The other thing I thought of was that maybe a submission could also be made on behalf of “Isaac Brock Society”, but that may be too much at this stage.
Anyway, I would appreciate it if you wouldn’t mind forwarding this on to your network, particularly to those that you think would be willing to take an hour or so to make a submission. I am thinking the regular bloggers and also perhaps Jim (Jatras), and anyone else you think would be a candidate
The summary of the situation that I posted on Brock is below:
1. The NZ cabinet has already agreed to “negotiate” a Model 1 IGA with the US. This has not been subject to consultation or parliamentary process
2. NZ has extensive Privacy and Human Rights laws that need to be broken for our FIs to adhere to FATCA
3. The NZ gov has introduced a bill to force NZ FIs to comply with the (as yet unsigned) IGA. It does by defining the IGA as a Dual Tax Treaty which overrides domestic Privacy laws. It is not clear how this gets around the Human Rights issues.
4. The FATCA section (called Foreign account information-sharing agreements) is buried in the bill which contains much unrelated legislation.
5. The bill has been referred to Select Committee and is open for public submissions.
The link for submissions is here: http://www.parliament.nz/en-nz/pb/sc/make-submission/50SCFE_SCF_00DBHOH_BILL12926_1/taxation-annual-rates-employee-allowances-and-remedial
Scroll down to bottom and click the box “Make an online submission”. There is help available here if required.
Important: Submissions are due no later than Feb 5th, but due to time zones this will be February 4th in most places in the world.
Thanks a lot.
My Note: Even if you are not so inclined to make a submission on another Countries legislation, maybe you know a Kiwi somewhere who will. We see very few on Isaac Brock, so uncertain how to reach them. Please forward this onward to those who might be impacted and be so inclined.
Please note this:
The Ministry of Justice has determined via its recent Web announcement, the following:
We have concluded that the Bill appears to be consistent with the rights and freedoms affirmed in the Bill of Rights Act.
A letter to the Attorney General challenging that decision, and asking them to provide analysis has resulted in this simple dismissive statement:
I have nothing further to add to the consistency of the bill to the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act.
@Blaze. NZ has a Bill of Rights similar to the Canadian Charter. This has been simply ignored and overridden. The Ministry of Justice concluded the legislation was “consistent” with the Bill of Rights. What a crock! So, a court challenge could occur. However, due to the relative small number of USP in New Zealand and lack of media interest I don’t see it getting off the ground. I will send my $$$ to your Canadian challenge which has a far better chance of success than anything here. If Canada wins, the entire world will win.
The government clearly states that it made a choice between its citizens and it’s national interest. Seems like a dangerous admission to make.
OR,
We, the Government of New Zealand, believe though that the US Taxpayers habitually resident in New Zealand are expendable collateral damage for the better good of the country. They shall not have the same rights of any other person in New Zealand, no matter their national origin or the national origin of their parents. We have spoken. The people don’t count.
They like those CANADIANS now referred to by the Canadian government as “Americans who happen to live in Canada” and “US citizens resident in Canada” and “US taxpayers resident in Canada”, wiping from the slate any mention of the fact that we are FIRST – CANADIANS, some born and raised here and never lived in the US at all, some born in the U.S. to Canadian parents and who returned when they were children, some naturalized Canadian citizens, persons who CHOSE to be Canadians — not born into our citizenship. It is, quite frankly, an insult as we are Canadians, Canadian taxpayers from our Canadian-earned income that goes to the maintenance of this country. We volunteer our time and money in Canadian communities as we are part of the fabric of Canada.
How can our Canadian rights be so discarded?
What other national origin group of Canadians will next have their rights removed by the precedent being set by implementing U.S. FATCA law into this FORMERLY SOVEREIGN COUNTRY by implementation of the intergovernmental agreement negotiated and signed behind closed doors and now slipped into Bill C31 budget implementation, another omnibus bill?
Why, oh why, is foreign law becoming the law of Canada not worthy of its own debate and bill in Parliament?
Is Canada no longer a democracy if it has ever been?
Is the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms a worthless rag that we have been lulled into believing protects ALL Canadians?
@Osgood, ” I will send my $$$ to your Canadian challenge which has a far better chance of success than anything here. If Canada wins, the entire world will win.”
Multiple worldwide court battles might have lost. I think our energy concentrated on Canada will yield the same result with worldwide implications.
@Calgaray “They like those CANADIANS now referred to by the Canadian government as “Americans who happen to live in Canada” and “US citizens resident in Canada” and “US taxpayers resident in Canada”,
We now know that Canadian Citizens with a CLN from the USA will still face the very likely possibility that there info will be handed over if they had a US Place of Birth.
What do we call those Canadians?
George, for one “ME”. For another, BETRAYED.
@calgary411 You summarised it nicely. The IRD report section on Privacy submissions confirms that the privacy of individuals is secondary to any other consideration.
Imagine if this was being done by Russia or China — that anyone of Russian or Chinese origin living in a country, or who had ever spent any period of time in Russia or China, was to be subject to special laws handing over information about their private finances to these governments. There would be a universal outcry and a refusal to comply. What makes the USA any different? Is there one set of laws for them and another for the rest of the world? It is time for the tyranny of the world’s largest market to end. Organize a travel boycott of the USA would be a start. And sack any government that cooperates with this global tyranny.