Media and Blog Articles Open for Comments – Part 5 of 11 (Year 2018)

1,714 thoughts on “Media and Blog Articles Open for Comments – Part 5 of 11 (Year 2018)”

1. “Lvg the us empire 100% and not being attached in any way.

   There is a piece of mind that comes from knowing you won’t get shot at a cafe or that a trip to the hospital won’t bankrupt you. It’s also a relief to know that looking all around you at a cafe or street fair that there is more to live than work, hu$tling, or corporate us empire ‘achievement’ but simple living among neighbours, friends, and family. You work to live, not live to work.

   you give up nothing when you leave the USA and all its false, propaganda promises. A real and better ontologically fulfilling life awaits you once you lose the ‘hustle’ and can finally focus on the important things in your (very short) life.
   Peace and love to all,”

   Yes, but in general, one must first obtain citizenship in another country. Not all of us live, work, have famiy in countries with easy to obtain citizensip.

2. @ Portland
   I just thought someone here might find a little international tax intrigue an interesting sidelight. Not everything needs to be debated to death. Read, watch or not … up to individuals to decide. However, it would be best, IMHO, for Brockers to try to stay focused on the common plight of the US tainted … as much as possible.

3. I’ve got no comment on the Russia stuff, but it’s amusing to see FATCA-natic Dick Durbin and Ex-PATRIOT Act co-sponsor Ben Cardin going to bat for Bill Browder. Is this a case of instinctual genuflection to the wealthy overcoming their pre-existing anti-emigrant ideology, or was that anti-emigrant ideology itself just something that previous rich campaign donors paid them to spout?

   https://mic.com/articles/190351/why-the-magnitsky-act-and-bill-browder-continues-to-be-the-biggest-thorn-in-putins-side
   http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/397904-senate-approves-resolution-warning-trump-not-to-hand-over-us-officials

   Not just this year, either:
   http://uk.businessinsider.com/mccain-and-cardin-demand-review-of-dhs-decision-to-ban-bill-browder-2017-10
   https://twitter.com/SenatorDurbin/status/922571032518627329

4. “Is this a case of instinctual genuflection to the wealthy overcoming their pre-existing anti-emigrant ideology, or was that anti-emigrant ideology itself just something that previous rich campaign donors paid them to spout?”

   Surely the anti-emigrant stuff was just the story line provided by the administration of the day to help congressional representatives claim they were defending national interests while in fact they were just doing deals. Trading support on one bill for a bit of back-scratching on another.

   Nothing personal. Business as usual. On full degrading display recently as the TCJA was being swindled through Congress at the tail end of 2017.

5. “However, it would be best, IMHO, for Brockers to try to stay focused on the common plight of the US tainted … as much as possible.”

   Thinking about it from that perspective, it’s quite striking that Browder – a citizen and resident of the UK, no longer a citizen of the US – nevertheless gets nominated for US-Russia swapsies.

   That birthplace just won’t quit.

6. On the general topic of “big data” abuse, though not the specific topic of financial data abuse: Amazon’s facial recognition technology was only able to identify 28 out of 535 Congresscritters as criminals by matching against a database of 25,000 mugshots
   https://www.aclu.org/blog/privacy-technology/surveillance-technologies/amazons-face-recognition-falsely-matched-28
   https://www.theverge.com/2018/7/26/17615634/amazon-rekognition-aclu-mug-shot-congress-facial-recognition

   Clearly they need a larger database so they can match all 535

7. IRS Medic has another podcast, this one a call to action to contact your congressman to support another FATCA hearing. Features John Richardson, Keith Redmond and your’s truly:

   https://youtu.be/Kvk0Cqt5ZM0

   Would someone please post this on Brock? The deadline for submissions is soon.

8. Fixes to be done by regulation rather than legislation, where possible, says Brady to The Hill.

   http://thehill.com/policy/finance/398596-gop-chairman-outlines-plan-for-tax-cuts-20

   Brady had told reporters on Monday that he would be outlining the path he plans to take on fixes to the 2017 tax law on Tuesday. But the document that the Ways and Means Committee released did not mention technical corrections.

   Brady said that legislation making fixes to the tax law would move separately from the tax cuts 2.0 package and that the House may take up a corrections bill in November or later. He said that lawmakers are waiting to see what aspects of the tax law the Treasury can clarify through guidance.

   “A lot depends on what Treasury can clarify,” he said.

9. It seems to me in brief that a “2.0” package, proposing (unfunded) tax cuts) may be introduced in the House before the recess, but more as a talking point in the election campaign. Not seriously expected to become law, given the lack of funding and the inability to use the reconciliation process to force it through without Dem support.

   In addition, some “fixes” may get done by Treasury.

   And finally, fixes that require legislation may be introduced in the lame duck session.

   Fixes which require legislation and have cost implications (e.g. reduction of anticipated revenue from TCJA) would presumably have to wait until the reconciliation sledgehammer is available again.

   After Jan 2019? Or after the next general election?

10. “MILESTONE! The White House budget office completed work on its first rule from the GOP tax law on Thursday, making no substantive changes to a regulation fleshing out a transition tax on multinationals’ offshore income, as Pro Tax’s Aaron Lorenzo reports. The Office of Management and Budget took new powers in the tax regulatory process this year, under an agreement with the Treasury Department.”

    https://www.politico.com/newsletters/morning-tax/2018/07/27/seeking-glitch-relief-299091

11. @ BB
    The “making no substantive changes” bit and the reference (as always it seems) to “multinationals” indicates to me that their touted MILESTONE still leaves a transition tax MILLSTONE around the neck of the small business owner who has US citizenship and operates a business in his/her country of residence. Am I reading that correctly or did the fleshing out include relief for the “little guys” (i.e. little in comparison to a large multinational company like Apple)? Gosh, it has become so confusing I don’t even know for sure whether progress is being made or not.

12. Steve Wozniak is applying for citizenship-by-investment in Grenada
    https://twitter.com/stevewoz/status/1022876151159681024

    Seems quite unlikely he’s planning to give up his US citizenship. One reply suggests he wants visa-free travel to China, though I have my doubts since Americans can get 10-year multiple-entry Chinese visas now.

13. The White House’s Office of Management and Budget has concluded its review of proposed regulations implementing the new tax law’s one-time repatriation tax.

    The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, the unit within OMB responsible for overseeing the tax regulations coming from the Treasury Department, said on its website [https://www.reginfo.gov/public/jsp/Utilities/index.jsp]
    that review of the transition tax rules under tax code Section 965 concluded July 26. The site says the office received the rules from Treasury July 13—putting the total review time under the 10 business days set aside for rules under expedited review.

    The rules address a new one-time tax on income accumulated overseas since 1986. The 2017 tax act (Pub. L. No. 115-97) treats the income as repatriated and imposes a 15.5 percent tax on cash or cash equivalents, and an 8 percent tax on illiquid assets, such as factories and equipment. The regulations are expected to contain anti-abuse guidance.

    The next step is for Treasury to publish the rules in the Federal Register.
    …
    Neomi Rao, the current OIRA administrator, said that in addition to the transition tax regulations, her office and Treasury have agreed to designate for expedited review proposed regulations implementing the tax law’s 20 percent deduction for pass-through businesses.

    Rao also said OIRA “waived” review of one set of regulations, determining that the extra layer of scrutiny was unnecessary. She didn’t specify the subject matter of those regulations.

    https://www.bna.com/omb-wraps-review-n73014481133/

    Perhaps (a guess) the real cause of the Milestone! excitement may be the fact that OMB appears to be busy waving regs through rather than using its new power of review to obstruct Treasury. Clearing the decks? Mulvaney has apparently been mentioned by Trump as a possible replacement for Kelly (“‘What do we think about Mick?’: Trump narrows down chief search”, https://www.politico.com/story/2018/07/24/trump-mulvaney-ayers-chief-739543)

    Presumably the transition tax regulations will be published shortly in the Federal Register.

14. These regulations which have or have not been painstakingly reviewed by the OMB might be what Brady was talking about when he said that a lot depends on what “fixes” Treasury can do through guidance (http://isaacbrocksociety.ca/media-and-blog-articles-open-for-comment-part-5-of-5/comment-page-50/#comment-8308625)?

15. @plaxy I am afraid “anti-abuse” guidance is not anti government abuse through its over-regulation, but to make sure those subject to the over-regulation can not wriggle out it.

16. I’m shocked–shocked, I tell you–that a bank would begin freezing customers’ accounts based on a question of citizenship…in the USA. Will this finally get it through homelanders’ thick, nationalistic heads, about what FATCA and FBAR feels like? I doubt it. I’m guessing that homelanders aren’t up in arms about this because, of course only real Americans should be entitled to banking services; and as for those Americans abroad being shut out of financial services over the same question, well, let those tax cheats keep their money in the USA.

    Bank of America questions customer’s citizenship, freezes accounts

17. @Babara

    That is exactly the attitude I get from the majority of homelanders I have tried to talk to about this.

18. JC – indeed, I suspect the “fixes” they keep referring to are all about closing escape routes.

19. Bank of America’s questions appear to be more about immigration than tax.

    “A spokesperson for Bank of America said the bank has to collect that information because they aren’t legally allowed to provide services to people from countries the U.S. has economic sanctions against.

    But the spokesperson said a person who has U.S. citizenship can still use their account even if they are also citizens of a sanctioned country.”
    http://www.seattleglobalist.com/2018/04/13/bank-asks-about-citizenship/73372

20. Then why ask about dual citizenship?

21. Japan T – I don’t understand your question.

22. In the bank’s statement, they said that they must also determine if a client had more than one citizenship. Why would they ask this if it is only for immigration?

23. Is this the statement you’re referring to?

    ”Bank of America plans on eventually asking all of their account holders whether or not they have dual citizenship, the spokesperson said.”

    What has that got to do with tax?

24. Exactly. So, why are going to ask about dual citizenship?

25. I understand Japan T’s question.

    “But the spokesperson said a person who has U.S. citizenship can still use their account even if they are also citizens of a sanctioned country.”

    So the question is: if someone is a US citizen, they therefore qualify to have a BoA account, even if they are also a citizen of North Korea or Iran. If that’s the case, what need is there for a question about dual citizenship? It has no bearing on their qualification to hold an account.

    It seems that their question is not only about immigration. Like FATCA, it appears to be about information gathering for unspecified (likely sinister) purposes.

Comments are closed.