Petros Principle 12: The criminals are in DC
Psalm 10.1-2 (RSV)
Woe to those who decree iniquitous decrees,
and the writers who keep writing oppression,
to turn aside the needy from justice
and to rob the poor of my people of their right,
that widows may be their spoil,
and that they may make the fatherless their prey!
Psalm 94:20-23 (RSV)
Can wicked rulers be allied with thee,
who frame mischief by statute?
They band together against the life of the righteous,
and condemn the innocent to death.
But the LORD has become my stronghold,
and my God the rock of my refuge.
He will bring back on them their iniquity
and wipe them out for their wickedness;
the LORD our God will wipe them out.
Commentary:
Often people assume that FATCA was about catching wealthy Homelanders who were putting their money in offshore accounts to avoid paying taxes. But in the above video, it comes out of the horse’s mouth what FATCA is all about by design–“far reaching steps to catch overseas tax cheats”–not tax cheats who have their money overseas–the adjective “overseas” modifies the noun “tax cheats”. The manner in which FATCA has been implemented has shown that the intention was always to snare innocent so-called Americans abroad.
Democrats Abroad have attempted to get a same country exemption for expats, but the regulators have not simply been slow to make it happen but have stonewalled. So we should please stop saying that the intention of FATCA was to catch Homelanders putting their money in banks abroad. The intention has always been to catch innocent people. Moreover, the repeated petitions to find relief from FATCA and FBAR have fallen on deaf ears, showing that the US government is run by sociopaths who have no empathy for the people they are destroying.
One reason that an unjust law is no law (PP7) is because it will punish innocent behaviour. So a person living in Canada who works, opens bank accounts, invests in investment vehicles, who owns a personal corporation, who abides by the Canadian tax code, is an innocent person, full stop. That person is not a “tax cheat”. Thus, FATCA is itself a crime because of its criminalization of innocent behaviour.
Psalms 10 and 94 (cited above) show that it has long been recognized that evil rulers can create unjust statutes which criminalize innocent people. The Psalms invoke God himself to deal ever so severely with such wicked rulers. In several comments on my last post, a certain Jay said that lying to authorities is unethical. In his view, expats must only fill out good faith forms to the IRS. And yet doing that very thing has exposed not a few innocent people to the full brunt of bad laws and has turned them into victims. Evidently, Jay’s ethics do not conform to this ancient traditional view of law. In my view, Petros Principles are an ethical response to unjust laws, by providing wisdom by which innocent people may protect themselves and find the least bad solution in the face of laws designed to criminalize them.
The true criminals are the makers and enforcers of laws like FATCA. Such people cannot withstand scrutiny. The following documentary, Clinton Cash, sheds light on a criminal couple in DC who have gamed the system to make for themselves hundreds of millions. And such people have the audacity to come after my meager savings?
Previous Discussions
Human rights trump money: Why We must say no to FATCA
Ignorance is an excuse in the case of FBAR
The Real Intent of #FATCA: You are not “Collateral Damage” — You are the Target
Previous Petros Principles:
(1) What the IRS can’t know unless you tell them can’t hurt you.
(2) Fear makes the IRS more dangerous than it really is.
(3) Haste is the devil.
(4) Those most hurt by the IRS’s persecution of expats have engaged the services of cross-border compliance condors.
(5) Those least hurt have done nothing.
(6) Home is where you live.
(7) An unjust law is no law.
(8) Don’t feed the beast.
(9) Do the minimum in trying to achieve the least bad outcome.
(10) Lying to prevent a crime is a virtue.
(11) Cynical derision of Homelanders is healthy.
About: Petros is the alias of the founding administrator of the Isaac Brock Society. Petros Principles are guidelines that have helped him and others deal with the United States’ world-wide tax invasion.
astute observation.
FATCA was the last version of the Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act, which is about the only piece of legislatipn which ever had Senator Obama’s name on it.
http://www.taxjustice.net/cms/upload/pdf/Levin-Coleman-Obama_Offshore_Tax_Bill__2-17-07Final.pdf
The speech referred to is here
https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/leveling-playing-field-curbing-tax-havens-and-removing-tax-incentives-shifting-jobs
This was before Carl Levin and Dick Harvey got married
“Let’s look into statements made by FATCA implementer former Treasury Secretary Gheitner “We are working very closely to try to meet the ‘Congressional intent’ (of FATCA) to make it harder for American Citizens overseas to avoid U.S taxes without putting undue burdens…..” 3 Treasury official Mark Mazur’s says: “It is also important to note that FATCA’s requirements are the same for all American taxpayers—expats are treated no differently. All citizens are required to comply with United States’ tax laws and FATCA is a tool to enforce them….” 4”
http://isaacbrocksociety.ca/2014/10/27/the-real-intent-of-fatca-you-are-not-collateral-damage-you-are-the-target/
“Let’s be honest. FATCA’s intent is to tax-up US citizens living outside USA. You are its target. When you accept this truth, you can better formulate your forward strategy”
@Mark. Thanks, I’ve added that post to the previous discussions.
Who is un-American? The un-American ones are in DC passing laws contra to the founding principles of America.
Maybe along these lines could be another Petros Principle.
Part of it all is that if a Homelander hears of a US person living in another country and “paying no US tax!” they think that this US person is getting away with something. Supporting examples always tend to be those countries that really have relatively low income tax. There is little fathoming that persons living overseas pay tax to the country they live in. One might hope for a refocus on the ~85% of those US persons living overseas who live in equal or higher tax countries.
John Richardson highlights the inequity of it all by pointing out that the cost of US citizenship varies greatly depending on the country one is in.
@JC, In your opinion, is it Homelander Derangement Syndrome or just a failure to grow up? Yeah, I’ve run across Homelanders who just simply refuse to try to understand.
http://isaacbrocksociety.ca/2015/10/29/our-sociopathic-society-ii-narcissitic-sociopathy-is-an-american-disease/
Yes Petros. But the Book of Psams is not in the religious text that Obama reads.
@Renaud, Our own Jay probably doesn’t read it either. My point is that for millenia, law theory has taken into account that written laws can be used to steal.
@Petros, I agree. Especially Ezekiel 25:17
I’m having flashbacks to all those Sunday school classes I skipped out of.
@BlackKat, the lawmakers and enforcers also skipped those classes and then some.
@renauld, I don’t get it. One comment your directing vulgarities at people. Another comment you’re quoting the bible?
Oops… You’re not your
i know lots of people who went to Sunday school classes and then some.You would label them ‘sociopaths.’
U.S. Tax law is about control of the citizens and not to collect revenue. The D.C. pukes of both parties are control freaks and both have led us to a Soviet style system of central control. Next we will have a one party system. We have already adopted the system of political correctness (PC) that the Soviet Cpmmunist Party had as their political system. It will be the Progressives whose members have already discovered they can vote for a living instead of working for a living.
Pledge of Allegiance to the US “with liberty and justice for all.”
I have commented that the Pledge was to a different nation than what is inflicted upon US persons overseas.
un-American policies! Those who speak out against are more American than those who devised such policies.
amend above: those who devised and defend such policies.
“But the LORD has become my stronghold,
and my God the rock of my refuge.
He will bring back on them their iniquity
and wipe them out for their wickedness;
the LORD our God will wipe them out.”
Well…better start digging a bunker, because it’s going to take Russia nuking the crap out of the USA to wipe this nest of thieves in DC out.
Excellent post Petros, simply excellent. History is always enlightening.
I fully agree with all of your principles.
Great post Pedros! When well America wake up and see that there is a REASON why all its allies use RBT. When will they admit that the way of ALL civilised countries is better than their own. My feeling is that another Biblical quotation is apt: “Arrogance will bring your downfall, but if you are humble, you will be respected.” (Proverbs 29:23)
“When well America wake up and see that there is a REASON why all its allies use RBT. When will they admit that the way of ALL civilised countries is better than their own.”
Probably when hell freezes over.
It should be noted that Presidents have consultants going over their speeches for ambiguities and for proper style. It was no accident.