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The Isaac Brock Society

Media and Blog Articles Open for Comments – Part 4 of 11 (Year 2017)

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-4-of-4)

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.   I’ll make a permanent list of links posted here and keep adding to it,  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.

Notes:

From JC:   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.

From Badger:   On an important archival note, please use the Internet Archive Wayback machine https://archive.org/web/ (see bottom right ‘Save Page Now’ box to enter URLs of webpages you want saved for posterity, and try to save backup copies of articles and other items of interest in some other form – such as a datastick or external drive. Some important and very significant webpages and the fulltexts of articles are no longer available (although some can be retrieved if someone using the Wayback machine saved 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.

2017.12.28
It’s time to address the double standard about tax havens, Angela Wrights, Macleans, Canada.
The US Is Becoming the World’s New Tax Haven, The Editors, Bloomberg View, US.
2017.12.21
Rep. Dina Titus Supports Americans Abroad Tax Reform, Democrats Abroad, US. 
Now That The GOP Tax Bill Is Approved, The IRS Gets Busy, Brian Naylor, NPR, US.
2017.12.20
Taxpayers will have to wait to find out how they fare under new legislation , Renae Merle and Aaron Gregg, Denver Post (reprint from Washington Post), US.
U.S. Shareholders –Take Action by December 31, KPMG.
2017.12.18
Have You Ever Felt Sorry for the I.R.S? Now Might Be the Time, Patricia Cohen, New York Times, US.
2017.12.12
EU finance ministers issue warning to Trump over tax reforms, RTÉ, Ireland.
2017.12.11
Banque: les consequences étonnantes de l’accord FATCA, Edouard Lederer, Les Echos, France.
2017.12.10
As Australia ousts MPs with dual citizenship, Canada’s Parliament embraces many in its ranks, Kathleen Harris, Canada. (mentions MP who “assumed his U.S. citizenship was automatically rescinded because he did not meet several requirements for continued citizenship. [But when travelling to Washington] was told he was ineligible to enter the U.S. on a Canadian passport because he was a U.S. citizen. He was . . . allowed in on a one-time basis . . . it cost him $3,000 to later sort out the administrative requirements.”)
2017.12.09
The American Diaspora: Outreach and Organization, Victoria Ferauge, The Franco-American Flophouse, Japan.
2017.12.08
Foreign-owned banks to be hit by US tax rules, Financial Times, UK.
Trump Tax Plan Worries Europe, Christian Reiermann, Der Spiegel, Germany.

For articles earlier in 2017, click here.

1,720 thoughts on “Media and Blog Articles Open for Comments – Part 4 of 11 (Year 2017)”

  1. I watched the video. The presenter puts forward a compelling case, using a lot of semantics and assembling together a selection of laws and statutes to make his case. But laws are like Lego bricks. In a court of law, his stack of legal arguments would not hold up against a different, equally plausible stack of legal bricks put together by government lawyers. It all kind of reminds me of the people who wrote books “proving” beyond a shadow of a doubt that the federal income tax was voluntary, practiced what they preached, and went to prison for it.

  2. @Barbara – well said.

    I have to say I felt much sympathy with the narrator though, trying in vain to make sense of US laws.

  3. “Budget deal sets IRS priorities”
    https://www.accountingtoday.com/news/budget-deal-sets-irs-priorities

    “The budget deal passed Thursday by Congress includes a number of priorities and directives for the Internal Revenue Service.
    [..]
    The IRS is also required by the appropriations bill to maintain an employee training program, including training on taxpayer rights, dealing courteously with taxpayers, cross-cultural relations, ethics and the impartial application of the tax laws. The bill also requires the IRS to institute and enforce policies and procedures to safeguard the confidentiality of taxpayer information and protect taxpayers against identity theft.”

    Hmmm…

  4. Without any increases to the IRS budget, non-resident taxpayer’s services will never be adequate.

    We’re not even worthy of a cost/benefit analysis.

  5. Re: the Grand Cay strategies video posted above by Calgary 411, & comment by Barbara & iota.

    This is the third time at least (likely there have been more) this 2014 video has surfaced on Brock.

    Consensus in the past is that this video is aimed at those who actively hope somebody like Grand Cay will help them be scumbag tax-cheats.

    To further circulate this video without condemnation risks Brock’s credibility as a platform advocating for tax justice.

  6. Thanks, Shovel. I’ll take this down. I agree the terminology which is confusing but of interest is suspect by the source.

  7. @Bubblebustin – the bit about training IRS staff not to be rude or dishonest did cause me to raise an eyebrow or two (think that ship has sailed) but it’s the bit about requiring the IRS to institute and enforce policies and procedures to safeguard the confidentiality of taxpayer information and protect taxpayers against identity theft that really got my attention.

    FBARs? All those e-filed 1040s? I’ll eat my hat if that information is properly safeguarded. Please, somebody sue them!

  9. What matters to US-resident USCs, I imagine, is not the health care available in Germany but the health care available in the US.

    Diabetes presumably usually gets classified as a pre-existing condition – covered under Obamacare , if I understand correctly, but not necessarily under Trumpcare, because the amendment negotiated between MacArthur and Mark Meadows, and subsequently narrowly approved by the House, makes coverage for pre-existing conditions optional on a state-by-state basis.

    But of course the bill has only just squeaked through the House and may never become law in its current form.

  12. German health insurance has its little problems but they are kindergarten Kram by comparison to what goes on in the US.
    BTW the total cost is a bit more because the employer pays the same on top (not quite: 0,5% or so less). Also not everything is covered, but in general everything that is essential for good health (I wish they would take over just a bit more preventative measures, but ok).
    When I hear from my sister how things go in the US, that alone would be a reason not to go back (I have type 2 diabetes, as most of my family does).
    A few years back, my wife had breathing problems an allergic reaction to tree pollen while we were visiting my aunt in Idaho. We went to an emergency clinic and they turned us away because her oxygen levels were too low for their liability insurance (!?!) so we had to go to a hospital. There, when they saw she had insurance, they did all kinds of tests, most of which were probably unnecessary, all of which were expensive, and in the end gave her a simple (but effective) treatment that a German doctor would have prescribed after two minutes of examining her.
    Normally, we never find out how much the treatment actually costs because the Krankenkasse pays the doctor directly, but this being the US, we paid up front over $3500 and got back every cent from our Krankenkasse (actually a bit more due to exchange rates and they compensated us for having paid the hospital up front).
    What I want to say with that story is: the US health system has Yuuge problems, more than just “access” to useless, but expensive, health insurance. Until the US finally breaks the medical/pharmaceutical industry lobby’s hold on the government and discover that solidarity is not equal to Communism, the things will never really change for the better there.

  14. @iota
    Guess unforgiven answered your question pretty much. :))
    I honestly think that America does EVERYTHING WRONG. The only reason they are so prosperous is because of all the consumers. Buying buying buying. While healthcare and education are ignored. And it is so true that without good education, the government needs up being ruled by IDIOTS.

  15. @Polly – they’re certainly not all idiots – not the politicians, and not the people who vote for the politicians. Some of the voters would vote for a German-style health care system, many would not. By and large, it seems, the have-nots want it and the haves don’t, and the haves are more able to get their way. The reason the haves don’t want it is not because they’re stupid US-resident USCs who just don’t realise how much more sensible a German-model healthcare system would be – it’s because they don’t want to pay for it. And the reason they don’t want to pay for it is not fear of communism, they just don’t want to pay for it.

    IMO.

    The States are not United, and never have been, and likely never will be.

  16. For those of you who want to nominate Mark Meadows for sainthood- Take a look at the photo of Meadows, Trump, St. Paul of Ryan et al celebrating the passage in the house of Trumpcare.

    President Trump Speaks At The White House After The House Voted On Health Care Bill

    A bunch of old white men trying to gut healthcare even further so they can reduce taxes for the 0.1%. Not a ‘person of colour’ and only 1 woman in sight. Meanwhile health care for pregnancy, birth control, diabetes and birth defects becomes optional depending on which state you live in. Those of us who live in Canada or anywhere else in the developed world are indeed fortunate even if we have to put up with FATCA and FBARs.

  17. @iota
    Yes there is also something called “emotional intelligence” which one cannot seem to be able to learn at any school.

  18. Wondering if this Sri Lankan politician (“….. member of parliament from 2007-2015” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basil_Rajapaksa ) understands US extraterritorial CBT and what his experiences with FATCA have been, if any? The quote below has nothing to do with US CBT, it is in response to a “…newly introduced 19th amendment to the Constitution, [wherein] a Sri Lankan Citizen holding citizenship status in another country cannot hold a seat in the legislature..”….

    “I will not give up my American citizenship, says Basil Rajapaksa. My children and wife live there, there is nothing to hide about it. I came to politics while keeping my American citizenship, he told BBC Sinhala service…. ”
    https://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/i-will-not-give-up-my-american-citizenship-basil-rajapaksa/

  20. The US just always seems to miss the point of any legislation, whether it be healthcare or tax evasion.
    Homelanders don’t need “access” to health insurance, they need real access to health care, which they don’t get with Obamacare or Trumpcare.
    All I care about this issue is that the stupid rule that expats have to buy in to this “insurance” (pay an additional tax) if they reside longer than 35 days (I think it was) in the US, whether they are fully insured at home even for their time over there.
    If Mr. Meadows & Co. have managed to get this passage removed (did they?), then as far as I’m concerned they are one step closer to sainthood.
    Now if they could rid of CBT/FBAR/FATCA then I might think of putting up an icon of their image in my living room (what happens to the Homelanders is irrelevant with this new system is irrelevant to me).

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