We delivered! Monumental effort 2 demonstrate harm 2 #Americansabroad submitted 2 Senate Finance Committee http://t.co/carqgGs6lj #FightCBT
— Patricia Moon (@nobledreamer16) April 15, 2015
UPDATE April 16 2015
As John Richardson is the principal author of our submission, I spoke with him about the idea of turning it into an ebook. He very much appreciates all your kind comments and most of all, your positive energy. We will definitely make this into an ebook; he would like this endeavor to be consistent with our recent as well as past submissions.
With this is mind, we want to detail and describe the tragic impact of U.S. extra-territorial taxation on people deemed by the U.S. to be #Americansabroad. This would include: accidentals, (oops, non-meaningfuls, sorry Stephen, it’s a habit), border babies, via parents or grandparents or outright USCs, dual or not We want to know what you think is important, what needs to be added and so on. If you didn’t write your story before, now would be a good time to do so. Also, if you are on Twitter and not currently active or connected at the moment to our Twitter SWAT team, please get in touch with me either at the email below or tweet me at USExpatCanada. We need to be aware of this whole effort as one large, evolving submission which will serve as our base for the sole purpose of bringing down citizenship-based taxation. We want to keep moving on this project and get going on a few new aspects of it right away so stay tuned!
us.expatcanada at gmail dot com
@USExpatCanada – #Fight CBT (please start using this hashtag!)
We did it! Just as promised by John Richardson our submission to the Senate Finance Committee is signed, sealed and delivered….Remember this? :
I also made it clear that Dr. Kish and I would be taking the initiative to “educate” the Committee about:
– what “citizenship taxation” really is; and
– the true effects that it has on “Americans” (recognizing that many of you do NOT consider yourselves to be U.S. citizens) in Canada and elsewhere.
I am happy to report to you that on February 14, 2015 the videos were made as planned.
I am happy to report that on April 9, 2014 Dr. Kish and I met with representatives of the Senate Finance Committee and had a “productive discussion”.
I am happy to report that, today, April 15, 2015 our submission to the Senate Finance Committee (consisting of a total of 7 separate submissions on various topics) has been delivered. One of the submissions was the text of the “Human Rights complaint to the United Nations“. We acknowledge the tremendous work that went into the creation and submission of the complaint.
We encourage you to look at our complete “Folder of Submissions” as follows:
https://app.box.com/s/yn25x1gketbzrkqp2ghu5sbce7mqoynu
I want to remind you that this is going to be a “slow process”. Be patient. Keep yourselves focused on the “long term” goal. The key is to remain patient and focused.
For all who submitted comments to be included, please see here.
Thank you so much for all who took the time to send in your letters & comments in support of this project. Please spend time and explore all seven of the submissions as each is a very important component of demonstrating to the US government how perverse and discriminatory U.S. Tax policy is, not only against U.S. Persons, but to every country and person who is connected to one. We need residence-based taxation. We want the ability to make use of our tax-deferred savings vehicles in our countries of choice. We deserve the right to have our bank accounts free from the prying eyes of FinCen. We demand the recognition that we are not tax cheats and traitors. We insist that the privacy rights of our “alien” spouses and children be respected. For those who cannot act on their own behalf, we must have the ability to make choices free of imposed US citizenship be it from immigration or tax status.
It is time. The U.S.must start living up to its claim of being the land of freedom and opportunity. It must address its own areas of human rights violations and act in the best interests of all. We will not be satisfied nor stop until we receive exactly that.
I saw this earlier today. It’s a massive undertaking, a massive accomplishment, and massive thanks for all your efforts. I was happy to see my husband’s letter included.
It’s a lot of pages, and I wonder whether any Senator or staffer will read through the whole thing. But the great thing about it is that there isn’t a bit of fat anywhere, so even flipping through the documents at random lands you on a strongly-worded argument or a heart-wrenching story. The only way this report will be ignored is through willful ignorance (‘willful’ as defined by the dictionary, not by the IRS).
Perhaps this is what should be compiled into an e-book for wider general distribution.
This was the first time I’ve encountered “non-meaningfuls” and I have to say I liked what I read, especially as it means a “stop the harm” measure on the way to RBT. Stephen Kish and John Richardson wrote this recommendation:
I’ve read over 200 pages but there’s more to go (tomorrow). It’s the least I can do in lieu of the enormous effort that went into this 7 part submission. Thank you Tricia Moon, Stephen Kish and John Richardson.
You guys are giving it your all. Sadly, I am very pessimistic over this battle. I think a Palestinian state has more of a chance than this. When expats try to engage in any meaningful “effort to demonstrate harm”, it is a double edged sword. All you have to do is read comment sections on news articles regarding expats. I believe without doubt that most Americans get warm fuzzies seeing us being punished. We have committed an act of treason by leaving the USA, the greatest country on Earth (“Don’t let the door hit your ass on the way out!”). We are scum. traitors. terrorists. fat cat billionaires. We deserve all the punishment there is for our insolence, for leaving the USA and not paying our share etc etc etc. The thing is, they already know we are being punished because they want to punish us. Their endless lack of concern only validates that. The reality is we have two choices 1) Move back to the USA 2) Renounce. I wish everyone the best and hope I’m wrong.
Thank you for this tremendous effort. My support for ADCS is sustained and enhanced. Even if @pukekonz is right (may well be), every dollar each of us contributes helps fight these massive injustices.
@Pukeonz: one incentive for the US to change is backlash and negative consequences. Everything we can do to point out how absurd and harmful CBT is, helps.
This is an incredibly comprehensive and informative submission! I’m absolutely delighted, and really impressed. Thanks so much, John, Stephen and Tricia – I can only imagine how much work you put into this. Great job!
@pukekonz this is ‘great leap forward.’ It shows unity, focus, and determination with well researched and documented reasoning starting to turn the laws against the law makers.
I have heard all you say in comment sections. Over the past year I believe there has been a trend that the nay sayers are increasingly being drowned out.
We don’t need to convince all US persons. We just need enough publicity to keep the Isaac Brock Community growing with increased capacity to fund the legal initiatives and other related activities such as the Human Rights Complaint.
I am very impressed.
Re Human Rights Complaint. Only part I read so far. This is not just against CBT, but also FATCA, FBAR, and all the governments of the world – quite audacious is scope. Hopefully the UN will just focus on the title the part about CBT.
@EmBee,
I think that it’s important to recognize the point you made: that we asked in our submission for 1) residence-based taxation and 2) as an interim measure only a “rescue boat” for some persons who have no meaningful association with the U.S. This was the suggestion that @WhiteKat had been repeatedly making, pretty much alone, on this website.
I did not like the term “Accidental American” and came up with the word “non-meaningfuls” which I don’t like that much either, and we suggested only very general and imperfect inclusion criteria for this category. focusing on the principle. By the way, I have not lived in the U.S. for over 40 years, but consider that I have a very “meaningful” association with that country.
@Pukekonz is “pessimistic” that our submission will have any impact on the Senate Finance Committee and could well be correct. John, Tricia, and I had no choice but to take the opportunity provided by a Senate committee when it invited suggestions for tax reform that might help us.
We also feel strongly that our submission is highly realistic: Note in the submission the action to be taken on our part should legislation not be introduced in what we, on our own, consider to be a “timely” manner. At the end of the (friendly) discussion with the SFC staffers I personally explained this action which was received without comment.
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
I can’t think of anything better than this submission as an e-book for wider distribution, Barbara — with full credit to the authors that compiled it all. I hope one of them will weigh in on the idea. (It is all, though, publicly available now.)
Mr. Kish re: “as an interim measure only a “rescue boat” for some persons who have no meaningful association with the U.S. This was the suggestion that @WhiteKat had been repeatedly making, pretty much alone, on this website. ”
Excellent suggestion! RBT for everyone may take awhile. In the meantime, if we can save some people sooner, even if its only a small subset of USA’s persons, how could anyone NOT agree with this?
I would also love to be able to distribute this… I have a friend here in Canada who says when she shares the issues I have made her aware of with her family (both here and in the US) they laugh at her and think she’s crazy. They cannot believe that this could possibly be happening. @TrishaMoon Are we allowed to forward any part of this?
This isn’t Trish answering, but…
The 7-part Senate Finance Committee submission is publicly available now, just as you’ve read it. You can send a link to this post or directly to the ADCS-ADSC post that Tricia’s post here leads to for anyone to read /explore for themselves. (i.e., I’ve just sent the link to Belgium for someone most interested in the UN Human Right Complaint portion (released as part of this submission) to be forwarded to lawyers there. I hope, and I think they will, read it all, all seven parts.)
@ Stephen Kish
ugh, I don’t like “non-meaningfuls” either. Suggestion: “marginally-associated Americans”
Excellent, excellent submission. Thank you to everyone involved.
I put a link to this in “Presentations and Submissions” under “Important Information” in the Sidebar. I’ll be adding it to “Introductory Materials” (also in Important Info box) as well – it’s an amazingly comprehensive introduction to the entire situation! And very clearly presented, which is also a major achievement!
Wow! What an effort.
@Pukekonz
Well, nobody knows how this is going to end. The fall of the Berlin Wall took almost everyone by surprise.
Thanks, Pacifica.
Following your lead, I have also updated the UN Human Rights Complaint link in the upper right-hand corner of the side bar:
UPDATE APRIL 16, 2015:
Pingback: The Isaac Brock Society | Human Rights Complaint on behalf of ALL *U.S. Persons Abroad* has now been submitted.
@ Hard Pressed
“Non-meaningfuls” just demonstrates how hard it is to get some kind of terminology for concepts that never had been given a second thought before. It works for me. It actually mirrors back at them the lack of consideration they’ve been showing we, the “non-meaningfuls” from the get-go.
Works for me on behalf of my Canadian-born son (who, as well as being non-meaningful, also cannot renounce due to DOS regulations).
Description could also, according to a thesaurus, be:
non-consequential, non-considerable, non-important, immaterial, non-monumental, insignificant, unsubstantial.
I don’t care if any of these is used to define my son (and others like him) in relation to the USA — and on the way to RBT as the rest of the world, hopefully sooner than later if there were a modicum of US common sense instead of exceptionality.
Just get it done without out the beating around the bush and complexities added to the already burdensome Tax Code.
@ Tricia
RE: LETTER EMAILED TO NOBLEDREAMER FEBRUARY 10, 2014
page 142 of Comments part of the submission
Did this writer get the word about post-dated CLNs via relinquishment before it was too late? (High condor fees, etc.) She appears to qualify. My husband and I perfectly match this portion of her letter …
I so appreciate this group of fine people. I am in awe.
Me too, @Nervousinvestor :’)
Such a fine submission and so informative. Well done. Thank you to everyone involved, especially those who took the time to share their stories in video and in writing.