“The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) and the Foreign Bank and Asset Reporting Requirements result in government’s warrantless seizure of personal financial information without reasonable suspicion or probable cause. Americans overseas should enjoy the same rights as Americans residing in the United States, whose private financial information is not subject to disclosure to the government except as to interest earned.
The requirement for all banks around the world to provide detailed information to the IRS about American account holders outside the United States has resulted in banks refusing service to them. Thus, FATCA not only allows “unreasonable search and seizures” but also threatens the ability of overseas Americans to lead normal lives. We call for its repeal and for a change to residency-based taxation for U.S. citizens overseas.”
https://prod-static-ngop-pbl.s3.amazonaws.com/media/documents/DRAFT_12_FINAL%5b1%5d-ben_1468872234.pdf
Let’s add the comparison DNC platform
Here is the Hillary position
http://www.democratsabroad.org/our_candidates#Hillary
For The Hillary’s personal message, go to this Brock post
http://isaacbrocksociety.ca/2016/07/03/fourthofjuly-independenceday-analysis-the-fastest-growing-u-s-state-lies-outside-its-borders/
If there is a message from the RNC candidate Trump, we can compare it here
@All
With respect, I’ll say it again.
Trump doesn’t need to convince you that you need him. If you want this, you need to convince him that he needs you.
The ball is in your court. Either you show your support and get him into the White House owing you something. Or you play hard to get and either get Hillary (’nuff said when it comes to expat issues) or a Trump who doesn’t see that you were behind him.
The D.C. Pukes have not interest in pleasing anyone who doesn’t have a check made to their Re Election Campaign, and they will move if the check is large enough, Their approval rating has not exceeded 10% in 40 yrs yet they get re elected at about 95%. Opposition cannot stand the incumbent juggernaut each party hates. Example: My group has had a wonderful Tax bill introduced and cosponsored by up to 80 congressmen every session since 1999….no check equals no committee hearing, It won’t until we learn to play their game and have the funds to do it.
GOOD LUCK EXPATS!
Left many comments but they are unsatisfactorily caustic about politicians.
Money talks Bullshit walks. Collect money, hire a lobbyist, he pays the right person, you get what you want..clear and simple how D.C. works.
Jim Jatras is 100% correct. This is a real opportunity. The simple fact is that the issue has been acknowledged and incorporated into the Republican platform. Tax reform is a certainty. The Republican platform now includes tax reform provisions that are advantageous to Americans abroad. Either support him or stop complaining. There is NO possibility of help from the Democrats!!!! The Democrats could have ended the expat suffering by regulation. In most cases Congress wasn’t even needed.
Understand that:
1. The Democrats knew they could have fixed this.
2. They made a decision to not fix it.
3. They are destroying your lives.
I`ve renounced, but all in all, I just cannot say “apres moi le deluge”. This isn’t just about me.
Trump is a really really lousy candidate, imho. If he is going to represent America to the world, then all I can do is shake my head. We must remember that the president has veto power and can and might make decisions on his own. Do I want somebody like Trump to have the most powerful position in the world? Will America even be taken seriously with such a person as head of state? And even if expats have HUGE problems with the dems, the whole world – thats about 7 billion people – might have a huge problem with Trump reigning over the most powerful nation in the world. I`m sorry- but I just cannot endorse him. I wish heartily that the republicans had found a more serious contender for their goals to run a nation as big and as powerful as America. America is important for the world. It is the motor of the world`s economy still today. If America goes down, then the whole world will suffer, and not just us expats but including us expats. Do people here really think that Trump can improve things in America? That he is a viable candidate? Because whatever happens in America affects the whole world, and then we cannot hide anywhere.
@Polly
Trump is a good actor, he also knows how to appeal to the voters he needs. I have heard from educated, liberal minded family and friends in the US that he is surrounding himself with some very good advisors. I was a democrat for all my US life but IF I could vote, I would go for him. The other choice is unthinkable.
For those looking for the wording and placement of the “pleasing words” inside this whole document, look to page 13 (of the document, not the entire pdf). It’s under Affirming the Fourth Amendment.
Be careful. Trump is a misogynist, racist, dangerous fraud. He will no more pay attention to the party platform than he does to the US constitution. ( flawed as that document may be) He’s in it for himself and his billionaire buddies and not for ordinary folks like you and I.
@USCitizenAbroad – “Tax reform is a certainty. The Republican platform now includes tax reform provisions that are advantageous to Americans abroad.”
This is confusing. How does Ryan’s “The Way Ahead” tax reform plan (which as far as I can see doesn’t mention FATCA) relate to the Republican platform promises?
The Ryan plan does criticise the US “outdated worldwide tax system”:
“Another disadvantage is that the United States still uses a so-called worldwide tax system, which means we tax the earnings of American companies overseas when those earnings are brought back to the United States, with a credit allowed for foreign taxes paid on those earnings. Meanwhile, virtually all of our major trading partners have adopted territorial tax systems, under which these governments generally do not tax the active business income earned overseas by companies headquartered in their countries.” (p.10)
and
“The Blueprint also ends the uncompetitive worldwide tax approach of the United States, replacing it with a territorial tax system that is consistent with the approach used by our major trading partners. These two fundamental structural changes in turn allow other important aspects of the international tax rules to be simplified and streamlined significantly.
Taken together, a 20 percent corporate rate, a switch to a territorial system, and border adjustments will cause the recent wave of inversions to come to a halt. American businesses invert for two reasons: to avail themselves of a jurisdiction with a lower rate, and to access “trapped cash” overseas. Those problems are solved by the lower corporate rate and the territorial system, respectively.”
He is talking about corporate tax. I can’t tell exactly what he means by “switching to a territorial system” or whether it would apply to personal taxation.
Ryan’s plans seem to have a somewhat better chance of being implemented than the promises in the Republican platform. And if it did mean an end to CBT, that would be terrific.
Link to Ryan’s “blueprint”:
https://home.kpmg.com/content/dam/kpmg/pdf/2016/06/tnf-tax-reform-june-24-2016.pdf
@Duke of Devon: hear hear.
One has to wonder what a Libertarian Party anti-FATCA CBT platform would do to split the expat vote, when so many claim that they could NEVER vote for Trump.
The DNC would do well to plagiarize that part of the GOP’s platform. Maybe the message to DA from Dems should now be for Hillary to come out against FATCA and CBT, or they’re voting for Trump.
@Duke
Yes, a misogynist and fraud. The other choice is a fraud and criminal.
But don’t you think the Republican party can contain him and hold him to task?
CBT and repeal of FATCA is now in their manifesto, which is a little more definitive than ‘A Canadian, is a Canadian, is a Canadian statement.
I am out of there, so those left must decide and live with the consequences.
If I may plagiarize (almost) Duke of Devon’s comment at 11:41 today:
“She’s in it for herself and her billionaire buddies and not for ordinary folks like you and me.”
Might I suggest that this is even MORE accurate than what Duke said?
@Jim Jatras,
Thanks for helping me understand how important this statement is.
@Polly,
Did you vote for hope and change and the punish the rich people? I would guess yes based on your love of Sanders who has basically the same message. You’re out of the mess. I am a new US citizen to limit the damage hope and change brought me.
I admit to not reading the 66 page platform and just doing searches for keywords, but the only reference I could see to a switch to RBT was concerning corporate taxation, not taxation of individuals. As such, if indeed there is a policy to switch to RBT for individuals in the platform, could someone point me to the page? CBT is the root of all evil – if there were no CBT, then for expats there would be no FBARs and FATCA, so IMO CBT is the beast that would need to be slayed.
As for Trump, I’m with Polly and DoD (say what?!). If Trump can be taken at face value, then he’s totally unfit for the job and the world becomes a much scarier place if he gets it. If what he’s said and done are all (or mostly all) a gimmick to get himself elected, then one would have no idea whatsoever what they would be getting in a President Trump (other than someone who has no principles he’s willing to stand for, and believes the end justifies the means).
Never mind, found the call for RBT: “We call for its [FATCA] repeal and for a change to residency-based taxation for U.S. citizens overseas.”
Well, it’s better than nothing (and what the Democrats say), but it seems almost like an afterthought. FATCA gets far more wording – and a cynic would read a lot into that.
@Neill
Actually- I am for moderation in everything. I am for something in the middle.
And for your information because we always seem to be getting in each other`s hair – I was a covered expat and paid through my ears and nose.
@Polly,
Sanders isn’t moderation. Obama isn’t either. I would be covered to an extent that I needed to protect myself from being chucked out of the country and being taxed because of it. Hence I became a citizen.
The Inalienable Truths of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (#FATCA) and How It Harms Families of Expats Abroad.
1. The Democratic Obama Government opted to institute FATCA intending to suck dry every US Expatriate and anyone connected to them.
2. Hillary Clinton has decided to run the Democratic platform on “catching tax cheats” with regards to FATCA no matter where in the world they are. This includes all law-abiding citizens of foreign countries who have US indices who pay taxes in their country of residence.
3. The RNC has opted to acknowledge the harm abroad that FATCA causes and has explicitly stated so in their party platform in Cleveland, OH that their goal is to repeal FATCA and institute a change from citizenship based taxation to residence based taxation freeing the diaspora from having financially crippling expenses due to compliance and penalties.
4. The United States was founded on the principle of refusing to acknowledge taxation without representation. Yet with FATCA, the Democrats are trying to institute the exact same situation against their expats that their Forefathers left Britain for.
5. In every instance they have made renunciation (the legal method of leaving US Citizenship behind difficult: a) renunciation, an inalienable right, has been increased in cost from $0 to $450 to now $2,350. An option which has now been closed for those of modest means. b) renunciation must come after compliance; a cost of over $2,000 per tax return filed: some spanning up to 5 years of returns to become compliant. This again targets and traps those of modest means. c) in order to keep national alarm down at the rapidly increasing rates of renunciation for homelanders, the USG is opting to delay release of names of renunciants to make it appear as though the flood for the exit gates is more a trickle. This kind of disinformation tactic is reminiscent of the Soviet bloc in the mid-80s and the Brezhnev government of the Soviet Union.
6. FATCA has been leveled with the overt lie of catching FATCAT tax cheats yet has targeted those of middle and modest incomes; a far cry from the big tax cheats it was supposedly designed to target. Coupled with financially destroying penalties of up to $100,000 per account if found to be willfully not in compliance by the IRS, it has leveled 30% withholding charges against other country’s banks found to be not in compliance. These are tactics similar to the protection racket run by the Mafia.
7. Hypocritical condemnation has been leveled against Eritrea for their citizenship based TAX of 2% which has been led by the USA without looking in the mirror at their own actions. This is laughable and if your response is “Well, we’re the USA” as reason enough; therein lies the problem.
8. Foreign countries do not realize that this has been a well-orchestrated financial WWIII by the United States on their banking infrastructure and every single country has capitulated without even a whimper. Every country’s banking institutions have cried Injury to their governments while hanging their clients to dry in the name of profits.
So what does this all boil down to? It is GREED plain and simple.
The Democrats want YOUR money to pay for their exorbitant bills. For you to pay for their most vulnerable, for their infrastructure instead of making those who use them on a daily basis pay for the things they use. For other country’s finances to pay for the things Americans use because they overextended on their credit. And make no mistake, YOU and every single person with a nationality not American: You all pay the increased costs of banking at your institution because of FATCA because the costs gets distributed amongst the patrons of those banks.
With all the hysteria about ISIS and an impending war: make no mistake, every country in the world is in a war right now. It is an insidious invisible war because the only casualties are national sovereignty and financial security. And those who lose their real lives in this war are considered emotionally weak. We are in a war against the United States which has opted to attack our national sovereignty and our banking institutions and those who made capitulation possible should be treated as traitors.
@Neill
Right – so Trump is moderation? For me – Trump is far more dangerous than either Clinton or Sanders. At least Sanders had integrity. And even though we have suffered so much and continue to do so, I think the bigger picture is the whole world here.
@Polly
At the risk of departing from the centrality of CBT, FATCA, etc etc. . . .
For anyone (like me) worried about the wide world, Hillary is hardly a moderate or “safe” choice compared to “dangerous” Trump. Trump has departed from neocon belligerence on a number of issues. Sure, there’s an element of roll of the dice.
With Hillary, there’s no roll. Just the certainty of war, war, war, and possibility (probability?) of one that goes nuclear. See following from a progressive (not conservative) POV:
https://consortiumnews.com/2016/07/02/how-hillary-clinton-ignores-peace/
If we are talking about the world, we should remember that Hillary has experience in destroying countries such as Libya and laughing about it. Ukraine, Honduras, Syria, and the continuation and expansion of Iraq and Afghanistan are on Hillary’s experience list.
Trump is dangerously unpredictable? Hillary is predictably dangerous. And her family are experts at supporting every cause that brings them to power.
Read the DNC platform. It contains the desire to fight against Assad which means that she wants to fight against the Soviet presence there. She wants to send arms to the Ukraine govt to confront Russia.
The DNC & Trump have reversed roles in the pursuit of war, and Hillary is the new neocon.
A vote for Hillary is a vote for endless war,as Glenn Greenwald has said.
Comment on the GOP platform at Huffpo:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/2016-republican-platform-full-text_us_578bce03e4b03fc3ee513eb9