52 thoughts on “Opportunity to Submit Questions for FOX News/Facebook Republican Presidential Candidate Debates”

1. Thus we could read others like Johns

   John Hanson On June 17, 2015 I met with an officer at the US Consulate in Halifax Nova Scotia informing them I was relinquishing my American citizenship. I have lived abroad 45 years and am not wealthy, but complying with America’s citizen-based taxation policies is not only onerous but dangerous for me and my Canadian family. For example, I cannot invest in mutual funds, cannot utilize a private pension as a tax savings vehicle, cannot invest in Canada’s tax free savings accounts, and cannot start my own business, and have to worry about capital gains on my private home when Canada considers it tax free. The tax disadvantages of being an American abroad are debilitating, even though I am a Canadian citizen. In many other countries, Americans are having their bank accounts and mortgages closed. Small and medium American owned businesses are not only faced with extra costs of complying but in some cases are being refused access to banking. Many of these businesses are now closing or at least reorganizing to avoid the American reach. We are also treated as tax cheaters first and must prove our innocence under threat of extreme penalty, a harsh policy contradicting our constitutional rights of presumption of innocence and infringes on the right to privacy of foreign family members, businesses, and non-profits which we share signing authorities with. Taxing me and 8.7 million other Americans abroad transfers money belonging in foreign economies into the US economy, in my opinion an unethical deigning of foreign sovereignty. It is blatant international theft defended as Patriotic. Arguably, the American government is the biggest tax cheater of them all.

   Yet we all want to stop tax cheating. It hurts America and all nations. Will you listen to and work with Americans abroad, ex-Americans such as myself, experts such as John Richardson, Nigel Green, and others who have thought through and fought through all the issues, to find effective, ethical, and cost-efficient methods of combating international tax evasion? Will you take meaningful steps to end the insanity Americans abroad are facing now?

   Jak Dac Hope the Expat tax situation gets addressed

2. Twitterers/Tweeters

   pls rt

   Fox/FB taking questions 4 presidential debates-1st one Aug 6 9pm Eastern https://www.facebook.com/FoxNews/videos/10153438307721336/ … https://www.facebook.com/FoxNews/app_665293576939321 …

   #Americansabroad Fox News & FB teaming up 4 presidential debates-share video questions via the social media site http://bit.ly/1UudkZJ

   Fox/FB pres debates-great question Should US tax on citizenship OR residence, like the entire rest of the world does?”http://bit.ly/1KNoLXS

   Fox/FB pres debates:US penalizes expats even when no tax owed & when making honest attempts to come forward http://bit.ly/1KNoLXS

   #Americansabroad-/FB taking questions 4 presidential debates-1st one Aug 6 9pm Eastern http://on.fb.me/1Cj4zvI Pass the word Share pls RT

3. Fox News
   7 hrs ·

   What is YOUR one question for the candidates? Fox News and Facebook are teaming up to bring you the first GOP presidential debate. Submit your question in the comments below or click here: http://bit.ly/1H4seMV to upload a photo or video. It could be featured in the debate August 6th on Fox News Channel!

   127,293 Views

   Look at the number of views! A subtle way to educate homelanders

4. The best way for me to refine such a question is to post it. Some above are way too long.

   A premise of taxation is services in exchange. Do you support continuation of taxing the 8.7 million US persons living overseas as if they live in the US, while all other OECD countries only tax on world income those resident in their countries?

5. I think it is better to name Eritrea. The US should be asked if it’s proud of the company it’s keeping.

   Do you support continuation of taxing the 8.7 million US persons living overseas as if they live in the US, like the repressive dictatorship of Eritrea does but unlike every other country in the world? Do you support continuing to penalize 99% of those 8.7 million who owe no US tax because the amount of tax they paid to countries they live in is already higher than US tax rates? Do you support preventing 8.7 million people from getting a bank account or mortgage due to their place of birth or where their parents came from?

6. On https://www.facebook.com/FoxNews went through 2500 comments with search term “tax” besides my posts re Expat tax could ONLY find these

   Laura Wilson Because of citizenship based taxation and FATCA US citizens are increasingly unable to bank abroad, invest nor save for retirement. They are often doubly taxed and harshly penalized. If you cannot bank you cannot leave. This includes students, exporters, those wishing to join/start businesses and those looking for international experience. Will you change the US method of taxation to one based on residency rather than citizenship as the remainder of the world employs so the US can dance in the global economy and compete internationally?

   http://www.wsj.com/…/expats-left-frustrated-as-banks…

   Laura Wilson US citizens living abroad are being unjustly terrorized by the IRS according to taxpayer advocate Nina Olson. They can no longer compete on the international stage because of citizenship based taxation and now FATCA. Will you bring the US into the 21st century, honor the principles that were fought for in the American Revolution and convert the US to residency based taxation as enjoyed by the remainder of the world?

   Expats Left Frustrated as Banks Cut Services Abroad
   Americans living abroad are being cut off by banks…
   WSJ.COM|BY LAURA SAUNDERS

   Larry Feign The State Department estimates 8.7 million Americans live and work abroad, a population larger than 39 states. The USA is the only country in the world which taxes its citizens living overseas. The USA also requires its overseas citizens to report their bank accounts, however small, to the Financial Crimes Division of the IRS, treating them as tax-dodging criminals, something that no other Americans are required to do. On top of this, the USA passed the FATCA law, requiring banks around the world to report on American clients and savers, including schoolchildren. The net result is overseas banks refusing to do business with American individuals and businesses, which hurts not only those US citizens, but American exports and influence overseas. The dilemma is causing the greatest surge of citizenship renunciations in history. Should the USA join the rest of the world in not taxing its citizens living abroad, thus freeing them to expand American business, influence and good will?

7. “If you cannot bank you cannot leave.”

   Live not leave. We have other problems trying to leave.

8. Checked 3600 plus posts on https://www.facebook.com/FoxNews

   ONE more

   Kit Hardy The U.S. Is the only country in the world that practices Citizen Based Taxation CBT, apart from Eritrea which one of the worst dictatorships and violators of human rights in the WORLD. Will the candidate repeal CBT, taxation without representation and bring justice to its 8 MILLION+ citizens who reside permantly abroad and are fully taxed in the countries the reside in?

9. Shadow Raider: Thank you for the links and for your suggested question. I will update the post with both.

   Tricia: Thanks for spreading the word about this to American Expatriates and AARO. And I give the credit for discovering this opportunity to Charl. She alerted me to it and suggested I do a post.

10. I should have finished reading the rest of the posts!

    The “suggested question” is just that, a suggestion. Everyone should send in what they feel they want to ask. In fact, it is better that the moderators receive hundreds of completely unique questions all on the same topic. Then they will really understand the magnitude of our issue and at least one of our questions will be selected to be addressed by the candidates.

11. Shadow Raider,

    Thanks for your explanation as to how you envision that a change to RBT would nullify FATCA and FBARs for US persons living abroad. I hope you are right, but I feel there must be a ‘catch’. What am I missing?

    And of course, eliminating CBT does not eliminate the outrageous renunciation fee, (not sure that it eliminates the exit tax either although you say that would logically follow), nor does an end to CBT prevent USA from pulling some other nasty trick out of its hat directed towards US citizens so-called foreign assets.

    With all due respect Shadow Raider, when you say, “I imagine that not many people would feel the need to renounce without CBT”, are you a citizen of Canada (or any other non-US country), living in that other country, who has gone through the FATCA/CBT attack personally?

    If not, then, no you really cannot imagine the need to renounce (CBT or not). People like myself, who do not live in the USA, and do not identify as American (I seem to recall according to some stats canada study that only 250K of the estimated one million Canadian US persons self identify as American) would have to be nuts NOT to want to ditch US citizenship (presuming there was an easy, cheap way to do this) after this latest attack by the USA.

    Check out my last post, “To RBT or not to be an American”, and the responses. It was not a scientific study, but the overall attitude from the respondents seemed to support my belief that many US persons living outside USA (Canadians in particular) would renounce US citizenship if given the opportunity (i.e. a reasonable renunciation fee, no exit tax, no CBT compliance) even if RBT was adopted. We just don’t trust the USA. FATCA blew that away. RBT won’t bring it back.

12. Not sure where else to put this, except perhaps to start a new thread.

    I would like to remind everyone that the elimination of CBT, FATCA and even FBAR’s will not stop the GATCA train that is pulling out of the station and that we should also be keeping our eyes on:

    http://wap.business-standard.com/article/economy-policy/govt-reiterates-prospect-of-steep-penalty-in-black-money-faqs-115070601251_1.html

    It would appear that the Indian government is just salivating at the prospect (imaginary, of course) that they will now have the means to solve their “Black Money” woes by capitulating first to FATCA and second to the OECD’s AEOI/CRS initiative. Nevermind that the US will NEVER hand-over any useful financial information to other governments but will still force others to do their IRS/Treasury bidding at gunpoint.

    What we will end up with is a competely asymmetrical situation where every country copycats the US in every respect except the most important one: the inherent differences between RBT and CBT. The US will continue to leverage its 30% stick to ensure that it remains not only the biggest, but perhaps the very last tax haven in the world.

    Countries like India think they’re being smart and cool, but the US is just laughing behind their backs. The world is no more than a primary school playground and the US is the big bully. Like every other country, India will get nothing out of this deal except humiliation and misery as money transfers from their expats dwindle to a trickle, broad-siding their economy. Same sort of thing in Jamaica and other countries where families are heavily reliant on receipts from expat workers.

    The amount of sheer stupidity shown by these countries (including Canada – which should know better) is simply astonishing.

13. @Norman Diamond…Eritrea pales in comparison to US injustice, since Eritrea only seeks 2% of INCOME, whereas US slaps up to 300% of ASSETS in the bank with possible incarceration to boot even when there is no case of tax evasion but a reasonably willful failure to file a form for fear of these outlandish penalties.

14. @ JacDak
    RE: The submission you found from Kit Hardy. It’s so common for those of us who are anti-CBT to mention Eritrea without really attempting to understand that little country. Perhaps it would be fairer to look at Eritrea through the eyes of a highly respected, freelance journalist called Andre Vltchek before we simply parrot the propaganda of Eritrea being a despicable dictatorship:
    http://rt.com/op-edge/216831-eritrea-africa-west-conflict-propaganda/

    I”m with Barbara on this one. I’d prefer to see Eritrea left out of the question. The big stinky cheese, the USA, really stands alone in the world when it comes to the highly abusive application of the insane system of citizenship-based taxation.

15. @Deckard1138

    You’re right. The IRS has already said that the US won’t transfer data on US banking customers without other countries proving the data will remain secure once it’s released to them. This does NOT necessarily mean that the data the US demands under FATCA need meet the same security standards.

    Even if the US gets the legislative authority to provide reciprocity, they will find some other way for information to flow only one direction.

16. Further to my last comment:

    “Where a jurisdiction has a reciprocal IGA and the jurisdiction has the necessary safeguards and infrastructure in place, the IRS will also use IDES to provide similar information to the host country tax authority on accounts in U.S. financial institutions held by the jurisdiction’s residents,” Koskinen said.

    No account info will flow out of the US until each country has an IDES-like system in place, and the US approves of it. At least that’s my take on Koskinen’s statement.

    http://www.thinkadvisor.com/2015/02/02/irs-international-data-exchange-service-open-for-f

    I also agree that we should bombard these folks at Fox with our individual suggestions. If they identify a common thread and wish to address our issues, let them decide from all the submissions which one best represents them.

17. Here’s my suggestion, among the many great ones made so far:

    Americans living in countries outside the U.S. are our nation’s strongest ambassadors, yet a growing number of them feel that the US government is the biggest threat to their existence. Laws like the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act and Patriot Act are shutting them out of banking systems both here and abroad, and on no suspicion of wrongdoing. Our unique tax system that treats our Americans abroad as though they are resident in the US makes it impossible for many of them to remain US citizens. Should the US go to a tax system based on residence like the rest of the world, or should the US continue with tax laws that generate little revenue but have the potential to end American global migration?

18. Previously checked 3600 plus posts on https://www.facebook.com/FoxNews

    there was ONE more

    Today checked 1400 more by search term “tax” NO more re Expat tax

19. After being delayed for a second time, the Senate Finance Committee Tax Reform Working Groups are expected to submit their reports to the full Committee on Tuesday, July 7.

    Can not find any news regarding this has anybody else ?

20. ????
    Tuesday July 7, 2015 12:01 AM

    The White House wants Congress to pay for a long-term highway bill by overhauling parts of the business tax code. That effort could get a boost later this week when members of the Senate Finance Committee’s international tax reform working group complete work on recommendations for business tax reform

    http://readingeagle.com/ap/article/congress-races-toward-highway-trust-fund-deadline&template=mobileart

21. I’m starting to look like a looney bird over on Fox. I’ve posted three comments I really can’t post anymore. We need to swamp them and it isn’t happening. (Even if there is little hope of getting our question asked at least we are making one news outlet aware of the situation and MAYBE they will look into it further. Maybe we are enlightening others posting/reading there).

22. Posts on https://www.facebook.com/FoxNews

    TWO more keep them coming

    Bob Remington The United States is the only civilized country in the world that has a tax system based on citizenship rather than residency. As a result, average law-abiding Americans who live in other countries and who do not earn enough money to owe any US tax are renouncing their citizenships in record numbers because of the compliance costs associated with FATCA and the restrictive financial regulations it imposes on their daily lives. Would you be in favor of joining rest of the world community and abandoning citizenship-based taxation to bring relief to the 8.7 million Americans who live abroad?

    Walt Sanchez Americans living in countries outside the U.S. are our nation’s strongest ambassadors, yet a growing number of them feel that the US government is the biggest threat to their existence. Laws like the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act and Patriot Act are shutting them out of banking systems both here and abroad, and on no suspicion of wrongdoing. Our unique tax system that treats our Americans abroad as though they are resident in the US makes it impossible for many of them to remain US citizens. Should the US go to a tax system based on residence like the rest of the world, or should the US continue with tax laws that generate little revenue but have the potential to end American global migration?

23. Great comments, especially Walt’s 😉

24. Cheers Bubblebustin!

    Ha, ha. I would not have poached it from you if wasn’t so good.

25. Thank you Walt. Are there any other places suggestions can be posted other than Fox’s FB page?