Media and Blog Articles Open for Comments – Part 3 of 11 (Year 2016)
You can access all years at this link: Media and Blog Articles – Links for All Years
If clicking on a comment link brings you to the wrong comment, click here to get on the most recent page of comments.(alternatively, to reach the most recent comment page, go to the url in the bar at the top of your browser and delete everything after http://isaacbrocksociety.ca/media-and-blog-articles-open-for-comments-part-3-of-3 )
Media and Blog Articles
EmBee suggested that it would be good if there was a thread for new articles, so that people would be aware of where to comment. So, I created this permanent page. You could mention such articles in the comment stream for this page, or if I see one on another thread, I can copy the link to here. I’ll keep adding to the list, but not deleting, so we’ll end up having sort of a “bibliography” of FATCA/CBT articles. [Note: Some articles are not open for comments]
For more articles on FATCA, enter FATCA into Google then click on the link “more news for fatca” just below the most recent featured article.
Note also: JC suggests to see #FATCA on Twitter for latest breaking news. JC finds that is quite a good source and there even are some international articles that one may read using Google Translate.” Others may help certain tweets and articles remain in elevated position by retweeting them.
Be sure to read the comment stream for this thread — there are usually very recent articles mentioned there that aren’t on this list yet.
2016.12.29
Switzerland moves further to end bank secrecy, Financial Times, UK.
2016.12.23
How FATCA Infringes and Trammels our Statehood, Stephen Kangal, Trinidad and Tobago News, Trinidad and Tobago.
Barclay’s chief preparing to take a stand against US regulators over unduly high fines to European banks, James Quinn, The Telegraph, UK.
2016.12.22
Canada refuses to name bank that broke money laundering rules 1225 timtes, Mike De Souze, Robert Cribb & Marco Oved, National Observer.
Financial Intelligence agency gave bankers head up about money laundering disclosure, Mike De Souza, Robert Cribb & Marco Oved, National Observer.
2016.12.21
US citizens may pay double tax on Kahlon’s child savings program, Michael Zeff, Jerusalem Post, Israel.
Applying to be Swiss in the Trump Era, Steve Krump, SwissInfo, Switzerland.
2016.12.20
File That Tax, Boom Chicago, YouTube, Netherlands.
Tijuana City Councilman Faces US Money Laundering Charges, Sandra Dibble and Dana Littlefield, San Diego Union, US.
2016.12.19
Senate Report Finds IRS Agents Living Large on Public’s Dime, Guillermo Jiminez, Tax Revolution Institute, US.
AG to UNC: Come to Parliament first – a Joint Select Committee to deal with FATCA . . ., Ria Taitt, Daily Express, Trinidad.
Rand Paul criticizes framework of tax reform plan, Naomi Jagoda, The Hill, US.
Articles from earlier 2016 are at this link
Articles from 2015 are at this link
Articles from 2014 are at this link
Media and Blog Articles thread, Part 1 of 3, is at this link.
Media and Blog Articles thread, Part 2 of 3 is at this link.
Right Click ‘Translate to English’
A black book in which hundreds of victims responses are recorded, is offered today in the House. Daan Durlacher, founder of Americans Overseas, the black book compiled.
https://twitter.com/MarianneSturman/status/737920775718621184
A Spur-Of-The-Moment Decision Turned Me Canadian
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/robert-waite/spur-of-the-moment-decision_b_10149392.html?utm_content=buffere0f99&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
Double taxation was missed in this article, until my comment.
Great comment at Accounting Today, JC!
CBC radio apparently received a lot of response to last week’s program and interviewed Arden Beddoes regarding ADCS suit- go to
2:10:002:19:58 (thnx 2 Bubbles for correction) mark and please tweet/share on FB etc. A way to refute some of those errors from last Friday’s program:http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/programs/theearlyedition/may-31-2016-1.3609170
CBC wants to hear from those affected so please let them know! (even if it makes you a Broccultist)
@Trish
It’s closer to 2:19:58 🙂
JakDac provides this, which tells the reason for rising fees for expatriation from the US as most of us realize it as well …
@BB
oops- no coffee yet..thnx!
For Tweeps: @CBCEarlyEdition
Queenston brought this up in October of 2015 and I commented:
Today another Brocker sent me an email with this:
I wondered — has anyone at Brock who may be active in the United Church of Canada pursued asking new UCC moderator Jordan Cantwell if she know that, being considered a US citizen, her constitutional rights in Canada are violated?
Just passed through Geneva Airport today, there is a huge BNP (Paribas) sign to encourage investment with them… the new way…with the Renminbi …
Why Americans are giving up citizenship in record numbers
Ylan Q. Mui June 1
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/06/01/why-americans-are-giving-up-citizenship-in-record-numbers/?postshare=2331464810687483&tid=ss_tw
183 comments so far
3 Brockers commenting on that Washington Post article. More comments welcome. If you will not comment then you might click on “like” for a comment. So you may have to sign in. Just note your password for the next time you sign in.
That’s right. If American banks have to report accounts like the foreign ones do then it’s going to cost money and we don’t like that:
https://www.cuinsight.com/no-fatca-expansion-cuna-world-council-tell-congress.html
Up to 375 comments. Need a little help over here with the usual sort of commenters:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/06/01/why-americans-are-giving-up-citizenship-in-record-numbers/
@JC
I think all those hate commenters are the same sort of people who are voting for Trump. America is increasingly full of hatred, and it is because of their own failing economy. People are suffering there and with ever more bleak prognoses for the future, and they seek revenge! They vote for Trump because he seems to be the one who will execute actions which express their rage. Nobody is thinking straight anymore, because of all the corruption in their own government, and they think Trump will get rid of it? I think actually Bernie Sanders is the best candidate to do so. If he is such a fair person with integrity, he will also see the injustice of what is happening to expats. But that is just my opinion as a non-voting renunciant.
@Polly,
Wow. So Americans voted for Obama because he promised to stick it to those with money. As a result you and me find ourselves in a world of hurt because of foreign accounts. Now Sanders is promising to stick it to rich people again and to a degree that makes even Europe look conservative. You’re lapping it up I guess because you want even more pain with your foreign stuff.
@Neill
Even Buffet says “tax me more”. I am not for the unjust taxation of ANYBODY. But what I think we need is a president who is JUST. To me, this means that when Nina Olson says “Why are we torturing our expats so?” that somebody up there in Washington is listening. I do not think Trump will change anything because he is all about a profit. ( See the clip up above about cashing in on renunciations.) and I dont think Hillary will change anything because she agrees with Obama`s take on it. If anybody is in it for actually changing anything and doing so with integrity- then it is Bernie Sanders. And my take on it is if he taxes the Warren Buffets, Wall street crooks pay for their crimes, and the people who earn bonuses in horrendous heights for companies which are not in good shape nor improving ( but these CEOs get their huge bonus anyway) then he will perhaps get the money the treasury needs from other more realistic sources instead of torturing expats for their last dime.
@Polly,
Trying to make Buffet pay more got you the net investment income tax (NIIT). So desperate to have it apply to anything they made it a parallel social security tax and now your hurting because it applied to your house sale and you can’t offset it with tax credits. Sanders wants umpteen more of the surtaxes.
Obama hasn’t been able to prosecute wall street types because they didn’t do anything wrong. Stupidity isn’t illegal. Look to the people who took loans they knew they could never repay for people to punish.
You’re asking to punish people with money without realizing that’s also you. Just like all the people here who voted for Obama. I’d wish you luck but then Sanders will punish me also.
In a few more years my foreign accounts will be gone and I can forget all about expat Americans who just want to punish people with money using the tools that make their lives terrible.
@Neill
You are saying that bankers who sold derivatives knowing they were worthless were just stupid? That sounds like the ultimate naiveté.
I understand that we are at odds here- you are living in the homeland and we are not. But I am for anybody who wants to clean up the mess with integrity – and I don`t think it will be done with MORE capitalism and greed. I like what Sanders has to say, and if he needs money to do so, then he SHOULD get it from the people who live there.
Interesting that this is part of Australia’s analysis:
http://taxfoundation.org/blog/puzzling-policy-foreign-tax-credits?mc_cid=7479ce4272&mc_eid=7b1c223547
@Polly,
Your using massive hindsight. People had been packaging and selling mortgages for ages. They did it to try and lower risk. This is why we have shares to spread risk. People didn’t know it was going to all go bad. Only a few people near the end figures out it was going bad and tried to take advantage of it. Some of those failed because shorting requires precise timing. We need short sellers though for a complete market that adjusts to reality faster.
What few prosecutions Obama secured are falling on appeals.
Capitalism driven by greed is what has lifted the most people out of poverty in the history of the world.
If you want to blame people for the financial crisis look to government. State governments created no recourse loans (you could run away from your home loan and you assets were safe). It’s clear that encouraged people to walk away (remember youwalkaway.com). It was the federal government that said defaulting on you home mortgage was no longer a taxable even during the crisis. Clearly that made walking away a better deal for people. It was government that said everybody should own a home and subsidized the loans and added rules to force lending to poor people.
I don’t want to vote for Trump but I sure as hell will if my alternative is Sanders or Hillary. I feel the pain they inflicted on me and I don’t want more of the same. Trump may no make my life worse but the dems sure will. They don’t believe what they did was anything but golden.
@Neill
How are we contradicting each other here? You say the problem is government and I say the same thing- but enough with the government getting away with murder. All this trickle down nonsense and the like. It is just like all the BS about raising kids “non-authoritatively”. Kids need rules. Kids need boundaries. The roots for all the cases of ADHD in America is the fact that toddlers already are raised in a void and therefore don`t learn how to focus because they have all this stimulants flying in on them and nobody to make any order out of it for them. I had a father come into the outpatient clinic one day with his 4 year old daughter. The father just sat there. In the meantime the girl started to break anything she could get her hands on in my office and I had to save my 300$ stethoscope from her. She came because she supposedly had some form of epilepsy. I asked the father to describe and he told me she went to bed and after an hour started screaming “FIRE!”. I examined her and told him besides an EEG we will make an appointment with the psychotherapist. EEG was clean but 2 weeks later the diagnosis came from the therapist.The kid had started kindergarten and because she was raised without rules or boundaries at home, she had to imagine herself as almighty. Being raised by parents who dont make rules is a form of child neglect! Because this child now had to stand in line in school and didn’t have the run of the classroom, she now had nightmares at night. Due to this new situation where she heard a no, she was facing her own issues of panic at being raised in a void. People dont need less government- they need better government. GOOD government.
Good grief-don`t vote for Trump. The man is dangerous and hasn’t got the temperament to run a country. That is crazy. And the answer to the problems is not to tax less. It is to tax right. The answer is not no rules, but good and fair rules.
@Neill – re Australian analysis link – My (admittedly vague) understanding of how the US taxes corporations with operations overseas is that US tax is only paid when the earnings are repatriated to the US. This is why Apple is sitting on a huge pile of cash in Ireland (or wherever). The analysis in the article ignores this feature of the US tax system, and assumes that if Australia lowers its corporate tax rate, that will flow directly into higher taxes paid in the US. I’m not sure this is the case. The Australian subsidiaries of US companies may still decide to keep the earnings in Australia (and lower taxes will mean more to re-invest in Australia). In fact, lower rates in Australia will increase the cost of repatriating the money to the US. Currently the Australian corporate tax rate is 30% – giving an additional 5% US tax after FTC. The proposed change will drop the rate to 25% (gradually over 10 years), so the cost of repatriating earnings will jump to 10%.
I like to think I strive toward being neutral on the political parties on these issues. Otherwise, The Issues then gets muddied with Homeland political issues. We need to fight against this and to try and refocus on expat issues.
However, I have had multiple goes at Democrats Abroad and have been banned by them on Twitter multiple times (one issue: they tweeted that Sanders supported SCE the same as Clinton while Sanders “shift to residence based taxation” was what really should have been in that tweet). Generally lately I have been supportive of Sanders and his words “shift to residence based taxation” and the need for Clinton supporters “to reach out to Sanders supporters” on this issue of shift to residence based taxation. I have had multiple goes at Clinton’s vision for expats which is to keep everything as is yet maybe add FATCA SCE that would involve reporting to IRS to get it.
Generally, I agree with Neil that as Sanders wants to tax the “rich” much higher that this will likely have negative impacts on US persons overseas. Then there is a question of which comes first, higher taxes or shift to residence based taxation. Also, we have Sanders words “shift to residence based taxation yet where is it in writing?
Generally Democrats are for Big Government and Republicans for smaller government. So on expat issues I feel Republicans are more inclined to be helpful.
We do have “shift to residence based taxation” and repeal of FATCA in the Republican Party Platform. The Democrats don’t have this. One issue now is to get Trump to acknowledge these party platform planks. He has said nothing. I heard that he wants to raise tariffs on imports for Oreo cookies to punish them for inversion overseas, and he says he will no longer eat Oreos. One may only hope he has a more benevolent view of US persons overseas.
The Republicans control The House and Senate. Yet when it came to passport revocation rules there was no thought about US persons overseas (and their potentially unconstitutional FBAR and FATCA fines or that for many overseas VISA is dependent on a valid passport). It is demonstrative of communication issues of US person overseas issues with House and Senate leadership and members. And this is also demonstrative that we must not get pulled in by Homeland issues as when we do that it dilutes the overseas US person issues message.
Also of issue that while there are supportive planks in the Republican Party Platform that is not cast in stone and not a sure thing even if Trump gets in and both House and Senate are Republican. That is where the FBAR FATCA lawsuit is important. I have not heard an update except of some vague statements that the lasted decision will be appealed. At least the Republicans backed this. The Democrats could not acknowledge it and could not bring themselves to mention the FBAR part of it.
@ JC
“I heard that he wants to raise tariffs on imports for Oreo cookies to punish them for inversion overseas, and he says he will no longer eat Oreos. One may only hope he has a more benevolent view of US persons overseas.”
Yes, I hope that Trump will not eat US persons overseas …. or their “inverted” assets.
@Polly Those comments on the Washington Post article don’t seem any different than the ones I have seen even before Trump. Including that one persistent anti-expat commenter. I think that person is the same we see in every largish comment section who just uses a different name. A difference this time were multiple comments from US persons overseas.