It certainly would be significant to get the attention of someone like Commander Chris Hadfield. I wish you all the best in your attempt, JC. He became a hero to Canadians, someone for Canadian children to look up to. Will he recognize some of our Canadian children who are defined by the U.S. as having U.S. citizenship and all of the same U.S. tax compliance consequences he will have?
@Calgary411
Request for IBS Feature: Contact with Chris Hadfield
By Tuesday 18 Nov: I will attempt contact with Commander Chris Hadfield – very high profile Canadian with US personhood (snowbird rules). Hadfield has flown two space shuttle missions and served as commander of the International Space Station.
He also sang the Canadian anthem during the Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens game on 18 January 2014. He is famous for a rendition of David Bowie’s Space Oddity which he sang on the International Space Station and posted a popular video on YouTube, among many videos.
This may be subject of IBS commentary the message and the medium for such contact. He only has 1+ Million Twitter followers so I thought about contacting him there. Here are three Tweets that I thought of sending starting Tuesday (that might get modified tweaked depending on comments):How best to appeal to him without scaring him away? Do we send him to just the home page of IBS?
@Cmdr_Hadfield Esteemed Canadian/US needed for mission: Ground Control to Uncle Sam. Re: unjust US taxes http://isaacbrocksociety.ca/ #FATCA
@Cmdr_Hadfield Esteemed Canadian/US needed to highlight unjust US tax laws applying to Canadians http://isaacbrocksociety.ca/ #FATCA
@Cmdr_Hadfield Canadians Ginny & Gwen need support to fight American Financial Imperialism/Savings Confiscation http://isaacbrocksociety.ca/ #FATCA
I also found out that he has his own website with potential for attempted e-mail contact: http://chrishadfield.ca/
Will Commander Hadfield have completed all necessary paperwork for his times in the USA http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Hadfield — Form 8840 http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f8840.pdf for his Closer Connection Exception Statement for Aliens? Canadians here hope so!
Chris Hadfield would be a fantastic contact. And since the topic is about a singing astronaut, anybody want to listen to a comet sing? Congrats to the EU Space Agency for landing Philae on Comet 67P today.
https //www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YkL6bMVXjY (replace the colon)
@Calgary411 Absolutely amazing. Thanks for this.
One little change I saw: should be Canadian/US instead of US/Canadian which might not be taken well.
COLONEL Chris Hadfield (not Commander — well he ‘commanded’ the International Space Station Mission 35 crew, and flew on two Space Shuttle missions, but he was actually a Colonel in the RCAF seconded to the Canadian Space Agency until he took military retirement in 2003). I am sure he was not ever considered a ‘snowbird’ but rather a Government of Canada (Canadian Space Agency) employee seconded to NASA and paid by Canada as part of an inter-governmental exchange agreement. I was under similar I-94 status arrangements while serving with NORAD in the USA for three tours of duty, 2-, 3- and 4-years in length. I also attended university in the USA full-time for graduate studies while a paid military officer during the same period as Chris, and we both competed for a slot as an astronaut in 1991-92. As a test pilot, he was eminently more qualified than most applicants, and I was glad he was selected. In short, he may be sympathetic to the cause and effects, but I don’t think he would weigh in as an academic without having any personal impact. IMHO.
@LenCamp I remember reading somewhere that if you work for a non US government then this limits the US claim to US personhood. As you say he was a Canadian government employee. Yet it sounds like he lived in the US for decades. As he is not now a Canadian government employee he better watch out for snowbird rules. He is in Wisconsin in a few days for a book promotion – those days add up.
So do we change to: Canadian/w. US ties : this takes up more space, might just say Canadian/US
From his Twitter profile and handle he is suggesting Commander rather than Colonel:
Chris Hadfield @Cmdr_Hadfield
Canadian Astronaut, back on Earth after living aboard ISS as Commander of Expedition 35. For events and media, please write to requests@chrishadfield.ca.”
Hadfield family members were not Canadian government employees. And with this comment I feel like intruding on privacy. I, we may proceed with assumption that he has interest in success of IBS/ADCS.
May I suggest trying to contact Dave Carroll, @DaveCarroll, https://twitter.com/DaveCarroll CANADIAN Singer-Songwriter | Author of “United Breaks Guitars” which can be found on YouTube. Mr Carroll tours in the US. According to his write up on http://www.speakers.ca/speakers/dave-carroll/ “Within days, the video had millions of views (it has since been seen by 150 million people worldwide), and caused a storm of bad PR for United, causing their stock to plunge and costing shareholders $180 million. In his insightful and entertaining presentations, Dave recounts his story while also delving into the importance of customer service, social media, branding, and the power of one voice to make a difference.” He may possibly have some sympathy for the IBS position given a) that he was born and lived in the Maritimes and b) does performance and speaking tours including in the USA. Interesting http://t.co/MQ4YspxWh2
Perhaps Mr Carroll might be persuaded to sing us a song to aid us.
Follow up post re Mr Carroll:
But, but, what should Hadfield possibly have to complain about? If he just files his tax forms to pay his fair share like he’s supposed to, not only does he get all these great tax breaks by living abroad, he can even get an extension to file his US taxes by virtue of being in space. A whole two extra months! Easily sufficient time to find those 100 extra hours to learn about Forms 1116, 3520, 3520-A, 8621, and 8938.
http://www.space.com/8227-astronauts-space-pay-taxes.html
See how nice the IRS and Congress are? They are not unreasonable! They are not unsympathetic!
There is Randy Bachman and his family. They live in BC. randybachman.com.
Fixed and updated, JC.
@ Ann
I wrote to Randy Bachman ages ago but that was pre-FATCA implementation so maybe it’s worth another try. He did have strong US ties because his wife Denise is/was American. Trouble is they are separated now. (What a shame because I loved listening to Randy’s show when Denise was joining in — that stopped in 2011.) His ties to the USA would probably be just financial now and no doubt his accountant/lawyer take care of things for him
(Hope this isn’t a double post — lost it first time around.)
I should have added I got no response to my e-mail to Randy (Oct. 2013).
As many of you know there have been valiant attempts to reach “famous folk” regarding their US-ness and inviting them to join with us in this fight with their donations and/or their voices. Problem is that these persons have a reputation to protect and they are subject to media scrutiny and ruin much more easily than I am. Many will have professional advisors to have helped them actually be in compliance with US tax an reporting, as they move back and forth across the Canada-US border, unlike many of us who have stayed put, just living our lives as the Canadians we are — the same as any other Canadians in this land. The taint of unjustly being painted with that big brush (by much of the media, US tax authorities, US Congressmen and Senators, our own Canadian Parliament with majority Conservative government and many of the ‘homelanders’ we try to explain our situations to in our comments) used to paint us all “tax evaders” and “traitors” is something ‘the famous folk’ no more want to expose themselves and their families to than would Eduardo Saverin, Tina Turner and other prominent persons. I can understand that completely!
No more than I will subject my son to that or that the rest of us here will subject ourselves and our families to that. That’s why we go by the aliases we do; that’s the reason we cannot come out with our own names. That’s why I say that many are attempting to solve their and their families’ own ‘US citizenship-based taxation problems individually so as to avoid harsh and judgmental media and other scrutiny. That is the reason we cannot obtain the huge number of those persons affected to more effectively fight this monster and bring US citizenship-based taxation to its knees. I believe the US government very well knows all of this and use it as their weapon.
Litigation is so important — and even if people feel they cannot come out into the open about their own ‘US citizenship problem’, more COULD help us reach the tremendous cost for finding justice for all *US Persons* Abroad: http://www.adcs-adsc.ca/.
EmBee,
Nor, my correspondence to him and many others — as well as all the work that others have tried to connect through ADCS-ADSC.
It’s very clear from the training docs:
http://www.bragertaxlaw.com/files/lbI_doc_7.pdf
That the IRS planned to target immigrants and US citizens abroad. They have massive detail on Visa types for example. They cover days in the US in detail so snowbirds are a target as well.
@calgary411
I’m curious why Chris Hadfield is being touted by IBS as a potential hero whereas at about this time last year Chrystia Freeland–who like Hadfield had a successful career abroad before returning to a Canadian position of influence–was greeted with considerable suspicion and wariness on IBS?
Hadfield is “retired” He may “do it” for Canada.
I am trying to think of the steps. One get attention. Two, suggest a course of action. Both steps at once. On Twitter some ask for RT retweets. Or is there some suggested Tweet that would get the message out yet also go along with one’s existing social media image.
In any case, you Tweet these people, then anyone looking for tweets on them would potentially see the message. Of course the more popular a person the more quickly your Tweet gets crowded out by others.
Dash,
To me, it is likely an “apples and oranges” thing, Chrystia Freeland to Chris Hadfield. (BTW, I put this post up for JC, so not really “my” post.)
As I remember, neither Chrystia Freeland nor opponent in their Toronto election, Linda McQuaig, would answer anyone here re questions (at least not mine!) about their positions on FATCA (from the women’s mouths). Both seemed to be big fans of FATCA. One comment I found:
As I remember and my issue with Chrystia Freeland was her evasiveness to answer *the question*. Even Macleans Magazine asked.
P.S. Chris Hadfield IS a hero to Canadians. Most people in Canada outside the Toronto area would likely not have a clue who Chrystia Freeland is.
@Dash1729 Just looking for ideas here. Yes thanks Calgary411 for putting this up. Hadfield has the 1.1 million Twitter followers where Chrystia Freeland does not. Maybe an answer is try and contact all of the above. I tried through Twitter to interest journalists, with most recently a Greg Palkot @PalkotLondon who wrote a few articles on the tearing down of the Berlin Wall. No success so far, yet I am hopeful.
Why not turn Hatfield into the IRS use the reward money to fund the court case and let Hatfield go whining to the Canadian Government.
@oktc. Joke. Haha. I imagine the family is compliant.
I do like the idea of class action suit from nonUS person family members resident in other countries impacted by the US laws (jury trial)- to help fund something.
@All
I don’t want to spoil the party but the issues with Hadfield are not as clear as it might appears. To the extent Hadfield and his spouse lived in the US as official representatives of the Canadian government they are generally exempt from US taxation. Additionally even with the 14th amendment it is generally viewed that children born to non US government officials in the United State on official/diplomatic visits are NOT US Citizens.
To be fair this is a complex issue and I am not directly familiar with Hadfield’s status. I know he was definitely not a Canadian diplomat but I believe he would fall into the murky area of government/military official.
@Dash1729
I for one have never been critical of Chrystia Freeland. I pointed on numerous occasions that her opponent had strongly supported FATCA in the past(although backpedaled upon seeking election to Parliament). Freeland at that point did not indicate a position either way(something that was disappointing to many Brockers although not completely unsurprising at the time) although after being elected voted against Bill C-31.
Thanks for your input to this discussion, Tim. Things, of course, are not black and white so this is good information regarding “diplomatic / government / military” persons VS the rest of us.
@Tim That means they have no fear of the US like many of us. That could be a plus.
My brother was in the RCAF years ago and knew Chris Hadfield personally back then. My brother spent 10 years in the RCAF and was a captain. I’ll ask him if he is still in contact with Chris.