It seems that in addition to arbitrary and indefinite detention of U.S. citizens and resident, as authorized through the recently passed National Defense Authorization Act ( NDAA) that a supporting piece of legislation that lengthens the time the government can hold information on you has also been signed into law:
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/americans-data-held-longer-under-counterterrorism-rules-053900195.html
Is it possible that the U.S. Supreme Court by saying that a person is presumed to have the intent of keeping U.S. citizenship is actually guilty of using negative option marketing. What you may ask is negative option marketing? Here is one definition:
…I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do.
Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird (Warner Books, 1960) 112.
Here is the link to an article in the Christian Science Monitor which talks about how polarized the Congress is becoming. If the author is correct then I don’t think that expats can really expect much relief from Washington’s war against them. This is an example of why the argument that we have no representation is a valid one. Where will there be any voices that will listen to reason? Our only representation is through the legislative assemblies of the countries in which we reside and the fact that the governments of other countries are willing to stand up for people that the U.S. believes belong exculsively to them is what makes them even more angry.
I attended a U.S. tax seminar yesterday and where the following link was given out on what does not “constitute” reasonable cause for not filing your tax returns. If you use any of these reasons you can be assessed a 5000.00 penalty.
http://www.irs.gov/irb/2007-14_IRB/ar20.html
I can say that after coming out of that meeting yesterday I can only conclude that, unless one took a vow of poverty, it will be well nigh impossible to get out of this mess without incurring a lot of pain. According to the presenter the IRS is coming out sometime soon with guidelines on how dual citizens can become compliant.
This quote comes from David Ricardo’s book, On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation (Chapter 8 On Taxes):
Taxes are a portion of the produce of the land and labour of a country, placed at the disposal of the government; and are always ultimately paid, either from the capital, or from the revenue of the country.
Rebellion against tyrants is obedience to God.
Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson
Ron Paul and three other members of Congress write to tax-cheat Secretary of the Treasury, the Honorable Timothy F. Geithner, to warn him of how foreign investors will pull their money out of the United States if FATCA is implemented.
