March 8, 2016 UPDATE: Legal fees paid — on to Federal Court for Charter trial contesting Canadian FATCA IGA legislation.
Canadians and International Supporters:
You came through once again: $594,970 for legal costs have now been donated and our outstanding legal bill is finally paid off.
Thanks especially to those who donated even though they never had any “spare” money to give, and despite this gave over and over and over again.
This last round of fundraising also shows that our Canadian lawsuit remains dependent on the kindness of our International Friends: There would be no lawsuit without their financial help.
Know that a very generous donation (today) from a supporter in the United States made it possible to pay off the remaining legal debt. Also please appreciate that there would be no lawsuit without the help of the Isaac Brock Society which has kindly let us use its website to solicit funds.
Our next step is the Constitutional-Charter trial in Federal Court.
For this we need more Canadian Witnesses, and my next post will be devoted only to a request for Witnesses willing to go public, like our Plaintiffs Ginny and Gwen.
For the future: I want a win in Federal Court — and I want the new Liberal Government not to appeal that win.
Thank you all for your support,
Stephen Kish,
for the Directors,
Alliance for the Defence of Canadian Sovereignty
@Calgary: I will work on revising the article for the Star. I am not optimistic they will publish it because they have not accepted anything I have sent to them in the past.
Thanks for the suggestion.
Thanks for giving it a try, Lynne — such a good three pages worth!
Good blog post by Rachel Heller discussing the paradox of being forced to “voluntarily” renounce her USC….. under duress!
http://rachelheller.org/renouncing-under-duress/
A robber points a hand gun at his victim and says, “Money or your life.”
The US government points its weapon (FATCA/CBT) at expats and says, “Money or your US citizenship.” Caught strong arming thousands of its expats, the US government has the gall to claim, “They handed their US citizenship over to me voluntarily.”
The US government ignores the 14th ammendment and deprives its expats of their USC with a “wink-wink” and a “nudge-nudge.” It conveniently ignores its obligations under the UN Declaration of Human Rights to which it is a signatory.
Lynne, if you adapt your excellent letter to Ted Cruz into an article, and have room to add a little bit more, perhaps in the section on renouncing, you might add the dollar costs of renouncing ($2350 US converted into local currency + cost of travel to a consulate + hotel, etc.) and also the other costs (emotional, psychological — e.g., as described in the Rachel Heller blog). These things to add to what you already have:
“Give us five years of IRS returns. Show us your FBARs. Tell us your total net worth. Pay us penalties for not doing it before. Sometimes worst of all: Give us a huge exit tax.”
In comparison, what did Ted Cruz need to do to renounce his Canadian citizenship?
@BC_Doc, thanks for that simple clarity with your illustration, I have now shamelessly copied it to a file.
It is for that reason that I honestly believe some day a US Court is going to hand back the Citizenship of everyone that got a CLN during this era.
There is part of me that wants a CLN as a badge of pride. 🙂
There is another part of me that says that I have relinquished, have documented same just fine and have had no problems enetering the plantation as needed with my EU passport.
@Canoe. Ted. Cruz filled out a simple form, mailed it with. $100 Canadian. Then he was finished being a Canadian citizen.
We need to be able to. Cruz In Reverse!
If you have already donated to our lawsuit, or will never do so, perhaps you could still help by asking others to donate.
I rarely comment on other posts but just posted a comment (now in moderation) on a Yucatan Times article in which I asked for donations. The article was by a tax compliance person trying to scare Mexicans into compliance.
Consider making the focus of your comments a request in the first or second sentence for donations for the Canadian lawsuit. I know that some of you have already done this.
http://www.theyucatantimes.com/2016/01/have-you-received-the-dreaded-fatca-letter/
To all those reading here:
If you have not already donated to this lawsuit, I urge you to :
Watch (or rewatch) the videos at the link below and ponder the current situation. Ponder how it is that now, the cost to either relinquish or renounce US citizenship is up to 2350. US dollars / 33304.44 Canadian dollars (at today’s rate) per person. Multiply that by 4 for a typical Canadian family = 4 x 33304.44 = 13,217.76. Compare that to Stats Canada data on the typical income of Canadian families https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/nhs-enm/2011/dp-pd/dt-td/Rp-eng.cfm?LANG=E&APATH=3&DETAIL=0&DIM=0&FL=A&FREE=0&GC=0&GID=1118296&GK=0&GRP=1&PID=107758&PRID=0&PTYPE=105277&S=0&SHOWALL=0&SUB=0&Temporal=2013&THEME=98&VID=0&VNAMEE=&VNAMEF=
Source: Statistics Canada, 2011 National Household Survey, Statistics Canada Catalogue no. 99-014-X2011047.
Consider what the cost of freedom from lifelong UStaxablepersonhood with CLNs from the State Dept. as proof would be if done to US demands (not including the tax compliance costs). Consider that the cost of renouncing has gone up in huge increments over only a few years – and that there is apparently no cap on how much the US State Dept. can raise it.
Here are some true stories about the effects of FATCA and US Extraterritorial CBT:
https://vimeo.com/citizenshiptaxation/videos
Support this effort:
http://www.adcs-adsc.ca/
If we don’t fund and see this through, who will?
@BC Doc
“The US government ignores the 14th ammendment and deprives its expats of their USC with a “wink-wink” and a “nudge-nudge.” It conveniently ignores its obligations under the UN Declaration of Human Rights to which it is a signatory.”
The United States is a failed state, just let them rot. For them, human rights is a token afterthought for appearances. I’m still surprised they haven’t yet banned overseas travel for all homeland Americans…
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/bank-accounts/12086717/Alert-Santander-123-will-cost-5-a-month-from-Monday-is-it-worth-it.html
Another UK tax break that is taxable for US persons resident in the UK. The first 1000 pounds of savings interest will no longer be taxable for basic rate income tax payers. It’s called the Personal Savings Allowance.
And if it somehow it isn’t taxable, you’d be expected to fill in all the BS IRS forms to prove it.
Yet another reason for a IBS style lawsuit in the UK.
Maybe somebody can help me here. Decades ago I saw a movie in Maine, on TV, broadcast from a New Brunswick station. The movie was about a Canadian border blaster who started a radio station on the same frequency as a U.S.A. radio station, frustrating the U.S.A. broadcaster. The border blaster was offered $20,000 “to get off our frequency” but demanded more. A Canadian bureaucrat said that the Canadian licence was a mistake, and the border blaster replied, “and an embarrassment to your government! …Who’s paying you, Ottawa or Washington? Can’t you stick up for one of your own just this once?” Which would be an excellent clip to use here.
On January 9th, Lynne Swanson states the same as many of us now know — we were wrong:
http://maplesandbox.ca/2016/2015-year-in-review/comment-page-1/#comment-530450
This morning, Stephen quotes David Bowie:
This comment must be preserved!!
“Can you imagine a servitude that can be passed through bloodlines? That is slavery, without any sort of doubt. The many conversations on IBS on the subject are a fantastic source of material which must be used…”
—-
A child can be born in the European Union to two EU Citizens, one of whom is deemed a USC and who lived in the USA for the magic number of years, and that EU Child is deemed a USC by a FOREIGN POWER and needs to file all kinds of forms, pays double tax and must pay a ransom to be released.
Attention Gwen. Maybe it’s time to post the picture of the two little wanted girls again. There are bounty hunters after us. I had hoped my safe harbour was Canada.
I don’t know which situation is worse, ours or the one George speaks of.
There may be many who want citizenship based on where they are born; there may be many who want citizenship derived based on their parental heritage.
The only things I do know: the USG is the only country that has CBT, the root of all evil. Why can’t they make it as simple to renounce as it was for Cruz to renounce his Canadian citizenship.
The obvious answer is they don’t want to and don’t have to. That message is clear.
What I do not and cannot understand is how my own country fails to protect its Canadian citizens, from the chains of a foreign country.
This second class Canadian will have to see my own government in Court this year to prove to this Prime Minister that the very important Charter his own father skillfully managed to ensconce in Canada stands for all Canadians and permanent residents notwithstanding our place of birth.
I feel like I have a tattoo of the American symbolic Eagle with its talons embedded in my soul. I am just trying to breathe, to get on with my life and yet it is trying to crush and suffocate me.
But if I were to get to that court room, and if Native Canadian would permit me, I would gladly and with a profound sense of honour, peace and consolation carry a Canadian eagle feather in my hand.
All the talk in the U.S. about whether or not Ted Cruz is a “natural born” citizen, and thus elegible to be President, if he should be nominated and win the election, has me musing about various potential (imaginary) issues. For example, the onerous U.S. process and high cost to renounce (including exorbitant fee, travel for in-person consular appointment, etc.) is said to be needed to cover their costs so they can protect the person relinquishing or renouncing. If Ted Cruz was able to renounce his Canadian citizenship for a mere $100 and a mail-in form, was that “good enough” to do the job?
I went back and re-read the State Dept.’s rationale and response to comments on the 2015 fee increase to $2350 U.S. to pay for renunciation. Just one of the things that makes me mad about the whole situation, and that leads me to support the ADCS lawsuit. I have a lot of respect for Ginny and Gwen, Stephen, and others on the ADCS team, and also for everyone, everywhere, who contributes as possible to this cause, which I visualize as an international beacon of light.
https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2015-08-25/html/2015-21042.htm
@Ginny, IF the Government of Canada had SIMPLY applied the Master Nationality Rule and stated so in the IGA as in under definitions, then this would not be an issue and the suit would have not occurred.
The Government of Canada under pressure from a Foreign Power has redefined you under Canadian Law as a USC and not a Canadian. That is what this is about, your Govt has defined you as a USC first and foremost and not Canadian.
Legally, I do not believe that is possible in any country but it is what has been done.
@George: “A Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian.” ( Justin Trudeau, Munk Debate, September, 2015)
“The Government of Canada has a responsibility to stand up for its citizens when foreign governments are encroaching on their rights.” Justin Trudeau in letter to Lynne Swanson, June, 2015)
Silence (Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Liberal Cabinet and MPs, October 2015-January 2016)
We must insist the Prime Minster meant what he said. Unfortunately, the only way he will listen now is through the courts.
We need to get Ginny and Gwen’s lawsuit funded. Thanks so much to you and others who are helping. Where are all the rest who could donate generously but aren’t?!?
It is VERY clear that Justin Trudeau is a LIAR and his silence proves it. His cabinet, just as Stephen Harper’s was, is a group of trained seals in step with him. There is no breaking through and getting to him directly. One would wonder why it is so easy to find people to radicalize as the government puts it. The actions and deceit from a government cause people to make those choices. Unfortunately, these are the times we live in and will continue to live in until governments become honest with the people who pay their wages. It is our future unfolding here and government deceit is at an all time high. This lawsuit will be the world’s first of it’s kind and I hope it spawns many more in other countries. If the costs of this lawsuit came out of Trudeau’s wage, it would not even happen. All of whom we sought support from such as CCLA,Human rights commission , etc. have proven to be exsisting for absolutely NO reason at all. These systems need to be eliminated as they offer nothing in a time of the people’s need. The silence of these systems that were created to help people when their rights are violated, is a clear SLAP in the face. Mr. Trudeau, do you ever wonder why people radicalize? You are showing us clearly why!
Your comment is right on, NativeCanadian.
And, isn’t the silence of Mr. Trudeau and his MPs for those who believed his *A Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian* so very deafening?
I had some hope for the new Canadian Government. I seriously thought they would have stepped in to defuse this issue.
They did not have to completely abandon the IGA rather they could have stated that a Canadian Citizen resident in Canada under Canadian Law is>>>>>>Canadian and not a USC.
The USA would have been furious and huffy and puffy but thats about it.
USC landed immigrants would have remained under the bus and Trudeau could have left them there but the lawsuit would have fallen away.
BTW, charitable contributions are deductible from U.S.A. federal taxable income, but only if the donation is made to a U.S.A.-recognised 501(c)(3) organization. Therefore, so-called U.S. persons living elsewhere who donate to charity might be able to get a tax break from the tax bureaucracy in their home country but not from U.S.A.
@ George:
The U.S. Treasury might not have signed the IGA that way. However, if Canadian bureaucrats signed such an IGA that does not require Parliament to enact legislation enabling implementation that way. The best outcome will be to strike down the IGA and Canada will join the ranks of countries without any IGA, where it is up to each bank whether to comply. Then, banks with no FATCA risk can avoid the expense of complying.
One other option would be for persons entering Canada to apply for an I.D. at the port of entry, and get fingerprinted there, if they want. Then that I.D. would clear any bank in Canada to open an account for that person. USA residents passing through Canada often don’t even know that they can open an account in Canada. The I.D. would remove the know-your-customer regulations on the banks. If the person is later arrested for burglary, the cops will take fingerprints. If they send a copy to Canada, then Canada would reply that the person entered Canada on 12 January 2016 and received I.D. number 123456. Now, Canada sends a query to every financial institution: Did you open an account for somebody with I.D. number 123456? Thus they would trace money laundering without a lengthy series of intrusive questions at the bank.
Well said, canoe. The US renunciation process itself creates an unnecessary barrier to renunciation. Professor Christians talks about this in her interview with Tax Analysts. She describes the rationale for the whole process as “absurd”, and rather than make it harder for people leave, why not make it easier for them to stay? She also doesn’t think the fee would survive litigation. (11:25)
http://taxpol.blogspot.ca/2015/11/fatca-citizenship-based-tax-and.html
@Tom wrote: “U.S. persons living elsewhere who donate to charity might be able to get a tax break from the tax bureaucracy in their home country but not from U.S.A.”
Major foreign charities have a US mirror charity called “Friends of …” that is a 501(c)(3) organisation. Or they receive gifts and bequests through a US charitable trust. Depending on facts and circumstances, some gifts to foreign charities by US persons can be deducted as a business or professional expense.