We have a Vimeo site, Citizenship Taxation, to post this portion of the submission. I am not sure if it is necessary to be a member of Vimeo to view them; I do know I signed up for free access.
Having sat through the entire filming portion of each of these, I am impressed at how well each excerpt captures the essence of each individual’s point of view/situation. On the day these were filmed, it was very powerful to hear each of these people relate their stories; one person’s was done spontaneously, without any prior preparation. Generally, none used scripts and I was surprised at how incredibly capable they were, at describing their dilemmas in a focused way. Some were as short as 10 minutes and the longest was 30 minutes. Each has been edited to approximately 5 minutes each.
The point of our submission, is to demonstrate the harm the US policy of citizenship-based taxation brings in its various (and bizarre) applications to individual situations. There are of course, certain elements common to all. However, listening to “Linda” for example, describe what led her family to own Mutual Funds in the first place, is to understand how she and her husband, knowing of his fatal condition, planned and executed a way to provide for their three children after his death. It must have been excruciatingly painful to live through those years knowing that this young family would soon face life without their father, husband, & best friend. Yet, this was how this family survived. How perverse is it then, for her to face not only the fact the US still considers her a “US Person,” but that she is a criminal, in spite of having left the US over four decades ago? Should she be willing to commit financial suicide due to a circumstance outside her control, that of being born in the US? What person could be expected to do such a thing? And for WHAT? Or Barbara, who received totally erroneous advice having already relinquished US citizenship decades ago, being put into OVDI? (Every time I hear of someone being advised to become compliant when they are NOT a US Person makes me want to scream for the blood of those who continue to do this.) And so on……
We will be providing the rest of the submission (as well as the full transcripts of the interviews) over the course of the next couple of weeks. The comments/letters document to which many of you contributed, is over 200 pages. We appreciate your patience as this has proved to be a very large project.
For now, please watch and do share these widely with family and friends, on Facebook, Twitter, etc. We especially need Homelanders to see these and understand that we are not the FATCATs.
The Marxist’s of the early teen’s in the U.S. spawned a few generations of teachers, preachers,politicians, and citizens who are at heart Marxist’s. They are innocent of any wilful subversion, for they know not what they do. I am one of 5 children of one of those sons of the Marxist, in other words my mom and dad were Marxists, who voted democrat, because the democrat party has become the Socialist Party of America.
The socialist message (Marxist Messag) was preached dailey at our table, at every meal.
Don’t ever think the message is Capitalism in disguise or by another route. The Newer Republicans who are running the current Republican party have adopted some of the marxist’s ways taught evry day on the floor of both houses of congress. This thinking is what made the congress pass the rules that are now known as ”citizenship based taxation”. They think the utopia they created is so wonderful that you must be a criminal if you want to:
1. not pay taxes for them to squander.
2. not comply with all their restrictive rules.
3. not take the wealth from those who made it and give it to those who didn’t make it
4. have more than you can consume and not let them have it to distribute, so they will get re elected for life.
5. Keep and pass on to another generation what you worked for and already paid the taxes according to the rules they layed down.
So all you complainers, the U.S. Government wants you to sit down, pay up, and most of all shut up.
Please don’t do any of those thimgs if you want liberty and prosperity to prevail.
Tricia, great testimonies. How do we get these to the responsible people in DC?
Excellent videos! I didn’t have to join Vimeo to watch them. I hope they get wide circulation. If they don’t convince people in the U.S., including politicians and journalists, of the injustice of U.S. extraterritorial tax policies, nothing will.
@Eric
They will be delivered directly to the SFC.
I’m watching the videos now (Vimeo is slow on our computer so it will take awhile to finish). What an awesome effort! Thank you to everyone who participated and everyone who put the hours in to make this video package a reality.
Yes, excellent videos. Thanks for all your hard work in creating these videos and many thanks to those willing to tell their stories. I just hope the SFC will actually watch these and just see how wrong this whole situation is. I expecially like the comment about the Stop sign being removed, describes the situation so well.
I hope the SFC doesn’t see these people as just collateral damage in the ‘war’ against tax evasion.
Excellent videos!
Moving testimonials. Kudos to those who worked on this effort and had the courage to share their stories. Let’s hope the SFC listens with an open mind.
more! more!
That really works. Much more powerful than the written word.
I just watched all the testimonial videos. What a powerful story unfolds …. Thank you all for your wonderful effort and time to tell of your experience.
What a powerful resource to show how US citizenship-based taxation combined with an IGA that implements FATCA in Canada or any other country criminalizes people living very ordinary lives. Thank you so much for those who bravely came forward to tell their stories and to those who have worked during this and behind the scenes, including Tricia’s many hours, to make these videos available. Kudos!
For everyone else, “Stand with Rand”?
https://www.randpaul.com/issue/taxes
http://www.repealfatca.com/downloads/Dear_Colleague_FATCA_Repeal.pdf
Great Videos
Somehow I believe common sense may prevail maybe with a temporary fix
Unfortunately the saying “Love America or leave it” now has a new spin to it
Very powerful, excellent videos. How will someone force the Finance Committee members to actually sit down and watch?
A couple comments:
Right on, RUTH!!! She sizzles as she speaks.
I’m a little uncomfortable with PETER’s statement. I’ve watched it twice. A skeptic can interpret his message as: “I never made enough money to owe US taxes, but once I did, and once I came close to being worth $2 million, I renounced.” He uses phrases like, “As soon as I became wealthier…” which are not going to gain sympathy. I know that is not his intended message, but I am worried that it can be interpreted that way. He does state the argument that he shouldn’t pay for services he doesn’t use, but to the “fair share” advocates, that is not compelling. If I were Elizabeth Warren, I’d point to him, and say, “That’s exactly the kind of unpatriotic tax dodger we’re after.”
If Peter reads this, I’m truly, truly sorry to have said this. I feel your pain, because my situation is in fact closer to yours than to the others testifying. It’s nothing personal. I just think this one testimony could backfire.
Don’t know who put this description on the Vimeo site, or if they still have control.
Description on left side of that webpage, third paragragh…NOT…I believe is incorrect (maybe a typo for NOW). It gives a totally different meaning to the sentence.
Wilton, I just do not buy that marxist’s have taken over the democrats and really thats another discussion entirely from these videos.
Thank you to everyone who made this happen and gave us the opportunity to speak and to everyone who has made a written submission as well. My hope once again is that they will start to listen. Listening to all the submissions it really drives home the many ways in which FATCA has harmed innocent lives. Each persons situation being unique to them and not one having had any positive impact from it. Really the government not acting to fix this mess is a shame on them. I hope there is another opportunity to do more of this kind of thing as it does have a good impact. I know this can’t have been easy to organize at all so much gratitude to all of you who made this happen!
@Atticus
I don’t see Wilton as being so far off the mark.
Progressivism is code for Socialism, which is a variation of Marxism, each of which is a different strain of Collectivism, whereby the government collects taxes from each person according their ability to work and produce wealth and then redistributes that wealth to others according to their welfare needs, regardless of whether they work to produce anything or just sit on their duffs.
It is no accident that the Democrats have been the main perpetrators when it comes to CBT, FBAR and FATCA. They are tools for grabbing wealth from expats to redistribute to homelanders in exchange for votes.
@Barbara
But it is the absolute truth. Anybody who is in the process of making/gaining wealth has to consider what those consequences will be. And also- he says that he is not at the 2 million mark yet – which goes to show that anybody who “makes it” to 2 million will be relieved of a HUGE chunk of their hard-earned wealth if they remain american. That too is an important point to make.
Sometimes it is hard to understand that in this dilemma- we have to come across as sympathetic people instead of really pissed off ones, eh?
The risk is FATCA 2015 may not be FATCA in future. Senator Schumer and Co could reduce the $2M to zero because they’ve had a bad day.
Great videos– thank you! I’ve tweeted a few of them off to US politicians (Secretary of State Kerry, US Ambassador to Canada Chancey Gardner, Senators Markey and Warren from my former state/commonwealth of Massachusetts, and Senator Rand Paul).
Honestly, I watched these videos today and I was pissed. All I could think was how shameful it is that Washington sits by and ignores the citizenship crisis happening outside its borders– thousands of good, hardworking, honest American expats who have had their citizenship stolen away.
I think the ACA should post them as well!
My wife is an employer of Canadians and our personal wealth is at risk to provide jobs in Canada.
I wonder how it serves the interests of Canada, my being a US taxpayer, since my wife is the bread winner?
The IRS can steal from a few of the widows and orphans. But once the US is empowered to steal from employers, the actual devastation of Canada begins. Destruction of wealth of employers would result in unemployment of ordinary Canadians. If I become wealthy, it is because we have risked everything we have to provide good jobs to Canadians. The IRS has no right to destroy that.
I am not sympathetic. But people like me, with middle level wealth, neither rich nor poor, are the backbone of the Canadian economy.
Stunning testimonials! I thank everyone involved in this project and deeply appreciate the time, effort, skill and emotional fortitude that it took to put this together. I wish that I could be in the room when the ladies and gentlemen of the Senate Finance Committee view these statements. If these videos do not move them to action against FATCA and CBT I don’t know what will.
Absolutely, Petros. The biggest costs TO Canada will eventually be shown to be just those you outline rather than the sympathetic cases — for instance like my son and those with some mental incapacity whose cost for Canada will be less, only more easily seen as absurd. For all of us affected in Canada the IGA that implements FATCA to overrride Canadian laws is unjust.