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
http://www.bobsguide.com/guide/news/2016/Mar/3/6-critical-checkpoints-to-meet-the-impending-fatca-deadline.html
More compliance industry BS – why should a Canadian company have to fill in this IRS BS for an internal Canadian transaction?
Why no media coverage of Fatca in Canada? Here is a line from Wikipedia of CHCH in Hamilton….a spokesperson for Canwest, said that CHCH, and its other stations in the E! group, were money losers during the last decade, coupled with the Canadian broadcasters’ dependency on American programming for profits.[9] Taken from here…..https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CHCH-DT This is why the media and our so called “journalists” refuse to make Fatca front page news as they too, are American puppets!
I wonder if it would be worthwhile for someone in the NDP revenue or finance critics ridings to ask him to pose a question in Question Period to Bill Morneau. He could ask them as the go to man what the government is doing about FATCA (after all, all questions from U.S. Tainted Canadians are being forwarded to him from the ministers of justice, revenue and the prime minister so he must know what’s going on).
I wonder if it might increase the perception of negative consequences to the U.S. by sending letters to senators and congressman of tourist destination states (Hawaii, California, Florida, Minnesota, Arizona, border states) letting them know as U.S. tainted Canadians we are no longer able or willing to holiday in the U.S., stressing more than 1 million Canadians in this situation. I for one would probably vacation in Hawaii 3 times since 2010. As time goes along more of these will become aware of the FATCA situation.
Maybe the potential impact on their pocketbook may have an impact?
NEWS FLASH*******
Border babies v the IRS
Americans in Canada fight back against the taxman
Mar 5th 2016 | OTTAWA | From the print edition
http://www.economist.com/news/americas/21693982-americans-canada-fight-back-against-taxman-border-babies-v-irs?fsrc=scn%2Ftw_ec%2Fborder_babies_v_the_irs
First sentence:
WHEN Barack Obama vowed in 2009 to pursue tax cheats abroad, he probably was not thinking of people like Ginny Hillis.
Time for the swat team. Thanks JC for the heads up.
http://www.international-adviser.com/news/1027873/fatca-exceptions-agreed-swiss-us-authorities
Switzerland and US sign an FATCA for lawyers to exempt their escrow accounts. However it does nothing to improve FATCA abuse for their customer. Once the money leaves the escrow account, guess what, the next bank account must be FATCA compliant (the customer’s personal account).
@Calgary 411 – If you don’t send in the W9, the bank will automatically classify the account as ‘US Reportable’ and send through the FATCA data.
Every suspected account is ‘US Reportable’ with the bank offering you a possible opted out if you prove you are not a ‘US person.’
At the end of the day, what is going to happen to the bank if it reported every single account? Nothing.
@Cheryl I have asked the NDP Justice and Revenue critics to ask a question in Question Period. They are waiting until they have the answers to the Order Paper questions before raising the issue in Question Period.
That is a disappointment, but I hope Mr. Dusseault will do it.
I have let the Senator in my home state (Pennsylvania) know that I will no longer make trips two to three times a year to my hometown because of FATCA. The response: Nothing.
Well I am not sure if you will agree with me @Don but for me this is good news. Lawyers take very seriously their solicitor-client privacy issues and many lawyers were trapped in an untenable position which the USA put them in potentially breaching that trust. Since they wouldn’t do this, it made things even more difficult to serve their clients. Good for Switzerland.
But yes, it still leaves people passed on to the banking report Regs. That’s the USA gift that keeps on giving.
http://www.economist.com/news/americas/21693982-americans-canada-fight-back-against-taxman-border-babies-v-irs?fsrc=scn%2Ftw_ec%2Fborder_babies_v_the_irs
Thanks to the Swat Truth Team for adding comments to clear up some facts as well as some bordering on pejorative terms used by the author. I was unavailable the day he asked to interview me; otherwise I would have also assured him that like most of us, I would not have nor do I owe any taxes for the last eight years anyway or from my date of birth. FBARS are obviously another animal which they claim against many of us.
Regardless, they are not getting a penny from me because I know the borders of my country and which country’s laws I am subject to. And it is not the land of Obama nor Donald Trump nor the Wizard of Oz. I am a compliant tax paying Canadian citizen.
I am not an American living in Canada, I am a Canadian since birth as a commenter pointed out. Anything else is a misapprehension of the facts.
Not to mention the Economist article’s loaded language, referring to “draft dodgers”. And the line about “harvesting donations from China”. Interesting choice of words, since “harvesting” is a word often associated in the world press with China’s harvesting of organs from executed prisoners. In other words, the lawsuit has backing from sinister forces.
What despicable so-called journalism.
Cheryl: I love your idea! The 5th Anniversary of my last trip to the United States is fast approaching. Since 2011 I have missed two funerals and a family reunion to say nothing of the holiday visits that would have occurred annually were it not for FATCA and, thereby, my knowledge of CBT. It would be interesting to know exactly how many of us have withdrawn their travel dollars from the US, and to calculate the cost to the US economy of our departure.
@ MuzzledNoMore It would be interesting to know exactly how many of us have withdrawn their travel dollars from the US, and to calculate the cost to the US economy of our departure.
put me down for no trips to amerika since November 2013. used to make at least 2 or 3 long weekend trips a year and one 7-10 day trip a year. my wife and I have a travel rule as well…..no spending money at multi national chains as much as possible….rather the small mom and pop places in the communities we choose to visit
now my home province and mexico gets those tourist dollars…our same travel rule applies to my home province and mexico support the mom and pops not the corporations….
@muzzled.
I was just wondering if a bunch of us wrote to individual senators & reps from tourist destination and border states citing how many visits we have no longer done, if it might have an impact. A letter campaign in other words not about how CBC & FATCA has hurt us but how it’s hurting them???
@Cheryl
The low Canadian dollar has done more damage than a few Americans in Canada could ever do.
But how can they be sure what’s what?
They don’t need to be sure. The USG doesn’t give a damn if you visit or not and spend money there unless you stay long enough, even by 24 hours and then Bam! You are a tax slave. I agree the lower value of the looney has done more to curb visits.
Are those who avoid the US doing it as an act of self-preservation or to boycott the US? I’m pretty sure there are still many US tax non-compliant people who go there without encountering any problems. Maybe there’s another reason.
@mettleman,
My family is one boycotting the US with our dollars. Last year was a milestone birthday for me, and my husband provided a trip to wherever I wanted to go. In the past we would have gone to the US. No more. We flew straight over the US to Mexico. It was a glorious trip, a beautiful country, lovely people, fantastic healthy food, awe-inspiring history. It made me wonder why we had ever gone to the US in the first place.
Living in a border city, my husband had a golf membership over the border in the US for a decade, he was even on their committee as the Canadian rep. He travelled across several times a week. Not anymore, he’s staying in Canada. Golf trips he used to take further south in the US have now been traded for a golf trip to St. Andrews, Scotland.
No more travel $$ to the US for us. Even our kids are now shunning them, opting for Toronto and other Canadian locations.
Further to my above comment (and I know this might get me sniggered at), but for myself I could not enter the US in good conscience knowing I’m in violation of their laws, no matter how wrong I think those laws are. I also know that the situation is much more complex for those who have never identified as a US citizen, as I have.
I sometimes wish that I was like many accidentals who think of themselves as solely Canadian. Things would be so much simpler.
@Bubblbustin’. After my mother’s death two years ago, I vowed to never again return to the U.S. as a protest, not because I of self-preservation.
I miss seeing extended family, friends and my hometown. But I don’t miss anything else about the United States of Arrogance.
My 50th year high school class reunion (Yikes!) will be in two years. That will be a toughie for me to miss, but I am determined to never return if this issue is not resolved fairly by the U.S.
@Blaze
Shouldn’t the US government be “for the people by the people?” Sure, you’re no longer a US citizen but your friends are. You should go to your reunion in support of your friends, and in spite of the US government’s stupid policies that stand in the way of people.
BB, you wrote: “Further to my above comment (and I know this might get me sniggered at), but for myself I could not enter the US in good conscience knowing I’m in violation of their laws, no matter how wrong I think those laws are.”
I’m confused. I thought you were a compliant US taxpayer. Have you broken other US laws?
I said “couldn’t”, not “can’t”. Let me preface with “Had I not become US tax compliant…”
But that’s just me.