Victoria’s idea given form by Shadow Raider.
Will you join in to phone members of the Senate Finance Committee, details below?
Operation Mosquito
Following Victoria’s idea that we should be like mosquitos and make some noise to make ourselves noticed, I’m organizing a campaign to call the Senate Finance Committee every hour for one week. If you are still a US citizen and want to join, please follow the steps below.
1. Open this link and type your name, nickname or initials on one available time slot. The spreadsheet should save automatically. The times correspond to 9am-5pm in Washington, DC, Monday to Friday next week. The other locations and time zones are only for your reference, feel free to add yours if it’s not already listed. Times in bold are on the following day.
2. On your selected time, call the Senate Finance Committee at +1 202-224-4515. If it’s busy or no one answers, please try again in a few minutes. But you don’t have to call if it’s already time for someone else.
3. I suggest saying something like this: “Hi, my name is ___, I’m a US citizen living in ___. I’d like to urge the Senate Finance Committee to overhaul the taxation of individual Americans living abroad, as soon as possible, as the committee indicated in a report it recently released. Could you please pass this message to the rest of the committee?”. Of course, you can modify this as you wish, but please be polite, and try not to take too long. Thanks!
Oh yeah, Georges, that is my required reading for tomorrow morning. I’m old and jet-lagged and sure could use some of that “pep” 🙂
I can’t call next week, but will try to do so some time in the near future. Maybe it will serve as a reminder that we’re still here.
Called twice already will do at random times probably get different staff
Fingers crossed this year
@ you ShadowRaider
Senate Committee on Finance
Majority Staffers
Mr. Mark Prater, Deputy Staff Director; Chief Counsel, Tax
Mr. Christopher Campbell, Staff Director
Mr. Preston Rutledge, Counsel, Tax
Ms. Kimberly Brandt, Chief Counsel, Investigative Health Care
Mr. Jim Lyons, Counsel, Tax
Mr. Tony Coughlan, Counsel, Tax
Mr. Bryan Hickman, Senior Counsel
Mr. Everett Eissenstat, Chief Counsel, International Trade
Mr. Shane Warren, Counsel, International Trade
Mr. Christopher Armstrong, Deputy Chief Oversight Counsel
Mr. Aaron Fobes, Press Secretary
Ms. Julia Lawless, Communications Director
Miss Amelia Breinig, Deputy Press Secretary
Mr. Samuel Beaver, Professional Staff Member
Mr. Joshua Blume, Professional Staff Member
Mr. Nick Wyatt, Professional Staff Member, Tax and Nomination
Mr. Harrison Moore, Professional Staff Member
Mr. Caleb Wiley, Professional Staff Member
Mrs. Erin Dempsey, Advisor, Health Care Policy
Ms. Katie Simeon, Advisor, Health Policy
Mr. Eric Oman, Senior Advisor, Tax and Accounting Policy
Mr. Christopher Hanna, Senior Advisor, Tax Policy
Ms. Rebecca Nasca Eubank, Analyst, International Trade
Ms. Kristin Welsh, Advisor, Health Policy
Ms. Becky Shipp, Advisor, Health Policy
Mr. Jason Stegmaier, Office Manager
Mr. Jeffrey Wrase, Chief Economist
Mr. Jeyben Castro, Outreach Director, Hispanic Task Force
Mr. Jay Khosla, Policy Director; Chief Counsel, Health
Mr. Justin Coon, Detailee
Mr. Kevin Rosenbaum, Detailee
Mr. John Carlo, Detailee
Ms. Sahra Park Su, Fellow
Ms. Christine Brudevold, Detailee
Mr. Marc Ness, Detailee
Ms. Jill Wright, Detailee
Minority Staffers
Mr. Ian Nicholson, Assistant to the Staff Director
Mr. Joshua Sheinkman, Staff Director
Ms. Jocelyn Moore, Deputy Staff Director
Mr. Michael Evans, General Counsel
Mr. Todd Metcalf, Chief Counsel, Tax
Ms. Sarah Bittleman, Chief Counsel, Agriculture, Energy, and Natural Resources
Mr. Daniel Goshorn, Counsel, Investigation
Ms. Greta Milligan Peisch, Counsel, International Trade
Ms. Elissa Alben, Counsel, International Trade
Ms. Kara Getz, Senior Counsel, Tax
Mr. Ryan Abraham, Senior Counsel, Tax and Energy
Ms. Tiffany Smith, Senior Counsel, Tax
Mr. Todd Wooten, Senior Counsel, Energy and Tax
Mr. Ryan Carey, Press Secretary; Speechwriter
Ms. Karen Fisher, Professional Staff Member
Ms. Anne Dwyer, Professional Staff Member
Mr. Juan Machado, Professional Staff Member
Ms. Lindsey Held, Senior Advisor
Ms. Elizabeth Jurinka, Chief Advisor, Health
Mr. Jayme White, Chief Advisor, International Competitiveness and Innovation
Ms. Laura Berntsen, Senior Advisor, Health and Human Services
Ms. Danielle Deraney, Analyst, Tax Policy
Mr. Kevin Rennert, Senior Advisor, Energy
Mr. Christopher Arneson, Advisor, Tax Policy
Mr. Anderson Heiman, Advisor, International Competitiveness and Innovation
Mr. Adam Carasso, Senior Advisor, Tax and Economics
Mr. Matt Kazan, Policy Advisor, Health
Mr. Tom Klouda, Senior Advisor, Domestic Policy
Mr. Peter Gartrell, Investigator
Mr. David Berick, Chief Investigator
Mr. Taylor Harvey, New Media Coordinator; Press Assistant
Ms. Jennifer Phillips, Detailee
Ms. Polly Webster, Fellow
Mr. Rob Jones, Detailee
Mr. Robert Andres, Research Assistant
Mrs. Hannah Hawkins, Research Assistant
Other Staffers
Ms. Jewel Harper, Deputy Clerk
Mr. Joshua LeVasseur, Chief Clerk; Historian
Ms. Athena Schritz, Hearing Clerk
Mr. Bryan Palmer, Deputy Clerk
Ms. Eliza Smith, Staff Assistant
Mr. Rory Heslington, Staff Assistant
Ms. Susanna Segal, Staff Assistant
Mr. Mark Blair, Assistant to the IT Director
Mr. Joe Carnucci, Information Technology Director
Ms. Dina Mazina, Archivist
Mr. Tim Danowski, Detailee
Ms. Marianna Mauck, Detaile
@JakDac, Wow, thank you very much!
Another message left and email sent out
Tony Coughlan. Counsel, Tax, Senate Finance Committee.
tony_coughlan@finance.senate.gov ..
Bcc: them all
Mr. Mark Prater, Deputy Staff Director; Chief Counsel, Tax
Mr. Preston Rutledge, Counsel, Tax
Mr. Jim Lyons, Counsel, Tax
Mr. Tony Coughlan, Counsel, Tax
Mr. Nick Wyatt, Professional Staff Member, Tax and Nomination
Mr. Eric Oman, Senior Advisor, Tax and Accounting Policy
Mr. Christopher Hanna, Senior Advisor, Tax Policy christopher_hanna@finance.senate.gov
Mr. Todd Metcalf, Chief Counsel, Tax
Ms. Kara Getz, Senior Counsel, Tax
Mr. Ryan Abraham, Senior Counsel, Tax and Energy
Ms. Tiffany Smith, Senior Counsel, Tax
Mr. Todd Wooten, Senior Counsel, Energy and Tax
Ms. Danielle Deraney, Analyst, Tax Policy
Mr. Christopher Arneson, Advisor, Tax Policy
Mr. Adam Carasso, Senior Advisor, Tax and Economics adam_carasso@finance.senate.gov
mark_prater@finance.senate.gov
preston_rutledge@finance.senate.gov
jim_lyons@finance.senate.gov
tony_coughlan@finance.senate.gov
nick_wyatt@finance.senate.gov
eric_oman@finance.senate.gov
christopher_hanna@finance.senate.gov
todd_metcalf@finance.senate.gov
kara_getz@finance.senate.gov
ryan_abraham@finance.senate.gov
tiffany_smith@finance.senate.gov
todd_wooten@finance.senate.gov
danielle_deraney@finance.senate.gov
christopher_arneson@finance.senate.gov
adam_carasso@finance.senate.gov
It’s working
Oman, Eric (Finance)
10:58 PM (28 minutes ago)
to Tony, me
Thanks. I’m copying Tony Coughlan on this email, who spearheads our efforts on international taxation.
From: Jak Dac
Sent: Tuesday, July 14, 2015 9:03 PM
To: Oman, Eric (Finance)
Subject: Overhaul the taxation of individual Americans living abroad
Thank you. We appreciate knowing you read our report and agreed with it. Chairman Hatch is very committed to an overhaul of the US international tax rules. We are spending considerable time working on it, and we surely hope we can succeed.
Kind regards,
J. Anthony Coughlan
Tax Counsel
U.S. Senate Finance Committee, Republican Staff
Senator Orrin G. Hatch (Utah), Chairman
219 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510-
__________________________________________________________________
Read our report and agreed with it ?
I do NOT agree with the minimal amount of effort within the report (section F) .This gives NO solutions for 8.7 million ExPat Americans whom are under much duress physically, mentally,financially etc. This is affecting marriages, bank accounts people are crying giving up citizenship of a country they have fond memories of. Remember your forefathers broke away from Britain because of UNFAIR taxation. The US is the ONLY westernised country using CBT, We have come a long way since the horse and carts of the Civil War. Relationships and newer and better planes takes settlers to new countries. Engelbert had it right “Please release me let me go” (re taxation). Please give feedback regarding this SPECIFIC concern as reflected in 75% of the International (and a fair amount of the INDIVIDUAL ) tax submissions received. Frankly the answer we got reflects what some people are putting to the section reference F (guess the rest)
Please help this has been known to the government for many many years along with previous submissions
Fingers crossed
Cheers,
JD
US international tax rules ? The ones relating to EXPATS not just business . Am I correct that on your web site we may find hearings related specifically to this issue ?
Cheers
JD
I’m going to ask how they came to the decision they did when 3/4 of the submissions pertained to their fellow Americans living abroad.
Well JakDac you did it. You made me rummage around in my old parody drawer for this …
From Expats to the IRS
(sing along to “Please Release Me” by Englebert Humperdinck)
Please release us, let us go,
So you can’t tax us anymore.
To waste our lives would be insane.
Release us and let us live again.
We have found a good home here.
And we will always hold it dear.
Two tax masters is all wrong.
Release us, dark agents, say so long.
Please release us, let us go.
The harm you’ve done you’ll never know.
You’ve taxed our wealth beyond belief.
Release us and give us some relief.
Please release us can’t you tell,
Your tax injustice is sheer hell.
To keep us bound would bring us pain,
So release us and let us live again.
Good but I would change “taxed our wealth beyond belief”
On first reading conjures up thoughts some Americans would attribute to tax dodging
Like it heaps get a second and third opinion
In the end ALL of us should send into emails of tax people AND Media emails I posted earlier
I may even do a karaoke sound bite to it
@Embee, brilliant parody as usual – good to revisit them again for those of us who are newbies as well as those who might have missed savouring it in full the first time. Plus my brain is getting full – and 2011 or so is getting a bit mistier.
@Jakdac, re; “..Once the candidate field gets culled down, ACA normally asks the candidates to provide a written statement as to how they will address the issues affecting Americans living and working overseas. We have done this with every Presidential Election going back to the 1970s…”
I’d really like to see those written statements going back to the ’70s. What would a spreadsheet of the highlights look like? How many in both parties promised those ‘overseas’/’abroad’ anything concrete, and how many and who kept any of the promises – IF they bothered to mention us at all. And how did those statements stack up against all the abuse hurled our way ala Shulman, Geithner, Levin, etc. We know for sure that in 2008 – the Obama and Democrats promised in writing, in their platform; “…Obama understands the special concerns and issues of Americans living abroad and
will seek to address these as president”…… “As president, Obama will work to establish a direct dialogue with Americans abroad…” http://obama.3cdn.net/610c7f29ee85b124a3_3cm6bxltu.pdf – and we all know how well he and they kept that promise – which they didn’t bother to recycle or revisit in 2012 – we were no longer a group of ‘special concern’. Course the Republicans didn’t listen to us either – or sign on en masse to pass the bill to fund a study of issues related to Americans ‘abroad’; “..the Commission on Americans Living Abroad Act (H.R.597) to ensure review of issues specific to Americans living outside the US.” https://americansabroad.org/issues/representation/americans-abroad-caucus/members/
Instead, this is what we got:
“Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act
FATCA
Enacted by the 111th United States Congress
Effective March 18, 2010 (26 USC § 6038D); December 31, 2012 (26 USC §§ 1471-1474)
Introduced in the House and Senate as Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act of 2009 (S. 1934, H.R. 3933) by Max Baucus (D–Montana); Charles Rangel (D–NY-13) on October 27, 2009
Committee consideration by Senate Finance, House Ways and Means
Passed the Senate on February 24, 2010 (70-28)
Passed the House as the Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment Act, Title V, Subtitle A on March 4, 2010 (217-201) with amendment
Senate agreed to House amendment on March 17, 2010 (68-29)
Signed into law by President Barack Obama on March 18, 2010
from Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_Account_Tax_Compliance_Act
“You’ve taxed our wealth beyond belief.”
->
“You’ve penalized beyond belief.”
“You’ve penalized beyond belief
good
@ JakDac and Norman Diamond
Yes, I like “You’ve penalized beyond belief” better too.
I’ve thought of removing “Please” (sounds like begging) but the only alternate I can think of is “Geeez”, which is a bit insensitive. Best to leave it I guess.
While we are doing parodies of songs, here is my revised rendition of The Guess Who classic American Woman.
Changes from the original are in caps.
@ Blaze: Would be great if Randy Bachman would put his voice to these new lyrics. Not sure if he holds US citizenship but I know he worked in the states. He was married to Denise who is American too. The mess hits us all!
@Ann: I sent an e-mail to Randy Bachman through CBC a couple of years ago about my version and about FATCA. He did not respond.
Does anyone else know how to reach him?
@Ann: It looks like Randy and Denise are separated.
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Randy+Bachman+loses+have+separation+agreement+enforced/10329712/story.html
https://lawdiva.wordpress.com/2014/11/01/rocker-randy-bachmans-divorce-just-got-more-complicated/
It still would be great if he would do my version of American Taxman–and let us use it as a fundraiser for ADCS!
@ Ann and Blaze
I wrote to Randy Bachman too about Blaze’s parody (Oct. of 2013) … no reply. And yes, sadly, he and Denise are divorced. (I loved listening to them both on Vinyl Tap.) As far as I know he did not take on US citizenship and now with no US spouse FATCA might not be as big a factor in his life OR maybe it still is a factor and he feels he must tread lightly with the IRS.
@ All
I see the slots on the mosquito spreadsheet are filling up but more are needed. BTW if you don’t want your home or cell phone number displayed you can pick up a cheap (3 cent per minute) phone card. We actually use these cards exclusively for the little bit of long distance dialing we do.
Why not ask
https://www.engelbert.com/contact
AND
http://randybachman.com/contact/
management@paquinentertainment.com,media@paquinentertainment.com,steveschenck@tkoco.com,steve@thecookinggroup.com,PaulB@freetradeagency.co.uk,julien@paquinartistsagency.com,todd@paquinartistsagency.com
Nonpartisan Voter Services for U.S. Citizens Overseas and Uniformed Services Members
https://www.overseasvotefoundation.org/vote/home.htm
I have received your emails. We’ve met with several US citizen living abroad who described the issues to us. It’s something we are looking at as part of tax reform.
Best,
Tiffany Smith
Senior Tax Counsel
Senate Finance Committee
(202) 224-4515
Her email tiffany_smith@finance.senate.gov
Thanks Tiffany
Please elaborate on what is being planned
Smith, Tiffany (Finance)
I can’t elaborate at this time.
Sent from my BlackBerry 10 smartphone on the Verizon Wireless 4G LTE network.
Will I see some action in a week ? month ?
Smith, Tiffany (Finance)
I’m not sure on the timing of tax reform, but it will not happen that fast. The discussions are long term.
Sent from my BlackBerry 10 smartphone on the Verizon Wireless 4G LTE network
So it’s going to happen “as part of tax reform.”
I.e., never.