UPDATE January 24, 2015: THIRD OF FIVE LEGAL BILLS PAID
[We now have a NEW POST taking us up to May 1, 2015. This post will be retired from service.]
On August 11, 2014, Constitutional Litigator Joseph Arvay filed a FATCA IGA lawsuit in Canada Federal Court on behalf of Plaintiffs Ginny and Gwen, the Alliance for the Defence of Canadian Sovereignty (en français), and all peoples worldwide. Read Alliance’s Claims and comment on our Alliance blog.
Chers amis et donateurs,
Ensemble, nous avons atteint notre but : ramasser les fonds nécessaires pour payer la troisième des cinq factures légales de notre poursuite judiciaire.
Ramasser 300 000 $ provenant de petits dons est un exploit tout à fait extraordinaire et nous invitons notre gouvernement canadien, ainsi que tous les autres gouvernements qui ont piétiné les droits de leurs citoyens, à en prendre bonne note.
Chaque jour, nous nous rapprochons de notre but. Déjà, nous avons ramassé plus de la moitié des fonds nécessaires pour payer les frais légaux de notre poursuite contre le gouvernement canadien et l’entente FATCA.
Si nous avons parcouru un si grand bout de chemin, c’est grâce à nos deux courageuses plaignantes, Ginny et Gwen, à nos donateurs provenant du Canada et de partout dans le monde, ainsi qu’aux administrateurs des sites Internet Isaac Brock Society et Maple Sandbox. Ils permettent tous à nos voix d’être entendues.
Merci !
L’équipe de l’ADSC
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Dear Friends and Supporters,
Together we have reached our goal of paying off the third of five retainer fees for our Canadian FATCA IGA lawsuit.
Raising $300,000 from small donations is a pretty amazing achievement and we ask the Government of Canada, and those other governments who have also tossed away rights of their citizens, to take notice.
It’s still a marathon, but we are more than half way to pay off the Federal Court legal costs.
We have come so far because of our brave Plaintiffs, Ginny and Gwen, our Canadian and International donor-supporters, and the administrators of the Isaac Brock and Maple Sandbox websites who make it possible for our voices to be heard.
Thank you all,
—The ADCS-ADSC team
United States Senator Chuck Schumer (who does not like us, and who we really do not like) recently admitted that U.S. legislation should be determined by the majority voters who re-elect the politicians.
His example of failed legislation is Obamacare, which “dislocates” the majority middle class who vote, on behalf of poor uninsured people who don’t vote, and for this reason provides no help in re-election of Schumer or of his party.
Why then would a U.S. political party ever wish to help the thousands (millions?) of “accidental” Americans living abroad?
These unfortunate people don’t even consider themselves to be Americans, and no way will they ever vote in a U.S. election.
Donate to http://www.adcs-adsc.ca
@Stephen Kish – At 17% GDP the US health care system is unsustainable. At the moment I’m in Boston and it’s outstanding how many people dressed in scrubs on the T. Now most EU countries spend only about 12% – 13% such as France and Germany.
Four percent may not sound like a lot, however that’s $680B+ which would wipe out the Federal deficit making ‘looking between the cushions for loose change’ measures such as FATCA unnecessary.
If the Republicans attempt to dismantle Obamacare then they’re solve the problem using rationing / no access / higher costs, if the Democrats try to solve the problem they’ll cut services and create pseudo waiting lists because they’re trying to spread medical care evenly across the population.
Nobody in the Federal Government wants to tell a doctor or nurse your real wages need to be cut when a doctor will cry foul because they have $175,000 of student loans to pay back. Also once the loans are paid back, the doctor still wants his big house in some affluent town with $1.5M+ price tags for houses.
For education, they’ll always be someone in the market to pay for Harvard or MIT, however, all these smaller universities dotted around Boston charging upwards to $50,000 like Harvard could struggle.
Either way the American public is going to have to get used to a health care system that’s going to change.
I’m planning to go back overseas again soon. At least they’ve sorted the cost side of the equation somewhat so any changes won’t be as drastic in Germany for example.
For Boston with an economy 50% based on health care and education these future federal cuts will be felt. The other drivers of the Boston economy IT and Finance will probably continue to prosper (finance because of regulation costs imposed on businesses by Dodd-Frank, Sabine-Oxley, FATCA and other laws – again a federal government indirect subsidiary).
With the BRICs having set up their versions of the IMF and Development banks, when the US dollar loses sole reserve currency status then the game is up for the Fed’s printing presses. Once economists said in 2009 the BRICs would set up their own institutions and he said he was greeted with ‘they can’t do it.’. Well here we now in 2014 and they’ve done that very thing. Five years wasn’t long.
I reckon in 10 years or less the US dollar won’t be the sole reserve currency. Perhaps they’ll be banks that only deal in Chinese Yuan solely so FATCA can be bypassed.
Hey, out there, can anyone spare the $31 needed to bring the amount down to a flat $70,000 more needed in 56 days? (I hate odd numbers…….)
Or maybe $131? Or $331? Or $531?
I continue to send out all my emails with the note below my signature saying:
In this season of heartfelt giving, please consider making a small (or not so small) contribution towards the repair of Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms……..
(see the whole text at my Nov 22 comment on this topic: http://isaacbrocksociety.ca/2014/10/22/97975-more-needed-to-make-the-february-1-2015-payment-for-canadian-fatca-iga-lawsuit-il-nous-reste-97-975-a-ramasser-pour-notre-poursuite-judiciaire/comment-page-20/#comment-4379046)
And, I’m thinking of printing up some 1/4 sheet cards with a holidayish border and this same text to hand out to all the folks I happen to meet during the next few weeks (the shop clerks, the dentists’ receptionist, the person at the grocery store giving out samples or trying to get a donation for another worthy cause, the local librarian, the tour guide at the museum, the local bank teller who knows nothing about FATCA – – think creatively, who knows whether they are or know someone who is in need of knowing about this – – they may be interested in supporting our Charter of Rights and Freedoms for whatever reason……… and not know that it has been imperiled. [such cards can be given out in January too).
@ LM
I love your outreach project. Unfortunately I live in a small town and now I feel I must clam up completely. Some people know but I’ll have to trust them to either keep it to themselves or hope they forget. I knew one neighbour had forgotten when I told her my husband was no longer American and she said, “Why would he want to give up his US citizenship?”. I had once had a 2 hour conversation with her about our whole USness mess. Anyway I just raised my eyebrows a bit and changed the subject. In my head I was doing a fist pump that she no longer remembered. I’ve seriously thought about moving but to leave another built-it-ourselves house behind would be heartbreaking. I keep to myself now but I’m grateful that I at least have a virtual community to participate in at Brock and some constructive action to take by donating to ADCS. BTW, I too hope that someone with paypal will take care of that hanging $31 chad so the fund enters the 60’s zone soon.
@ EmBee – Part of the reason I feel OK about spreading the word is that both hubby and I have fully renounced and we have our CLN (I still have to do my last IRS filing next April). Also, while my community is a smallish suburb of a major city, I’m not that socially engaged with lots of clubs or sports/bridge/book/walking groups here where someone definitely would get bored with my FATCA chatter. Further, I’m retired so I have a bit of time to do these “errands” and chat-ups. There’s also the bit about I really don’t care if they think I’m a kook, as they probably won’t remember me UNLESS THIS INFORMATION IS RELEVANT to them (and if they do remember me as weird, I’m not going to be seeing them socially or often).
So I go to the dentist and the grocery store and the library and the used book shop and chat them up a bit initially with a smile and then, while handing them a “flier”, let them know that I am giving this information to everyone I meet in hopes of spreading the word. Most people seem interested (I actually met the great-great-great-great-grand-niece of Isaac Brock at the local art gallery and we had a great conversation!) and some mention that they have friends they will share this with.
Thus, if you (or others) go over to another town (or send an email to a charity in another city that you plan to donate to or some other office you may not connect with often) or there is a table set up at your local Costco where they are giving out samples, let yourself go and, with a lilting smile, hand the person a sheet/flier and say “I’m going to give you something – – I know it’s unusual but I give this out to everyone.” You may be surprised at the conversation……… After all, we Brockers have got to find ways of having fun, dont we?
@ EmBee – I guess, too, I am slightly perverse and enjoy seeing others have a brief OMG moment……..
But again, we Brockers have to have SOME fun with this……. Why should we carry/bear/contain all the weight of this awful nightmare??? Let’s get others involved!
@LM
I just made a modest donation, but the amounts available to be donated through Pay Pal did not give me an option to deal with the $31.
Yay … we’re in the 60’s zone!
Thank you to those who can do donations so quickly though the ether. Mine is slogging its way through the snail mail system. It will get there sometime next week.
@ LM
I really admire your courage to engage others.
The trouble with me is that I hurt when someone arrives at OMG because I know what lies ahead for them. In order not to hurt, I avoid. I’m a Cowardly Lion who never reached Oz to pick up some courage. Before the SHTF with Bill C-31 I put an ad in our local newspaper, left warnings on our community bulletin boards (other nearby towns too) and dropped in at the distant office of our MP for a chat with one of his staff members. Notice the pattern? I didn’t have to see any OMG moments.
@ ProudAussie – we are proud of you all the same!
A dozen cheers to you and everyone else who has, today, helped to move this fund raiser down to the next $10,000
@EmBee – I too have great empathy for those I meet who have no clue about FATCA but are “US Persons” (so will be faced with this nightmare). This empathy is, I feel, one of the bases for my continuing efforts to get out and inform others. Better that they be faced with this having at least a beginning connection to a supportive community (IBS and ADCS are listed on my flier and the email footer) where they can learn about this situation and their rights than to find out alone, in their perceived isolation, when they get a FATCA letter from the bank or investment firm
Most of those I meet are not “US Persons,” but still and all these citizens too need to know about the now-legalized 2nd class status and drag-net invasion of privacy that is now going on with our government’s full approval. Often the people I meet have neighbors or co-workers or friends that they know who are “US Persons” whom, they promise, they will be sharing my flier with. As I said, the flier has info on IBS and ADCS. And – – very occasionally – – I will give the person I meet my email address for them to share with this friend/co-worker if they have further questions. Bit by bit getting the word out (hubby has jokingly dubbed me “Jane Appleseed”); the OMG moment is (at least somewhat) softened if one knows they are not alone. But know about it they must – – or the horror when FATCA is discovered will be all the worse…….
@ Stephen Kish
I’m glad my “budget-buster” arrived on a good day. Let’s hope there will be many more good days before that next deadline arrives.
@ LM
You are a very inspiring “Jane Appleseed”.
Will probably reach 14.75 Million gross page views later today. Presently 14.139 Million on this site + 0.6 Million on the old site. The word continues to spread. I see Twitter skirmishes … which are observed by others and help to spread the word.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ISAAC BROCK SOCIETY!!!
I especially thank you for the offshoot of persons who came together to form Alliance for the Defence of Canadian Sovereignty to realize what we knew was absolutely necessary — litigation against the Canadian Conservative government voting in lockstep to legislate the implementation of the US FATCA IGA. By doing so, they said that one million Canadians, their spouses, their children, their business partners and anyone else tainted by them are now second-class to any other by virtue of NATIONAL ORIGIN DISCRIMINATION of the rights afforded to all other Canadians, no matter their national origin or the national origin of their parents / grandparents. We are NOT *US citizens who happen to reside in Canada*. We are Canadians and demand the same rights as anyone else in this country.
To properly celebrate the Happy Birthday of Isaac Brock Society, we must make sure we do not fail in raising the needed funds to make this critical litigation happen. Please, please watch and listen once again to your Conservative government representatives and those who testified at Standing Committee on Finance Meetings re FATCA.
Please make this litigation reality — all of you who read here by donating and getting others to pitch in at http://www.adcs-adsc.ca/. If this litigation is not accomplished; if we do not raise the necessary funds, our actions here at Isaac Brock and to our government representatives are all for naught. I thank those contributing from outside of Canada as well and encourage you to do the same in the countries in which you and your *US Person* families live. Stand up for your rights by your support, no matter how little for those who cannot afford what others can very well afford. Inch by inch, dollar by dollar we will get there. Thank you — and, again, Happy Birthday to Isaac Brock Society.
Supreme Court of Canada ruling on police searching cellphones without a warrant.
http://globalnews.ca/news/1721144/police-can-search-cellphones-without-warrant-during-arrest-court/
The judges divided 4-3. The three dissenting insist the police need a warrant regardless. The four majority ruling deem a limited search is legal as long as it is directly related to someone’s arrest and the police must keep detailed records.
My question: What happened to presumption of innocence??
Supreme Court of Canada ruling on police searching cellphones without a warrant.
http://globalnews.ca/news/1721144/police-can-search-cellphones-without-warrant-during-arrest-court/
The judges divided 4-3. The three dissenting insist the police need a warrant regardless. The four majority ruling deem a limited search is legal as long as it is directly related to someone’s arrest and the police must keep detailed records.
My question: What happened to presumption of innocence??
Another example of how important it is to fund our challenge!
To all those who haven’t contributed so far:
How about even a small amount as a birthday gift to yourself, to Canadian sovereignty, and to the sovereignty and autonomy of whatever non-US country you call home? It is the birthday of the Isaac Brock Society, which birthed this legal challenge to US extraterritorial overreach.
Read about Barzun, the US Ambassador to England insisting that the Mayor of London England should pay fealty to the US Treasury – simply because Boris was born there. Barzun said; “…‘We have our rules and we expect people to play by them.”….If you get the benefits of being an American citizen you pay your fair share in taxes…….”
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2867749/Settle-six-figure-tax-bill-envoy-urges-Boris-Mayor-pursued-authorities-sale-London-home.html#ixzz3LesIhVDh
Don’t you find that the sheer hubris of the US telling the Mayor of London England that the US expects him and everyone else to play by the US “our rules” is enough to inspire one to make the donation to ADCS and the legal challenge?
Don’t you find it insupportable the fact that he ordered the Mayor of London to pay up a huge sum to the US Treasury based on only an accident of US birth and 5 years residency?
Wikipedia says of Barzun that;
“……..Barzun’s small-dollar fundraisers were supporter-driven via online event pages, and replicated throughout the country.
In The Audacity to Win, author and political strategist David Plouffe describes Matthew Barzun’s grassroots campaign idea as “citizen fundraisers” that drove Obama’s connection with supporters.[4]>…”
Lets borrow a page from US Ambassador Barzun and show him that “citizen fundraisers” are bound for justice here in our sovereign homes – in Canada, England and elsewhere – where we are NOT going to play by US rules. OUR laws and OUR Charter rules!
Support and fund the ADCS legal challenge now!
Badger: Thanks for the link to the article in the Daily Mail. Our swat team is needed over there! I noted the following statement by the journalist:
“He [Boris] could also be liable for tax on his income, which is well above the £62,000 US citizens are allowed to earn abroad before paying taxes *at home*.” [emphasis mine] This just enrages me. The United States is not Boris’ home! Is this journalist bereft of all comprehension?
@ all journalists out there: Mr. Johnson is a Brit living in Britain which is his home. He was born in the U.S. but left it when he was little more than an infant. Explain to me why exactly his birthplace should constitute the damnation of tax liability for life? What financial aid has he ever received from the U.S. government? Zero! Yes, he has the right to enter the U.S. whenever he likes but should he be charged a “fee” to exercise it? Perhaps you would be happy if there were pay stations outside each polling booth at your next election! Rights are free. One does not pay tax in order to exercise them.
The American President has gone on record recently saying that no one should be a victim of the circumstances of their birth. Let him put his own money where his mouth is and abolish the deplorable practice of citizenship-based taxation!
@Muzzled No More,
I find it interesting too that Ambassador Barzun who demands that the Mayor of London abide by US domestic laws is married to an heiress from the family that owns Brown-Forman Corp.;
“….which owns two popular brands in Jack Daniels whiskey and Southern Comfort liqueur.
The Louisville, Ky.-based company with operations throughout Appalachia has contributed slightly more to Democrats in recent years, but a wider look at the company’s giving shows it has actually preferred Republicans in the long run. Sixty-seven percent of the company’s PAC and employee-related contributions have supported federal-level Republican causes — about $3.04 million since the 1990 election cycle. Phil Lynch, vice president of corporate communications and public relations of Brown-Forman, says there is no partisan bent to his company’s political action committee giving — just a focus on influencing topics that affect the alcohol industry.
“We base our contributions not on whether the politician is a Democrat or a Republican or an independent, but on where they stand on our issues,” he told OpenSecrets Blog.
Lynch argues that the alcohol industry is highly regulated and heavily taxed by the federal government, and that Brown-Forman wants to make sure that “if new regulations are proposed, [it] can present [its] case………..” http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2011/03/politics-on-tap/
Let’s recap: Ambassador Barzun is married to an heiress of Brown-Forman Corp. Barzun told Boris Johnson that solely because his mother gave birth in the US, and because he lived there till he was 5 years old, Boris should pay the US Treasury a huge sum from the sale of his UK family home (and by implication, any interest and other penalties that the IRS might/would levy as well). And Barzun says that represents Boris’s ‘fair share’ of US taxes.
Yet, Boris has no direct political representation in the US. Who speaks for Boris and represents his interests in the US? What ‘benefits’ does he ‘enjoy’ as a US taxable person? Well certainly not the ability to vote and therefore to enjoy even symbolic political representation. He was born in New York, and has no established current US residency. His parents were not US citizens – therefore he couldn’t register using their last US address for the purposes of registering to vote and voting absentee in US federal elections from abroad. I haven’t yet found out whether he could register in NY based solely on an address from his years up to age 5 in the US ( ex. for those born outside the US “… only 18 states allow them [those born abroad] to register to vote from overseas using an American parent’s voting address. This means that many of these citizens are effectively disenfranchised; only one of these sixteen states, New York, figures among the five biggest home states of Americans overseas…..” see https://www.overseasvotefoundation.org/About-YVO-Overseas-Voting ).
OTOH it certainly appears that the Brown-Forman corporation proactively has enhanced access to US political representation; “…Lynch argues that the alcohol industry is highly regulated and heavily taxed by the federal government, and that Brown-Forman wants to make sure that “if new regulations are proposed, [it] can present [its] case.”…” http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2011/03/politics-on-tap/
Here are some details of their contributions to US political campaigns:
http://influenceexplorer.com/organization/brown-forman-corp/1188f9989815473f97bd720d9a7325f1
And as for their ‘fair share’ of taxes in the US: “…Distillery officials say they already do their civic and fiscal duty. “We’re paying our part, our fair share…” http://news.yahoo.com/jack-daniels-distillery-targeted-more-taxes-202230083.html
Who speaks for Boris in the US political system? Who advocates for all the other US expats and non-citizens deemed to be ‘US taxable persons’, but without any of those imaginary ‘benefits’?
Yet, someone with Barzuns’ pedigree (“…Matthew Barzun is a descendant of Lucretia Mott,[10] a proponent of women’s rights, and John Winthrop, founder of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and the city of Boston.[11] His grandfather was the renowned French-born American cultural historian and former Columbia University professor, Jacques Barzun…” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Barzun ) is not embarassed to publicly proffer the weak/baseless ‘benefits’ argument to justify the US taxing and penalizing a UK citizen/resident family home.
Let us take only one idea from Barzun – that of; “.. small-dollar fundraisers…..supporter-driven via online event pages, ..” and “”citizen fundraisers”” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Barzun
And use it to fund our quest for justice.
Support the ADCS challenge now!!!
Mr. “We have our rules and we expect people to play by them” Barzun should start playing by his British hosts’ rules and persuade his embassy to pay the 1.7 million City of London congestion charges presently outstanding. He might then have a smidgen of credibility.
Oh, I forgot. The US is exceptional.
@maz57,
Barzun cites ‘the rules’ that suit him (and US corporations) but obviously doesn’t give a damn about US citizens living outside the US. He’s Ambassador to the UK as a direct reward for his political activities – funding and supporting the US regime and US interests. That’s working for him since he has no problems keeping a bank account despite his residency in the UK, and I bet he has lots of expert assistance available to him for his US taxes, as well as whatever special conditions exist for US Ambassadors filing from abroad.
He defends “great” US corporations that aren’t paying local (ex. UK) taxes, but castigates the Mayor of London with NO US connection:
“…Google, Facebook and Amazon are playing by the rules on tax, are great American companies and should not be demonised in Britain, Washington’s ambassador to the UK said yesterday.
Matthew Barzun leapt to the defence of the giant corporations which have come under fire for their tax policies, saying they were simply following international tax rules laid down by governments.
David Cameron warned in October that multinationals which exploit loopholes to avoid paying UK taxes would be made to ‘damn well pay’.
Today the Treasury will publish details of a new ‘Google tax’ designed to ensure that multinationals operating in the UK pay at least some tax here.
But Mr Barzun told journalists in Westminster it was wrong to describe the firms as ‘international tax dodgers’ despite the fact they pay little, if any, corporation tax in this country.”…..
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2867841/They-play-rules-ambassador-backs-Google-Amazon-tax-row-says-UK-not-demonise-them.html
Support and fund the ADCS legal challenge, and preserve Canadian sovereignty from US predators enabled by the Harper collaborators and Canadian banksters.
Funding ADCS will truly be a gift for the generations to come.
This man who claims he was seduced by an IRS agent is suing the IRS for his loss of trust in the US government. Seems relevant to both the ADCS and Bopp lawsuits.
http://taxconnections.com/taxblog/irs-agent-seduced-me-then-didnt-help-me-with-audit-oregon-man-claims/#.VI3IFIg76rX
Re the above:
“In his lawsuit, he says he suffered “anguish, humiliation, mental distress, depression, lost income, and loss of trust in governmental authority.” At the time of the encounter with Ms. Abrahamson, he was in an “exclusive relationship with another woman,” he said, and because of the demanding IRS agent, that relationship also suffered.”
We might be able to find hundreds if not thousands of Canadians and permanent residents in Canada who’ve suffered from a loss of trust in the Canadian government as a result of the Harper FATCA IGA.
@bubblebustin,
Our relationships have suffered as a result of the US IRS and Treasury too. No-one wants a bank account with anyone deemed a ‘US taxable person’, nor a business, nor to employ them in any co-signatory role, nor to name them executor, etc. People on expat forums have written about their second thoughts marrying a US citizen, or having children with one.
@Stephen, and @ all readers
re;
“..Finance Minister Oliver goes to this post every morning (even before he has his first cup of coffee) and you know what he wishes for Christmas. ”
May his milk sour and may he and Prime Minister Harper and the rest of the FATCAllaborators who are so contemptuous of their fellow Canadians choke on the bitter brew as the ADCS funds continue to come in and the challenge succeeds. My wish for the New Year.
@ all, please send funds – enjoy knowing that those who ceded Canadian sovereignty to US extortion will be counting on the challenge failing due to lack of resources. Don’t let this be decided based on our limited means. Justice unfunded is justice denied. This opportunity will not come around again.
Regarding today’s update: I hope this means that we can get true answers to some persistent troubling questions. I still remember the government’s feeble response to all those questions posed by M.P. Hsu and M.P. Brison last year. Justice Canada was particularly fond of the phrase: “subject to solicitor-client privilege; therefore the Department of Justice cannot provide a response”.
Right on, badger!!!
especially — Justice unfunded is justice denied. THIS OPPORTUNITY WILL NOT COME AROUND AGAIN!!!!! Please donate. http://www.adcs-adsc.ca/