Want to renounce U.S. citizenship in Toronto? Consulate can take you in September, 2015 http://t.co/TfPKRdrFIX pic.twitter.com/gaaZ5QQmMu
— Patrick Cain (@pcaintoronto) November 18, 2014
Thirty-five-year-old Rocky Martin travelled from his home in Sundre, Alta., to Tijuana, Mexico to get rid of his U.S. citizenship.
And he saved himself about $1,800 by doing so.
Martin, born in Canada, inherited U.S. citizenship from his mother, who registered him as an American born abroad when he was a baby.
“I’d heard rumblings that I was supposed to be filing taxes, but I’d never taken action on it. Then about a year and a half ago, I decided I should look into this a little further,” he said.
He didn’t like what he found.
The first quote he got from a Calgary accounting firm was that he’d need to pay $15,000-$20,000 to become U.S. tax-compliant.
“I didn’t sleep well for days,” he said. “That’s all my life savings, all for the purpose of showing them I don’t owe any taxes.”
After shopping around for accountants, the lowest quote he got was for about $4,000.
But as the Internal Revenue Service prepared to crack down on U.S. citizens abroad who weren’t paying taxes, Martin became uneasy.
“I just didn’t feel comfortable with the bully on the block having this big stick, and threatening to beat me the whole time with it.”
He was thinking of renouncing his U.S. citizenship – his ongoing tax preparation bill was going to be $500 a year.
Read the complete article here.
The article includes links to the Alliance For The Defence of Canadian Sovereignty FATCA lawsuit.
Opening line:
“Thirty-five-year-old Rocky Martin travelled from his home in Sundre, Alta., to Tijuana, Mexico to get rid of his U.S. citizenship.”
It ain’t his U.S. citizenship. It’s the U.S. Government’s U.S. citizenship.
The picture reminds me of the famous British (I believe the 1979 election) campaign poster.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labour_Isn't_Working
FATCA isn’t working.
@krackerjack
Fantastic! Thanks so much for coming forward. Your story makes the US look exceptionally awful.
@Cheryl
While it is frustrating, we’ve known all along that this is a marathon not a spring. And the past year has been really full of concrete action which is a positive way to deal with the whole spiel. Patrick Cain has really kept our issues in the forefront and you will not see phrases like “tax cheats” in his articles. At least not pointed at us like so many other journalists.
Brock will be 3 years old on December 10. I am working on a special post as a way of saying “thank you” to above all, Petros! Will be doing a “mini-history” of Brock and how small things led to bigger things, etc….
Thanks Tricia. I am truly impressed and grateful for all the good work you have all done. I think the history of this grass roots organization and the tremendous support you have given to the understanding of the issue and selfless support to so many Canadians who have been set adrift by our government is worthy of more notice. I have tried to get some media types interested in this part of the story without success but will keep trying. It truly is a David Vs. Goliath tale and you all are amazing. As others have said here the cause is just and we will prevail!
@krackerjack I have read your story it is great. I lived in CA in early 60s and when we went to Tijuana it was all shacks over steep hillsides. I went there two years ago and now they have a tourist area and you found a functioning USA embassy away from the hillsides with the shacks. Mexico is great. Apparently here are more ex-pats in Mexico than Canada.
@Cerium398
Blue Cross was one of the health insurance companies that refused to insure me because I have epilepsy. I am Australian now.
@TomAlciere, “It ain’t his U.S. citizenship. It’s the U.S. Government’s U.S. citizenship.”
Brilliant!!
@George, about your comment that likely “some young hot shot straight out of College did an excel spreadsheet and came up with the targeting to generate a few billion in penalties and make a name for him/herself,” you’re not far off. The person who came up with the supposed billions the US is losing to tax “cheats” has a name but he did not want to cop to his sources for a very good reason. Please see my comments under Banc d L Asteroide’s clever posting “The American Public: SOLD on the Auction Block” Mark Nestmann of the Nestmann Group sent out a March 2014 newsletter with details. The implications are mindboggling. This is a money-stripping operation that aims to repatriate USD to the US, as Martin Armstrong has rightly argued.
@Sally1 – Blame the Harvard Law School – that’s where Obama, Levin and Schumer were all graduates. However there may be someone within HLS that may oppose FATCA as well.
@Kermitzii
It was an interesting experience. I did not expect to make the news with this. It was just something that I felt I had to do in order to save some money. I was so upset after the price increase it cause me to get creative to avoid having to pay that ridiculous fee. Absolutely ridiculous fee.
Oh well.
Cheers,
Rocky
@krackerjack121
I always knew your story had legs, congratulations!
http://isaacbrocksociety.ca/2014/08/27/state-department-to-hike-renunciation-fees-to-us2350-says-no-public-benefit-in-respecting-human-right-to-change-nationality/comment-page-12/#comment-3003783
Hmmmm, I wonder if I might have to try and put some more pen to paper on this. Or fingers to keyboard as the case may be.
Krackerjack – glad to see what you’ve done and that your efforts are at least being seen! I posted your story on my facebook page and got some comments – one was talking about Obama and hope and change etc. I also linked to the story that George posted earlier in this thread about the US personal freedom ranking dropping below France. It got me thinking…
Obama has promised hope and change…but he has really delivered rope and chains…
God bless all of you at Brock. I would be still wandering in the dark without you! Let’s keep fighting the fight! ADCS all the way!
Or how about
Obama: hope and change, or rope and chains?
@ BorninCanada
“rope and chains’ — Good one!
Speaking of ropes and chains, does this sound familiar?
“One area of their lives in which slaves were able to exercise some autonomy from their masters was creating a family. Slave owners felt it was to their advantage to allow slaves to marry, because any children from the marriage would add to their wealth. According to law, a child took on the legal status of its mother; a child born to a slave mother would in turn become a slave, even if the father was free.”
http://www.learnnc.org/lp/editions/nchist-antebellum/5602
@krackerjack
Did you go back into the US after renouncing in Mexico? If so, did you experience any difficulties (e.g. asked for a US passport that you no longer had)?
@tdott
Yes, I went back into the USA. I flew back out of San Diego the next day. I had no issues coming back into the states. I traveled on my Canadian passport. I have never had a American Passport so, that was never even a consideration for me. I bought some Vanilla on my way back out. I just told them that I was coming down from Canada to visit my family and wanted to come and see Tijuana. I never mentioned at all that I was also coming down to renounce my citizenship.
Hope that helps.
Cheers,
Rocky