Cross-posting while listening to viewing / listening to: http://parlvu.parl.gc.ca/XRender/en/PowerBrowser/PowerBrowserV2/20160414/-1/24805?useragent=Mozilla/5.0%20(Windows%20NT%2010.0;%20WOW64)%20AppleWebKit/537.36%20(KHTML,%20like%20Gecko)%20Chrome/49.0.2623.112%20Safari/537.36
http://maplesandbox.ca/2016/baby-elles-fatca-letter/
Dear Prime Minister Trudeau and President Obama:
Why do you think I am a tax cheat?
I am eight months old. I live with my Mommy and Daddy in Canada.
I can’t walk or talk yet. So my Nana’s friend Lynne is helping me write to you.
At Christmas time Mommy and Daddy opened a small savings account for me in Canada. When I was six months old in February, TD Bank sent me a letter and other stuff.
I can’t read. So Nana read it for me.
I don’t know what the gibberish in the letter means. Nana says it’s crazy. I believe my Nana.
The letter says TD will squeal on me to Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). Then the CRA will tattle on me to U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for FATCA. What’s a FATCA?
I don’t know what a citizen is. But I’m a double one.
I was born in the United States. My Mommy and Daddy are Canadian citizens. The Canadian government sent me a letter saying I am too. But I have a blue book that says I’m a U.S. citizen too.
TD says because they know I was born in the United States, I have to complete, sign and mail forms to them.
How can I? I can’t even print yet.
President Obama: Why do you want my information? What will you do with it?
Prime Minster Trudeau: Why are you giving your friend Mr. Obama information about me? Why are you helping him? Why aren’t you helping me?
Please help me. I can’t afford an accountant or lawyer from my allowance.
Bye Bye.
Baby Elle
Vancouver Canada
referencing also today’s: http://ipolitics.ca/2016/04/14/baby-girl-drawn-into-cra-irs-information-sharing-controversy/
AND
http://ipolitics.ca/2016/04/14/so-now-the-cra-is-going-after-infants/
…to be continued
See the text of this post: Baby Elle’s FATCA Letter (Lynne Swanson’s good work)…
I’m also listening, and M. Boulerice brought it up moments ago.
“If this is about tax cheats, is this baby one of the people that you need to send over to the IRS? This 8 month old baby?”
The Minister sputtered a little bit after that. I know lots of people are annoyed that she can’t really speak English, but even being francophone, to me she’s not coming off as terribly coherent. Trudeau has many capable people around his cabinet table. I’d argue that she ain’t one of them.
This new article by Elizabeth Thompson and Blaze’s letter are most welcomed on this frustrating beginning to my day. The ETHI meeting video has cut out so many times I’m about to give up on it and hope that it behaves better later when I try to replay it.
Just when you think you have heard it all, there’s more. Somebody needs to come forward as a witness on behalf of this baby. Absolutely ridiculous!
Savouring this hard proof of the way in which the Liberal government’s choice to takeover and run with the CON mantle of betrayal of Canadians via the FATCA IGA with the US pushes them further and further into territory that is clearly unacceptable, absurd and so very obviously a great wrong done to the very citizens and taxpayers they have sworn to serve and protect.
Baby Elle is by birth a Canadian citizen. She is also a Canadian resident. Her other citizenship status is irrelevant when she is on Canadian soil. The Trudeau government said ” a Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian”.
So can the Prime Minister and his Revenue Minister Diane Lebouthillier explain why they are defending in court the turnover of the bank account and personal information of a Canadian baby to the IRS?
Bravo Lynne for finding this and making it public.
Wow!! Bit by bit. This is a perfect story for a perfect storm. An innocent 8 month old baby caught up in this!!!!!
Up now, FIN Meeting No. 14
http://parlvu.parl.gc.ca/XRender/en/PowerBrowser/PowerBrowserV2/20160414/-1/24821?useragent=Mozilla/5.0%20(Windows%20NT%2010.0;%20WOW64)%20AppleWebKit/537.36%20(KHTML,%20like%20Gecko)%20Chrome/49.0.2623.112%20Safari/537.36
Elizabeth Thompson is commenting on Twitter that she has never seen a government minister so nearly over her head as Diane Lebouthillier is today during today’s hearing in her entire journalistic career in Ottawa.
Tim,
…Correct. Her prior work experience, mainly in social work, surely does not qualify Diane Lebouthillier for the important position of Canada’s Minister of National Revenue. It appears her appointment did not come with effective due diligence — especially when there were more qualified MPs to take this position so important to Canada’s and ALL Canadian’s well-being.
http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/minister/
The couple should sue the bank for not allowing for a “reasonable explanation”, something the IGA allows customers to do.
At least a good “waaaaaaaaa” should be allowed, and the smell of poopy diapers filling the bank manager’s office.
Sorry, in a bad mood after listening to the last few minutes of the meeting. Summary: Privacy Commissioner wishes a different deal would have been struck, but says ‘it’s legal because it’s the law’.
Baby Elle is the granddaughter of Somerfugl. Some of you from the early days at Brock may remember Somerfugl, Tiger and I first consulted Joe Arvay in March of 2012.
I’m sure Somerfugl never imagined then that her future grandhchild would one day get the FATCA letter as a baby.
Somerfugl gave me the “Dear Valued Customer” letter and package a couple of weeks ago. I have been working with Elizabeth Thompson and iPolitics to get the word out.
iPolitics also just publishedan OpEd I wrote about Baby Elle. Both the article and the headline were edited from what I wrote, but it takes a baby to show the Fibbing Libs for the hypocrites they are.
http://ipolitics.ca/2016/04/14/so-now-the-cra-is-going-after-infants/
I am still sputtering at what I heard this morning. ParlVu kept fading in and out, but the gist of CRA and the Minister’s testimony was: 1. The Americans made us do it. 2. The Liberal concern was only about the process used for the IGA.
Emmanuel Dubourg was at the meeting but was silent. His article in the National Post and his comments in Parliament were definitely NOT about the process. Neither were the many other comments the Liberals made.
I guess the Minister only reads note cards prepared by CRA employees and did not read Dubourg’s article or Trudeau’s letter to me. Because surely, she wouldn’t actually lie. Would she?
The Minister would not even say Canadians should be advised when their information is transmitted to IRS. She simply repeated a few times that Canadians can ask for that information. Ummm. What if they don’t know about FATCA? They won’t know to ask.
Maybe the Minister wants Baby Elle to ask CRA directly like TD wants her to complete, sign and return forms. TD knows how old Baby Elle is because they have her birth certificate.
The CRA bureaucrat made a comment about the lawsuit, but the video faded out just as he mentioned it. I will try to replay it later,
The Privacy Commissioner repeatedly justified the transmission of the info of Canadians to the IRS under the pretense of combating tax evasion.
I will be speaking with Elizabeth Thompson about the meeting later I don’t know what I will say because what I think can’t be published.
@Blaze
It’s been months, and I still don’t have word from the Revenue Minister as to whether my banking info has been sent to the CRA.
The Privacy Commissioner stated that there should be a mechanism for people to find out if they ask. Maybe they will have to do a big study to determine whether doing that would be consistent with privacy laws? The FATCA IGA is a complete debacle. Baby Ella is proof.
There’s also the fact that once the IRS has contacted you (which will be out of the blue for the majority), the IRS will deny you any of their amnesty programs.
“Tough luck kid. Don’t forget to send Uncle Barry the taxes due on that Child Care Benefit and RESP grants.”
Lynne, you’re a star. Great job.
Anyone know how long until the Privacy session this morning is back up on Parlvu? I was only able to catch the second half with the privacy commissioner live.
@ the Mom
It takes awhile for them to “rewind the tape”. I see that video sessions from yesterday are now available but none from today … yet. We might have to wait until tomorrow for a replay. I missed quite a bit with the live coverage going on and off but what I heard made me boiling mad. I might have to do some calming meditation or use the tapping technique to prepare myself for the replay when it becomes available.
Bubblebustin Baby Elle doesn’t have a “reasonable explanation.’ She does not have the right to renounce until she is 18 and her parents can’t renounce for her.
Forget the smell of poopy diapers. She should dump the contents in the bank manager’s office as her completed, signed and returned forms.
The Minister and Commissioner’s testimony this morning was dirtier than Baby Elle’s poopy diapers.
Thanks EmBee.
@BCDoc Thanks. It’s Baby Elle who is the star. And her Mommy, Daddy and Nana for agreeing to allow her story to be told.
@TheMom: Take something to calm yourself before you watch it. I normally have low blood pressure, but I’m sure it was through the roof as I watched the Committee.
In fact, BC Doc, Cheryl and Polly probably would have cautioned me that I was at risk for a stroke if they took my blood pressure while I was watching. Even two hours later…
I can say one good thing about the meeting.
We are being heard about the $50k threshold.
I caught the last hour or so. It’s very frustrating to watch because it is a discussion about privacy issues only. The bigger issue is Charter violations which will not be debated until the trial. It’s difficult to listen to them nit-pick about how and when and where the information is sent when it is the entire IGA that is the problem.
@Blaze, thanks for the tip. I was uttering a few non-repeatables during the second half, but only my fish could hear me.
I swear I lost a year of my life every time the Minister said that she wanted to protect against “l’évasion fiscale”
Follow
They kepp amending an amendment and introducing new amendments to invite the Minister of Revenue to appear about the KPMG wealthy tax evaders with true offshore accounts.
What a sham all of this is.
I predicted at Maple Sandbox a few days ago we would pay the price for the KPMG issue. What I heard at Finance Committee confirms my prediction.
I guess TD Bank is not using the $50K minimum threshold.