Media and Blog Articles Open for Comments – Part 3 of 11 (Year 2016)

2,818 thoughts on “Media and Blog Articles Open for Comments – Part 3 of 11 (Year 2016)”

1. @Barbara
   I do apologise. I was writing when you were writing, hence my suggestion of Ireland, when you have clearly explored the options. I think the problem is that there is an unfortunate mix of justifiable revulsion at tax evasion of the rich and a complete lack of sympathy towards anyone with a bit of money saved up. I saw a figure today that almost half of Americans couldn’t cover a $400 emergency without borrowing. 29% of American households over 55 have no pension. Convincing those people that FBAR is unfair when it kicks in at $10,000 is going to be difficult. Is there anyway you can appeal the citizenship decision? When can you reapply?

2. The Economist, with articles such as:

   http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21605907-americas-new-law-tax-compliance-heavy-handed-inequitable-and-hypocritical-fatcas-flaws

   http://www.economist.com/news/americas/21693982-americans-canada-fight-back-against-taxman-border-babies-v-irs

   http://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21605911-americas-fierce-campaign-against-tax-cheats-doing-more-harm-good-dropping

   http://www.economist.com/news/international/21693219-having-launched-and-led-battle-against-offshore-tax-evasion-america-now-part

   Is sponsoring the “Canada Summit” in Toronto tomorrow, where the our Prime Minister and Finance Minister will be speaking about Canada’s role in the global economy. I wonder if they’ll mention FATCA or the CRS, and tax haven US’s lack of participation in either.

   http://www.economist.com/events-conferences/americas/canada-2016

3. There is a federal election campaign going on currently in Australia.

   Today I tried to get some attention to the injustices among the parties.

   Blinded by US Exceptionalism, Australian Treasurer shirking responsibility in regards to Treasury Department malpractice in regards to the tax treaty and FATCA IGA.

   Quite useful information to point out to the Australian Greens that the Canadian Greens support repeal of FATCA. The Australian Greens could hold the balance of power in a close election.

   Retweets/Likes Requested.

   https://twitter.com/JCDoubleTaxed/status/740320155654184960

   https://twitter.com/JCDoubleTaxed/status/740320995194507264

   https://twitter.com/JCDoubleTaxed/status/740321282181324801

   https://twitter.com/JCDoubleTaxed/status/740321530312163328

   https://twitter.com/JCDoubleTaxed/status/740321748843823104

   https://twitter.com/JCDoubleTaxed/status/740322257818394624

4. Don’t know if anyone has posted this already, but good opportunity to bring up FATCA, FBAR, US extraterritorial CBT, and mentions Stanstead QC;
   https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/along-the-us-canadian-border-frayed-ties-and-daily-hassles/2016/05/31/133230cc-241b-11e6-b944-52f7b1793dae_story.html?utm_content=buffer233c5&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

   “The Americas
   Along the U.S.-Canada border, an invisible but hardening wall rises

   Along this 620-yard stretch of Highway 247, called Canusa Street in Vermont and Rue Canusa in Quebec, the border runs more or less down the middle of the street. On the north side, you are in Canada. On the south, you are in the United States. (William Marsden)
   By William Marsden June 1

   STANSTEAD, Quebec
   “…………..Six Canadian and U.S. checkpoints service the 2½ -mile stretch that cuts through the villages of Derby Line and Beebe Plain in Vermont and the town of Stanstead in Quebec. Street cameras, satellite and sensor surveillance, vehicle patrols and the occasional thumping helicopter overhead ensure that residents can’t budge without someone watching.”…………

   ………..”………But the burden borne by the Vermont-Quebec communities is unique. Residents linked by marriage, blood relations and, in many cases, dual citizenship are now separated by an invisible but hardening wall. Neighborhoods that once shared schools, sports facilities, doctors and churches in a kind of free-flowing human commerce have retreated to their own sides of the border.

   Nowhere is the divide more apparent than along the 620-yard stretch of Highway 247 — called Canusa Street in Vermont and Rue Canusa in Quebec — where Boisvert has lived all of his life.

   On Canusa, the border runs east-west more or less right down the middle of the street. Drive on the north side, going west, and you are in Canada. Drive east and you are in the United States.
   Patrick Boisvert, 75, a machinist in Beebe Plain, Vt., with his wife, Louise. As a boy, Patrick’s best friend was a Canadian who lived across Canusa Street. “Border? What border?” he said, contrasting the lack of checks back then with today’s virtual wall. (William Marsden)

   Boisvert’s father was a Canadian born in the small town of Rock Island (now Stanstead) just across from Derby Line. He married an American and moved to the white clapboard house in Beebe Plain where Patrick Boisvert still lives with his wife, Louise.”…………

   ……”………Metal gates now block the north-south streets that once connected Derby Line and Stanstead.

   In at least two cases, the border runs through homes, restricting access to back yards and forcing owners to seal off doors.”……………….

5. Commenter notes the irony that the IRS pretends to ‘educate’ those ‘abroad’ yet schedules an info session at a convenient time for those inside the US – not those ‘abroad’ for whom it is the middle of the night:
   https://twitter.com/Patrickcanion/status/735449678464974849

   Allison Christians says; “After 100 years of citizenship based tax, IRS has finally decided to educate its global diaspora.”
   https://twitter.com/taxpolblog/status/735439820957319168

6. @Publius “I saw a figure today that almost half of Americans couldn’t cover a $400 emergency without borrowing.”

   That supports why the renunciation fee flys in the face of the Expatriation Act 1868.

7. Allison Christians says; “After 100 years of citizenship based tax, IRS has finally decided to educate its global diaspora.”

   And the US global diaspora is busy educating them right back. Here’s a paper recently submitted by the ADCT to the OECD, IMF, UN and World Bank: http://maplesandbox.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/You-Pay-for-What-You-Dont-Get.pdf

8. Just saw this article at “International Man”:

   Only Two Countries Do This Appalling Thing—And the U.S. Is One of Them

   http://www.internationalman.com/articles/this-appalling-practice-is-only-used-in-two-nations-and-the-us-is-one-of-th

   I like the terms “extortion & violence”. Eye-catching article.

9. @Badger
   The IRS also didn’t do much to publicize it. The notice went up the 20th of May, a Friday, for a webinar the following Wednesday. American Citizens Abroad didn’t send out an e-mail on it until the following Monday afternoon.

10. http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2016/06/the_supreme_court_needs_to_settle_birthright_citizenship.html

    Not sure whether this case has shown up here. If the Supreme Court grants birthright citizenship to those born in American Samoa, then just think of all those in western Samoa who will rush to have babies there for the citizenship, and extend US tax slavery into yet more territory.

11. http://www.ftfnews.com/a-wish-list-for-the-presidential-debates/13031

    A Wish List for the Presidential Debates
    FTF News

    The Fakakta FATCA Laws: My guess is that expat Democrats and Republicans hate the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) and that their banks hate it even more. Some overseas banks are refusing U.S. citizens and some Americans are renouncing their citizenship. However, it is remarkable that the IRS, the State Department and other arms/tentacles/stingers of the federal government have been so successful in getting foreign governments to comply and implement this law — even China, that bastion of capitalism. FATCA’s supporters say the law makes everyone with U.S. citizenship pay his or her fair share — even Boris Johnson, the former mayor of London! (Boris eventually had to cave in.) Among many issues, FATCA detractors are wary of government overreach and of the global overreach that could follow. This should have been a hot issue among the G.O.P. contenders but they were much more focused on taking on the Trump tiger. I would really like to know if Clinton is sympathetic to the individuals and banks that have to comply with this lovely law. (Bernie, of course, would want blood and your first overseas child in order to pay for a socialist paradise in the U.S.)

12. @ calgary411
    Bernie, I believe, would beg to differ with the FTF News characterization of his position on the taxing of Americans living overseas.
    http://www.democraticunderground.com/1009471

    In my view, we can provide tax relief to middle-class families living overseas, while prohibiting large corporations and the wealthy from avoiding over $100 billion a year in taxes by stashing their cash in the Cayman Islands and other offshore tax havens.

    Since I consider Hiliary a compulsive liar I dismiss pretty much every promise she makes … except the ones which involve her absolute subservience to Israel and her Wall Street backer buddies. Rocky de la Fuente was BOB (Best of Bunch) on the RBT and FBAR questions.

13. Should have not included the author’s last opinion within the quote.

14. @Calgary
    “Fakakta” means “verkackte” – which is german for shitty. Its yiddish which is derived from german. 🙂

15. @EmBee

    Rocky de la Fuente is an educated businessman, who by my estimation is also a Mexican citizen at birth through his parents. Here is the Wikipedia post on him, including how many Democratic primary votes he has received to date.

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocky_De_La_Fuente

16. This is what Canada should have said about FATCA:

    https://www.taxconnections.com/taxblog/cayman-islands-will-not-show-theirs-until-the-u-s-shows-theirs-first/

17. Thanks, bubblebustin.

    …who lamented the hypocritical stance of the U.S. in singling out overseas territories for lack of transparency. Referring to a 2008 comment by President Barack Obama that a single address in the Cayman Islands “supposedly houses 12,000 corporations,” Panton pointed to the U.S. state of Delaware, where one address alone reportedly has 285,000 companies registered there.

    Why don’t other impotent countries say the same, the obvious?

18. @George
    Well, the $400 is the amount for U.S. residents. There aren’t good figures for Americans abroad, but I take your point about the renunciation fee being a lot of money.

    @Badger
    Actually, the time that the IRS picked for their webinar wasn’t bad if they wanted to hold it when the biggest groups of Americans abroad, those in the Americas and Europe, would be awake. The problem is that it is simply impossible to cover everyone with a single webinar. Couldn’t they have broadcast a repeat later for the folks in Asia and the pacific? I doubt that that would have cost them much. The outreach again was non-existent. No use of Facebook, even though all the other groups that want to contact expats, including the federal government’s voting assistance program, use it because lots of people post their hometowns. I bet that most people heard about it through ACA, which means they are only talking to a particular type of “American abroad”.

19. @ Bubblebustin
    It was Rocky’s recent appearance on “Redacted Tonight” that got me thinking about him again. He was talking about election fraud which definitely needs to be addressed but I was wishing he’d slip in something about US CBT too. It could affect him personally if he ever decides to retire in Mexico with that toxic American citizenship of his.
    http://trofire.com/2016/06/04/democratic-pres-candidate-just-declared-election-fraud-redacted-tonight/

20. @Bubblebustin
    Oh how easy it would be for America to invade the Cayman Islands should they continue to harbour American tax cheats…..

21. Here is an important article for the Brock SWAT Team:

    https://www.atr.org/passing-bilateral-tax-treaties-will-promote-american-competitiveness

    The article (probably drafted by Robert Stack) states very clearly the real purpose of FATCA: “… FATCA is about creating a framework to tax Americans residing abroad.”

    The knuckleheads at Americans for Tax Reform need an education — if you want to reform the US tax code, you must abolish CBT!

22. @Walt
    >progress remains stalled because of a president that derides tax competition as a “race to the bottom.”

    Not likely to have come from Stack.

23. Perhaps a douche bag from the other side of the aisle, but douche bag just the same.

24. Obviously the Bernie lovers won’t like this but I think it hits the nail on the head:

    http://spectator.org/is-defending-tax-competition-akin-to-trading-with-the-enemy/

    They really don’t want you to escape their taxes. That’s why expatriation is so expansive. It’s even more expensive if your highly productive.

25. @Walt,
    Much of what is said in that article is good. The tax treaty really is a severe limitation on the IRS. They would have taken a lot more from me if it wasn’t for the UK/US tax treaty. Obviously they miss the link to FATCA but tax treaties are important. Many of our problems stem from them being so outdated and limited.

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