Author Archives: WhiteKat

With any long, drawn out battle, conflict among comrades is inevitable. Our fight to kill the FATCA IGA in Canada is no exception. We are not soldiers on a battlefied with guns and bombs. Our war is mostly fought with words. But sometimes we use those words against each other. On that note, perhaps the following thoughts might help ease some of the tension many of us have been feeling lately.

1. You know that little voice in your head that keeps you from writing things on Brock that you shouldn’t?  Yeah, well I don’t have one of those.
2. I prefer not to think before writing. I like being as surprised as everyone else when I read what I wrote after pounding madly away at the keyboard.
3. Have you ever read something at Brock and wondered, “Who ties your shoelaces for you?”  See points #1 and #2 to better understand the commenter’s perspective.
4. I can explain it to you, but I cannot understand it for you.
5. I never argue. I just explain why I am right.
6. Do not confuse my personality with my attitude. My personality is who I am. My attitude depends on what or who my comment is directed towards.
7. My people skills are just fine. It is my tolerance for idiotic comments that needs work.
8. Sometimes I sit quietly reading at Brock and wonder why I am not in a mental asylum. Then I read a bit more and think maybe I already am.
9. I hate it when the voices inside my head go silent. I never know what they are plotting for me to write next.
10. Be careful when you follow the Brock masses. Sometimes the ‘m’ is silent.

And the next time you are seeing red over a comment made by a fellow Brocker, take a long, slow, deep, breath.  Then hold it for about 20 minutes!

As the date for the summary trial for the Canadian FATCA IGA draws nearer, behind the scenes, various groups are contemplating other ways to attack USA’s extraterritorial overreach into the sovereignty of other countries, and its insistence that US persons abroad are Americans first and foremost, thus subject to US law.  Republicans Overseas are expected to soon be announcing a legal challenge against FATCA from within the USA. Rumblings at the Isaac Brock Society, and at various forums representing Americans abroad, hint at a potential future legal challenge aimed directly at citizenship based taxation.

All these attempts at helping to save ‘US persons’ living outside USA from American laws, are laudable and worthy of support.  However for the most part, no group has been talking about another obvious battle to be fought, which is the fight to help set people free from the chains of unwanted US citizenship. How many times have we heard from homeland Americans who don’t understand our pain, “If you don’t like it, why don’t you just renounce”? Unfortunately, relinquishing US citizenship is a mine field full of potential compliance nightmares (ex’s: PFICS, foreign trusts), possible penalties, and an outrageous renunciation fee (currently $2,350 USD), thus rendering it a near impossibility for many.

Yet to be free from US citizenship would mean freedom from FATCA, and freedom from citizenship based taxation(CBT), and ultimately freedom from ANY AND ALL US LAWS imposed by USA against those it considers ‘US persons’ NOW AND FOREVER MORE.

Continue reading →

A good friend of mine, a Canadian citizen who has lived in Canada for 40 years, recently shared some of her thoughts with me regarding what she describes as a sort of cognitive dissonance in terms of her changing feelings towards the country she was born in, grew up in, and is still a citizen of – the USA. The following is narrated from some emails she sent me, and for which she gave permission to share with the Brock community. She says:

I needed a break from all this FATCA craziness, so went to a show called “Rock ‘n Roll Legends”, at a local theater with my neighbours. Although the theater is small, it is a class act and people come from all over to watch the shows. I expected to have trouble staying in my seat and figured I would want to dance up and down the aisles. And it was just fabulous! They did this retrospective of showing US news on the screen while performing the music that was current at the time from the 60′ and 70’s. The cast was amazing. They had the music just absolutely perfectly dead on, all could sing unbelievably well, mimicking the original artists perfectly, and each played multiple instruments.

It was unreal. But the most unpredictable thing happened to me. Instead of wanting to dance in the aisles, I ended up sobbing. You didn’t grow up in the USA, and are much younger than me. I lived through Viet Nam and lost classmates. I lived through the atrocities committed, and yet I loved my country – not the government but the nation. I loved my classmates that died in Nam, understood that: only the poor kids were sent to fight and were not honoured upon their return;  the politicians’ kids didn’t go; and the country didn’t care about the expendable poor kids but just used them for political fodder.

In a strange way that whole era, combined in my head at the same time with this FATCA mess we are currently in, and I had this soul wrenching, demoralizing sense of utter betrayal and complete understanding of what a fool I have been for so many years. I just sobbed. They showed pictures from Viet Nam – the young soldiers, the devastation – all to the backdrop of “He ain’t heavy he’s my brother”. It just killed me.

To actually have believed that the country was good, but to now understand that the government has always been and always will be just simply cruel, makes me ashamed to have this red, white and blue tattoo, just simply ashamed. Yet it is who I am. At a gut level I think I actually see myself as an American living in Canada. But now I am left with this empty, groundless, terrifying feeling. I cannot shed this ‘American thing’ that is me, nor am I really Canadian (aside from living here for 40 years and having a Canadian passport).

In the grand scale of life does it really matter? We are all citizens of this planet. Maybe having what one calls a ‘national identity’ is just simply foolish, and an ego thing. Intellectually, I believe this but in my gut I am simply sick, sad and very, very unhappy. It is a sense of being adrift, beyond lonely, of not having one drop of solid ground under my feet, having no identity, and of being terrified of and hurt by my once beloved country.

Am I making one drop of sense? I really can’t describe the source of my tears nor the pain in my tummy. Betrayal? Fear? Being adrift? Am I overreacting? Maybe being involved with this fight day in and day out is causing me to flip out. But it is real, and not dealing with it, not fighting back will do nothing to make it go away. I have to stay involved. Taking a break will just cause me more anxiety.

Well, so much for it being a fun night. I now feel hung over and exhausted, and I didn’t drink a thing! My head is stuck in a depressive bubble.

We hear the word ‘narcissist’ a lot these days in articles and media. It has become a popular buzzword used to describe manipulative, controlling people who have an inflated sense of their own importance, a deep need for admiration, a sense of entitlement, and a lack of empathy for others.  According to psychcentral.com, in order for a person to be diagnosed with narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) they must have five or more of the following  symptoms:

• Has a grandiose sense of self-importance (e.g., exaggerates achievements and talents, expects to be recognized as superior without commensurate achievements)
• Is preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love
• Believes that he or she is “special” and unique and can only be understood by, or should associate with, other special or high-status people (or institutions)
• Requires excessive admiration
• Has a very strong sense of entitlement, e.g., unreasonable expectations of especially favorable treatment or automatic compliance with his or her expectations
• Is exploitative of others, e.g., takes advantage of others to achieve his or her own ends
• Lacks empathy, e.g., is unwilling to recognize or identify with the feelings and needs of others
• Is often envious of others or believes that others are envious of him or her
• Regularly shows arrogant, haughty behaviors or attitudes

Most experts agree that narcissism exists on a continuum, with some people naturally being more narcissistic than others, such that the defining line between who has a full blown narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) versus who exhibits highly narcissistic traits is not distinct.  Essentially, to some degree, all of us have behaved narcissistically at one point or another.  Regardless whether we are dealing with full blown NPD or a highly narcissistic person, such individuals can cause a lot of pain and chaos in the lives of those they cross paths with.

 Psychologists and therapists say, watch out if you suspect you are dealing with a highly narcissistic person as their personality is typically fixed, and no amount of pleading, explaining or appealing to their non-existent empathy will change their behaviour unless something is in it for them.  Your best bet is to run far away and never look back if you can. If you are forced to deal with them on a regular basis, for example if such a person is your boss or your parent or your spouse, there are ways to make life less chaotic in terms of how you relate to them, but never forget that they are who they are, and will always be who they are.

Is the USA behaving like a narcissist with regards to its ‘US persons’ living outside USA?

Is USA’s insistence on unique to the world, citizenship based taxation (Eritrea doesn’t count), indicative of a grandiose sense of self-importance?

Is USA preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, and does it believe it is ‘special’ and unique, to the degree that it can justify taxation on people who neither live nor work within the geographical boundaries of the United States of America?

Does the USA require excessive admiration by insisting that people who have lived entire lives outside the USA pay tribute to the USA in the form of taxation and the revealing of their so-called ‘foreign’ bank accounts, simply because they were born on ‘special’ US soil?

Does the USA reveal a strong sense of entitlement by insisting that all other countries in the world, at their own expense, hunt down their own citizens living in their own countries, just because USA says these people are its ‘US persons’?

Is the USA being exploitative of other countries by threatening them with economic sanctions if they do not hand over their US born citizens (and other ‘US persons’ as defined by the USA) to the USA?

Does the USA lack empathy for those it deems ‘US persons’ who are typically citizens of other countries living in those other countries, paying taxes already in those other countries, and who cannot live normal financial lives, cannot save adequately for retirement, and are burdened by having to marry two incompatible tax systems?

Does the USA show arrogant, haughty behaviour or attitude by presuming it is OK for it to be the ONLY country in the world(Eritrea doesn’t count) to impose citizenship based taxation, knowing full well that if ALL countries did this, the world would be a financial mess?

Even if FATCA and CBT are struck down, is it safe to remain a ‘US person’ living outside USA, or is your best bet to run to the nearest US consulate and renounce US citizenship to get the narcissist out of your life forever?

Psychologists describe 5 stages of grief based on the Kubler-Ross model introduced by Swiss psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross in her 1969 book, ‘On Death and Dying’.  Although originally ascribed to the emotional stages experienced due to death of a loved one, the model can also be useful to understand the responses to any subjective trauma that a person may go through, for example a relationship breakup, a job loss, or a ‘OMG! I am a US taxpayer’ moment.

The key here is ‘subjective trauma’.  Many ‘US persons’ know what it is like to have people roll their eyes, yawn, or wonder why we are so worked up, just because we discover we are subject to FATCA (what’s the big deal? You ARE an American!), or because we discover we are US taxpayers (if you don’t like it why don’t you renounce?).  Typically, we do not get the sympathy one would get if we had a serious illness, or lost our job, or divorced our spouse.

Non-US persons for the most part, just do not ‘get’ the ‘US person’ curse, because to be FATCA’d and CBT’d is not within the realm of normal human experiences. We are unique and special in the world that way – thanks to USA’s exceptional treatment of those it deems ‘US persons’. Nevertheless it IS traumatic for those of us who have lived most or all our lives in countries other than the USA, and who have never had a clue we were US taxpayers on our non-US income, to be FATCA’d and CBT’d.

The following are the 5 stages of grief as outlined in the Kubler-Ross model. Keep in mind that these stages are not necessarily linear. One day you may feel like you are angry beyond belief, and the next day you may feel that it just is what it is. Hopefully, at some point, most of your days will fall into the latter category.

Denial.

The first reaction to hearing one has a terminal illness, or their house burned down, or they are subject to the tax laws of a foreign country, is denial. This just CANNOT be for real. It makes no sense. This has got to be wrong. How could I have lived all these years and NOT known I was a US taxpayer? There must be exceptions for people like me who don’t live in the USA. They surely cannot be referring to ME.

Anger.

Once the initial shock wears off, anger follows. We want to blame someone or something. We may be angry at the doctor who gives us a bad diagnosis, at the driver who caused the accident, or at ourselves for not doing something to prevent whatever bad thing happened. We are angry at the Canadian government for not standing up for us, at our spouse who thinks we are over reacting, at our neighbour who doesn’t want to listen to our rants, at ourselves for not figuring out years ago that we were US taxpayers, or at the American government for acting like it owns us.

Bargaining.

This is the stage where we play games with ourselves, and with others, desperately trying to ‘work it out’ or ‘fix things’, so that we can go back to the way things were before. The person whose romantic relationship is at an end may promise to change their behaviour – anything to not have the relationship end. The dying patient may promise God he/she will be a better person or take better care of himself/herself – anything to not have to die. The newly aware US taxpayer searches for a way to work out their non-compliance: streamlined program? 5 years tax compliance catch-up? – just please don’t penalize me for my ignorance.

Depression.

Reality is setting in now. There is no easy way out. We are not going to bring our loved one back. Our job is gone forever. The relationship is definitely over. No matter which route we take to solving our ‘US taxpayer status’ we are going to pay – whether that be in taxes, compliance fees, penalties, loss of privacy, loss of US citizenship, or by being forced into hiding. It sucks no matter how you look at it, and this just makes us sad.  🙁

Acceptance.

Psychologists and grief counsellors say you are lucky if you get to this point. Many people get stuck in anger or depression for years or even a lifetime – the widower who becomes a recluse when his wife passes away, the mother who mourns a lifetime for the child she lost, the aspiring athlete who never made it to the big leagues and seems forever lost in his former glory years, the ‘hidden’ US person who cannot shake the mental chains of his unwanted ‘US taxpayer status’ even if he has logistically found a way to deal with it. The luckier people at some point accept the reality of what has happened and find a place to put it so that it does not interfere in their daily lives anymore. The widower finds peacefulness alone, or maybe finds new love. The mom, whose child is gone, remembers the happy times she spent with him/her and stops dwelling on what was lost. The US person, finds a way to deal with his/her own particular situation – stays hidden, or becomes tax compliant, or renounces – and moves on with his/her life.

A research project undertaken by James Eastman-Timmons, an MA student from Carleton University in Ottawa, has been expanded to include volunteers from across Canada. Interviews can be done via phone, and I believe James is hoping to have all interviews completed by the end of this month. I have participated and encourage others to do the same. Following is an invitation from the researcher:

I am looking for current and former American­-Canadian dual citizens residing in Canada to participate in a study. The study is on the extent to which current American-­Canadian dual citizens consider their status to be inconvenient or burdensome. This study also examines whether former American-­Canadian dual citizens (and are now Canadian citizens only) perceived their status to be inconvenient or burdensome, and whether this perception influenced their decision to renounce (give up) their US citizenship. The study will also explore how current and former American-Canadian dual citizens feel about the US tax laws. The researcher for this study is James Eastman­-Timmons, an MA student at Carleton University, in the Sociology & Anthropology department.

Individuals interested in participating in this study, will participate in a 60 minute interview. During this time participants will be asked questions that are designed to determine the perceptions of American and Canadian citizenships and American­-Canadian dual citizenship status. These questions will also examine what former and current American-­Canadian dual citizens consider to be the benefits and burdens of this status, what their experiences are with filing U.S. tax returns, and what their sense of identity is; that is, whether they identify as American, Canadian, or both American and Canadian. Former American­-Canadian dual citizens will be asked questions intended to determine why they have renounced their U.S. citizenship, and current American­-Canadian dual citizens will be asked questions intended to determine why they have chosen to maintain this status.

If you choose to participate in the study you do not have to answer questions or discuss sensitive financial information, and you have the right to withdraw from the study at any point in time, for any reason up until February 28th 2015. All efforts will be made to ensure that the identity of all participants is protected. All individuals who participate in this study will remain anonymous in the final research project, and their responses will be non-attributable to them. By participating in this study, you will be able to share your dual citizenship stories and raise awareness about the potential financial insecurities and other difficulties that may be associated with this status.

This project has been reviewed and cleared by the Carleton University Research Ethics Board. For questions regarding ethics, the REB may be contacted at 613-­520-­2517 or ethics@carleton.ca. For those with further questions/concerns, the researcher may be contacted by email at: jameseastmantimmons@cmail.carleton.ca

Sincerely,
James Eastman-Timmons

A U.S. law aimed at cracking down on tax evasion by expatriates has collectively cost Canada’s five biggest banks about 750 million Canadian dollars (US$693.5 million) in initial compliance expenses, according to people familiar with the matter.

Read more here: http://online.wsj.com/articles/canada-banks-tally-their-tax-compliance-tab-1406504252?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LatestHeadlines

Hint: if you have trouble viewing this article, try cutting and pasting the headline into a Google search.

i.e., If anyone cannot get past the log in / subscription page: go to GOOGLE NEWS; in the search box there, insert Canada Banks Tally Their Tax-Compliance Tab.

A couple weeks ago, I sent this comment via  email to my Conservative MP of Nepean-Carleton, Pierre Poilievre (thank you to Deckard1138 whose wording I borrowed from one of his Brock posts):

Only one week after ushering-in FATCA on Canada Day, Canada’s government is warning the Eritrean consulate to stop harassing Eritrean-Canadians or risk closure of its consulate. Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird made the announcement today in Ottawa.

Fair enough to say that this is certainly one of the most egregiously hypocritical moves the Conservative government has ever made – and there have been far too many to count over the years. I would love to hear Mr. Baird explain to Canadians how it is acceptable for the United States to impose its infinitely more invasive extraterritorial tax laws in Canada but Eritrea’s amateur-hour 2% shakedown warrants impending closure of its consulate? Could it be that Mr. Baird is in fact preparing a subsequent announcement that he will be ordering the immediate closure of the US Embassy as well? Should we give him the benefit of the doubt?

Today I received this ‘enlightened, and well argued’ (NOT) response back:

The United States collects taxes based on citizenship, rather than residency. This means that a US citizen living in another country must still file and pay taxes in the US for as long as they remain a US citizen.

There is no equivalency between this and the actions of Eritrea.

Sincerely,

Pierre Poilievre, P.C., M.P. Nepean-Carleton

It worked when we all went crazy sending emails and letters to our MPs and other political representatives. The NDP, some of the Liberals, and the Green Party, not only heard our messages, but acted on them (Murray Rankin, Nathan Cullen, Charlie Angus, Ted Hsu, Scott Brison, and Elizabeth May to mention a few).

The Conservatives, although consistently toeing the party line, probably have many members who ‘get it’, only because WE kept the pressure up.   Yet, regardless of all the noise we have made, the FATCA enabling legislation is being rammed through parliament, and though we may be unable to stop that,  we have been successful because THEY HEARD US.  There are no excuses now, for the Conservative government or the banksters. We have all their weak arguments documented in parliament and senate sessions, letters,  emails,  and articles. They can never claim ignorance now.

One of the things that has always been one of our biggest challenges is to educate average Canadians about the impact of FATCA on directly affected Canadians, deemed ‘US persons’, as well as on ALL Canadians.  FATCA is complicated; banks and government hide the truth, and although there has been some excellent media coverage, it has been sporadic and overshadowed with an abundance of the ‘FATCA is about rich US tax cheats’ meme.

We can’t give up on getting the  message out there.  Canada Day, and FATCA D-DAY are fast approaching.  Perhaps this is  a perfect time to have a “Letter to the Editor Blitz” playing on the emotions surrounding the national pride and celebrations of this time of the year.  Don’t worry about crafting the perfect letter.  The point is to inundate  newspapers with your personal letters about the little known US law that is about to change Canada  forever.  I encourage everyone to write to their local major and small newspapers now before Canada Day celebrations start.   One ‘crazy’ lady, writing to a couple newspapers, will likely go unheard, but if we all do it, they will not ignore us!