UPDATE: The initial story by Ralph Z. Hallow, chief political writer at The Washington Times, has been revised and greatly expanded at the same previous link:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/jun/24/sen-rand-paul-sue-irs-us-treasury/
This is stop-the-presses news: Rand Paul has joined forces with Jim Bopp, Solomon Yue and Republicans Overseas and will be one of seven plaintiffs in the upcoming lawsuit against the IRS and the US Treasury Department. The suit will be filed by a new composite organization called Republicans Overseas Action.
Some crucial highlights:
Sen. Rand Paul to sue IRS, U.S. Treasury
Rand Paul is poised to become the first major presidential candidate in memory to sue the government he seeks to lead as president.
The Kentucky senator will take legal action against the U.S. Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service for what he says is the denial of his constitutional right to vote on more than 100 tax-information treaties that the Obama administration unilaterally negotiated with foreign governments, The Washington Times has learned.
In what the suit says is a violation of Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution, President Obama has not consulted the U.S. Senate about the treaties nor given the Senate an opportunity to approve or disapprove of the treaties. The administration calls them “intergovernmental agreements.” They require foreign banks to gather and share private financial information about millions of Americans living and working outside the U.S. — information they would not have to disclose to the U.S. government if they lived and worked in the U.S.
The treaties or agreements are the enforcement mechanisms of the Obama administration’s Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), enacted by a Democratic-controlled Congress in 2010.
The act is despised by many of the estimated 8.7 million Americans living overseas, a record number of whom have — with great anger and reluctance, according to those who have spoken to the foreign and U.S. press — renounced their U.S. citizenship rather than attempt to comply with FATCA.
Mr. Paul, a Republican who announced his presidential bid in early April, will join six other plaintiffs in the suit that a new organization called “Republicans Overseas Action” expects to file in a southern Ohio federal district court the week of June 29. The court’s Republican makeup is considered at least open to the constitutional arguments that the plaintiffs lay out.
The other plaintiffs in the suit Mr. Paul has joined say they have been denied banking and financial services in the foreign countries where they live and work. The foreign banks don’t want to be burdened with the expense and paperwork to comply with FATCA and therefore simply refuse to accept Americans as clients.
The Republican National Committee and the recently formed Republican Overseas Action aim to get as many of those Americans living or working outside their country to register in one or another of the swing states that decide the presidency in close elections. Republicans Overseas Action is paying for the lawsuit Mr. Paul has joined as plaintiff.
The driving force behind the suit is a longtime conservative activist on the Republican National Committee, Solomon Yue of Oregon.
“The best way to defend 8.7 million overseas Americans’ right to privacy and constitutional protections is to cripple the IRS, FATCA and enforcement tools through legal action on constitutional grounds all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court,” said Mr. Yue, founder and vice chairman of Republicans Overseas Action Inc
For reference, here was our initial coverage today:
A very significant announcement from Rand Paul today, as reported by The Washington Times:
Sen. Rand Paul to sue IRS, U.S. Treasury
Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul will sue the U.S. Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service for denying his constitutional right to vote on treaties that the Obama administration unilaterally negotiated with dozens of foreign governments, The Washington Times has learned.
The treaties, which the administration calls “intergovernmental agreements,” require foreign banks to gather and share private financial information about millions of Americans living and working outside the U.S. – information they would not have to disclose to the U.S. government if they lived and worked in the U.S.
Photo credit: Associated Press
I think this would be handy for Joe Arvey!!
Someone at the Washington Times made a comment, “The larger issues are the “intergovernmental agreements” contained in TPP and TTIP defacto treaties, which are passing through no legitimate process and without any transparency.”
SHAZAM, thats how we get Homelanders to back this to the hilt!!!
The guy was right TPP and TTIP might contain a bunch of IGAs…….
Yeah Senator Rand Paul !
Another constitutional crisis is brewing south of the border. Are these IGA’s treaties or executive orders? Either way, the US Supreme Court will hopefully/eventually be allowed/forced to decide. Meanwhile, half of the world’s nations have already unnecessarily and foolishly ceded their sovereignty to a regime that increasingly resembles a post-coup d’état banana republic. I think my avatar was quite prescient.
Thank you Rand Paul! Now we’re going to get some inside help. There are so many people who need relief and finally one senator understands the problem and is going to do something. Yes!!
It’s about time the IGAs get into a US court. I hope the US Supreme Court rules against Obamacare. It’s not I’m against Obamacare, but it would mark perhaps an end to Obama’s overreach including FATCA/IGA.
Being a lame duck Obama will run roughshod the next two years.
Rand Paul would get my vote.
about time !!
Wow. Just wow.
I don’t know that what Rand Paul is saying is quite true. We would have to make the same disclosures of our foreign accounts if we lived in the US. He doesn’t mention that Americans living in the US with foreign accounts are being subjected to the same deprivation of constitutional rights too. Might be a little harder to defend them though, because as Carl Levin said, there’s no good reason for an American to have a foreign bank account.
http://youtu.be/0gqgJ9Lo6yk
@bublebustin
Carl Levin is never to be believed imho.
If a US resident wants to have a summer cottage in Muskoka … a Canadian $ Bank account might be useful for local bills and so on ……
If a US resident has a child / grandchildren in Canada …. wuld not a local Can $ bank account be of use when helping those offspring ?
If a US resident has an elderly Jamaican relative that depends on them for support …. might not a local Jamaican Bank account be of value?
Carl Levin is an ass.
@ Bubblebustin
Not true!! Carl Levin is wrong! There are many reasons for Americans to have a foreign bank account. If the American was born in another country or has family in another country a foreign bank account is often necessary. If you have a family business in your original country or old parents to take care of or ……anyways I think there are lots of legitimate reasons to have and keep a foreign bank account (especially if the money was made in that foreign country and not in the US) The crazy thing is that these accounts make ZERO interest!! So why would it even matter??!!??
Disqus comments open on that article.
@Bubblebustin
*Carl Levin said, there’s no good reason for an American to have a foreign bank account*
Sure there is a reason…. naturalized american…. Elderly & immigrants often split their time between 2 countries… 2 lives… US treats immigrants with contempt & suspect until they decided… your money is my money with no rights or anything… American who go back to the US… had a life outside of the US… may decide they may go back… keep things in that foreign country as is.. esp if they own property… mortgage & taxes to be paid so foreign accounts are needed… my so call charm will not assure the bank I am good for the money & let me ride until I get back… Here is something else… Immigrants do not view their home country as foreign, I am not the only idiot who thought this… I spoke to other immigrants in the US & told them this saga… they were puzzled… but my home country is not foreign… its home.
I wish Americans the best of luck in trying to find a bank for any type of service outside the US… u will get… I am sorry… we no longer do business with Americans… Americans I knew were trying to expand their US business… u have to have a foreign account to do business… No one would touch them… his expansion plans are gone…
Carl Levin- another person who cannot see past his own elbow…..
@2terrified2sleep
I suspect they’re licking their chops about the cash they hope to grab from FBAR violations.
50% x highest account balances x 6 years = a lot of cheesecake
F— Carl Levin! Just another scumbag, out of touch, career politician.
if i were still USC I would vote – Rand Paul. I may still make a donation to whatever reelection fund he’s got!
Darn, now where is that button for the sarcasm font? Of course there are plenty of legitimate reasons for Americans to have foreign bank accounts. I was just trying to draw attention the the fact that Rand Paul chose to focus exclusively on Americans abroad, when FATCA is just as much a violation of constitutional rights for resident Americans with offshore accounts.
Support ADCS and keep your bread un-Levined.
@Walt
And these are not hidden “stashes” of money with expats – this is all most expats have got. It amazes me to no end the total lack of compassion and empathy that lets this continue to go on. When WILL somebody put a stop to it? Reminds me of that case in Fla- some 80 year old widow inherited a UBS account from her husband. It absolutely was tax evasion- but still…. they threatened an 80 year old widow with everything they got AFTER they had taken something like 50% of the account- like jail time etc. And finally the judge asked the lawyers to come to their senses and let this little old lady go home. But that is just it- it shouldn’t be up to one person`s kindness. It should be LAW.
TPP and TTIP probably have some fine print stating any country signed on to the agreement that has any “US Person” on their soil deemed non-compliant with the IRS, is to be extradited to the USA for processing.
@Polly
No one is treated with any type of kindness when it comes to this… I stop reading stories like that woman in Florida… it adds to much to the stress already… notice that majority of these so called criminals are past 75 yrs old… Even with a jury system… its rigged… how the heck do they justify taking it all or half?
I have no interest in talking about Levin, who is not re-running and is in the minority for the next couple of years, making him lamer than a lame duck president. Back to the thread about Rand Paul’s lawsuit. Here’s another website picking this story up:
http://freedomandprosperity.org/2015/blog/senator-sues-treasury-over-fatca-overreach/
Rand Paul also filed (co-filed?) a class action suit about the NSA prying into private citizen data without a warrant.
I hope Paul has a fantastic law team, and I hope they succeed!
@Jan
Agreed: Karl Lenin is yesterday’s news. Let’s talk about Rand Paul (even though, for the record, I vehemently disagree with some of his other policy statements).
@ Shovel
On a final note, here’s one song lyric you’ll likely never hear: “I’m Levin, on a jet plane…”
Meanwhile, Michael Stiso over at AE apparently has a reading comprehension problem, claiming: “He’s suing over the TPP treaties, though, not FATCA or RBT or such.” I was not aware that Treasury and the IRS were now responsible for multilateral trade treaties. To cut Michael some slack, it is possible that Obama’s Star Chamber might be emboldened to try the same IGA trick with TPP and see if anyone notices…
upticking my comment welcome:
JC Double Taxed @JCDoubleTaxed · 5m5 minutes ago
“US Should STOP Discriminating Against US Persons Overseas @SenateFinance #FATCA #CBT #FBAR @TPPatriots @DemsAbroad
http://disq.us/8nr0ap