Media and Blog Articles – Part 1 of 11 (to 26 May 2015)
You can access all years at this link:
http://isaacbrocksociety.ca/media-and-blog-articles-links-for-all-years/
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” too. [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.
2015.05.26
New Survey finds US expat voting could impact 2016 Presidential Election, Greenback Expat Tax Services, NASDAQ GlobeNewswire.
This congressional committee wants to hear all your FOIA gripes, Colby Itkowitz, Washington Post, US.
The black money recovery skills of IT department are nothing to write home about, Vivek Kaul, The Daily Reckoning.
2015.05.25
The Intersection of US Federal Tax Law with Collection of International Information- – Including Other Federal Agencies, Patrick W. Martin, TaxExpatriaation, US.
2015.05.23
America the not so brave: America has led the global assault on tax dodgers and their enablers. But the reality still lags behind the rhetoric, The Economist, UK.
Cash Banned from Chase Safe Deposit Boxes, Matt Chilliak, Live and Invest News.
2015.05.22
US Steuergesetz hat unerwartete globale Konsequenzen, Colleen Graffy, Geopolitical Information Service. Also at Consequences of US widening net to catch tax dodgers, Colleen Graffy, World Review.
The horse may have bolted … but, Angelo Venardos, Asia Asset Management.
Important Correction: Passports Required to Enter and Leave US — but SSNs May be Optional, Patrick W. Martin, Tax Expatriation, US.
2015.05.21
Americans working abroad face unexpected financial issues, Sarah O’Brien, NBC, US.
Senate tax reform groups get more time, Bernie Becker, The Hill, US.
2015.05.20
Malaysia will defer FATCA reporting, FSI Tax Posts.
America’s Self-Inflicted Wound, Moises Naim, The Atlantic, US.
Janice Mays: The Tax Guru Who Guides House Democrats, Alex Brown, National Journal, US.
Sen. Rand Paul Launches Filibuster in Protest of Patriot Act Renewal, C-SPAN, US.
Much as I’d like everyone to be free of the FATCA/FBAR curse, Obama’s 2016 budget won’t get it done for anyone since it does not have a snowball’s chance in hell of being passed…it includes deficits that insult the Republican majority and even a few Democrats. Obama is the lamest of lame ducks and this safe haven sop to some US persons abroad is his attempt to play the generous, warm-hearted leader everyone loves (gag). The lawsuits, Canadian and American, are our best hope, along with the decency of Senators like Mike Lee and Rand Paul, may their tribe increase. This may get me an FU, but I can live with it. Sometimes sound and fury really do signify nothing. I will donate again soon, but currently have zero income. Anything given comes right out of savings which are threatened by fines and penalties and I’m not quite prepared to join the lines at the soup kitchen. I, like so many of you, live in a kind of limbo, but also hope. I wish the very best to all of you in this unholy , dare I say soul-crushing, ordeal.
@LakeSuperiorGuy:
Well said. I agree completely! And indeed, Soul Crushing!
Hear, here, Calgary411, Lake Superiour Guy and all who know what the stakes are here.
Soul crushing indeed.
I think the biggest problem with CBT is that it cannot really be implemented without being severely unfair and inhumane. As some lawyer said in more or less words: when you are subject to 2 tax systems you are screwed.
But that is beside the fact that CBT is not really “taxes” at all, but confiscation- because one gets nothing in return.
I just hear over and over again that homelanders will absolutely never let CBT go. NEVER. So I think this is where all the efforts at some form of mitigation originate. IS there any form of mitigation that would be acceptable? I doubt it.
@Polly Where did I read the US could just change the definition of a US person – US Treasurer could do – so say if someone is tax resident in another country for three years they would no longer be considered a US person then so gos CBT.
I think it is all just academic which of us supports the latest Obama proposals or not. It’s certainly not worth getting our knickers in a twist ( my granny’s phrase) or having major arguments over. The Obama proposals will pass or not without any influence from us. The lawsuit is where we should direct our energies.
Time for a truce.
@Lake Superior Guy
“This may get me an FU, but I can live with it. ”
I’m a recipient of multiple F U’s. But I’m still alive.
@Polly
Great point about taxes really being confiscation, as taxes would get us something in return. I’d like to add that in a proper tax system, the government should benefit too.
Like Boris Johnson, I only owed US tax because I was unaware of my US tax filing obligations. Not again. As far as any significant future revenue from me goes, they’ll just have to satisfy themselves with my renunciation fee. What a waste of human capital.
@Bubblebustin
“the government should benefit too”
Thats worth thinking about – mulling over. Exactly how should the government benefit? Because methinks that the government IS the people. What if there was no distinction between the two? How should the government benefit?
I don’t mean ‘benefit’ in the way of ‘profit’, Polly, if that’s what you mean. I would think that the sole purpose of taxation is to generate revenue in order to provide services to taxpayers. The taxation of USP’s abroad generates revenue for the compliance industry, mostly.,I suppose that the US government benefits indirectly through the compliance industry through taxation of the compliance professional if they happen to be located in the US, but it’s still a heck of a way generate little tax from a group of people who don’t use much, if anything in the way of services.
@JC Plz see second to last paragraph re: proposal for administrative change to def of USP.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/BL-272B-548
I see the offering as a good sign. If nothing ever changed then people who care about this issue would just get fed up. It’s called demobilization. Create a hostile environment enough environment where nothing ever changes and everyone just gives up after a while. That’s what they’ve been doing when they’ve pulled stunts like making citizens abroad reregister every year to vote. I can’t see the accidentals giving up on the cause if they get free. Everyone is too riled.
@Bubblebustin
I don`t understand. I looked up “compliance industry” and there was no definition. But compliance means getting people in line to follow the regulations? So its about getting people to follow laws?
I`m afraid I dont know what you mean.
@Polly
I’m referring to the cross-border tax professionals, those accountants and lawyers who prepare tax returns – some affectionately called “compliance condors” here at Brock. Also includes those firms who are helping the banks get into FATCA compliance.
Polly,
bubblebustin was likely referring to the tax compliance industry — in our case those cross border accounting firms with US tax law and US accountants that are being hired to get us all into compliance with our US tax and reporting requirements…
Tax compliance employs more workers than Wal-Mart, UPS, McDonald’s, IBM and Citigroup combined.
Or, more specifically, the US tax compliance industry for FATCA, one reference:
This Agreement between Canada and the U.S. is intended to improve tax compliance in both countries through enhanced information sharing between the two governments and to provide the U.S. government with information required under U.S. legislation known as the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA).
@Polly, Bubblebustin
“But that is beside the fact that CBT is not really “taxes” at all, but confiscation- because one gets nothing in return.”
Taxation without anything in return is confiscation.
I think we need to make this point more often when commenting on various articles. It is something ordinary people, including homelanders, can quickly grasp.
I always though that “losing count” of something means that you had so many that you can’t keep up with the total, but according to this Forbes writer, losing count of US allies means the loss of allies:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/panosmourdoukoutas/2015/03/18/by-the-time-china-launches-aiib-america-will-have-lost-count-of-its-true-allies/
That’s a good idea FromTheWilderness, but there are so many homelanders who think that taxation somehow gives US citizenship intrinsic value.
@Bubblebustin
OK- but I still don`t see where the compliance industry = the government. I think what I was asking is: how should the government benefit from our TAXES that goes hand in hand with the general population? Because if the government is for the people by the people- then we should all be tickled pink to pay them.
@fromtheWilderness
I agree that it cannot be emphasised enough that people pay taxes to benefit themselves in some manner. Otherwise we could just call it “charity” too. But when one gets absolutely nothing in return? Give me your money and good riddance is what they are telling us.
@Bubblebustin
I dont think I am finding the right words to express myself. What I am basically asking is: is the government SEPARATE from the people? And if so- are we paying the government as a separate entity to do with the money as they please to benefit themselves- the government- and not the people it represents?
Polly:
I totally understand your confusion about how to phrase your question. I’ve spent a lot of time pondering over the same issue. I’ve come to the conclusion that governments, no matter how bravely and hopefully they come into being, literally *do* become entities of their own that exist purely to continue their own existence. I pay my taxes in the hope that some of my money will actually get to the people it is supposed to serve (including myself) but I am never surprised when much of it is wasted and diverted to government’s own self-serving purposes.
I look at our situation here which, as I said on another thread yesterday, feels like the nightmare when you’re shouting, trying to be heard, but no sound comes out. The government is deaf because *our* needs do not match *its* needs. The government feels threatened by our position and therefore finds all kinds of “reasons” why it cannot accede to what *we* need.
The U.S. government developed FATCA (i.e. enforcement of CBT) because it felt threatened by lack of funds and needed, for its survival, to get more. The Canadian, British, French, Swiss, Australian, (etc., etc., etc. x 110) governments caved to the U.S. because *they* were afraid that their own financial sectors (i.e. the hearts of their economies) would collapse from exposure to the U.S. 30% withholding program if they did not.
Was there concern for the general public involved in their decision to sign FATCA agreements? Of course. But none of them hesitated to sacrifice a portion of that “public”, altering their own laws in order to do so. Why? Because it was in the governments’ own best interests to do so.
It’s all about survival. It’s them or us. We are victims of the law of the jungle.
Governments and people *should* work together for their mutual benefit. That’s how societies are supposed to work. Unfortunately, the reality is often somewhat different.
@muzzlednomore
Yeah- governments are supposed to provide services to the people it stands for. Not self serving “services”. Most likely the problems start when their salaries are exorbitantly high. I actually think normal people with normal salaries could do a better job of representing the people. Its not even supposed to be about the money when you get a government job.
At any rate – Switzerland is an eye opener. It has a “Direct Democracy”. Everybody has a say. There are seven presidents each in charge of a different area and each of them can be fired any day of the week besides watching each other`s fingers. They are not multimillionaires… and the bureaucracy who work for the government are exceedingly friendly because they know they are working for their own people and themselves.
Personally- I think when taxes were not used for healthcare/education – people in America were already being robbed.
And man- all the talk about tax evasion! They should look into their own country (Delaware, Wyoming) for that. Its a really deeply fucked up system.
@Polly @MuzzledNoMore
I think what we’re talking about is accountability. We must insist that governments be accountable for the money they spend and the laws they pass. A government should not exist for its own sake, but they do it seems because we allow them to by trusting there are enough mechanisms in place to protect us. We drive the government, but we like to do it on cruise control or even asleep at the wheel – that it until we find ourselves in the ditch, or worse, flying off a fiscal cliff.
A government that ceases to be accountable or trounces the rights of those who they’ve been entrusted to serve in order to preserve itself must have its right to exist questioned by the very people who created it. Otherwise we only have ourselves to blame, right?
Polly and Bubblebustin: Excellent discussion here! I agree that accountability is a key issue. I believe that’s what the pending FATCA lawsuits and our UN Human Rights Complaint are about, calling governments to account. I believe that’s what the protests against Bill C-51 here in Canada are about, calling the government to account. Obviously it’s not only money that needs to be accounted for. It’s actions as well.
A lot of voters are, indeed, asleep at the wheel as you said, Bubblebustin. But I believe that our anti-FATCA/CBT movement is made up of people who have learned they have the right, indeed the responsibility, to question the actions of their governments and intend to hold them accountable. At least two of those governments will have to explain themselves in court not too much longer from now.
The Swiss situation is puzzling, Polly. The Swiss government is truly a model of democracy and I think it speaks volumes that even *it* has bowed to U.S. demands on this issue. It appears to me that in large measure a world government is here and it’s being dictated by the U.S. How can little folks like us fight this? Not sure, but we’re sure as hell trying! 🙂
Yep- but how can the voter have responsibility when they are being lied to? How many things are being done in the dark? How does one STOP the things that are being done in the dark? The greasing of palms for example. I think people`s bodies are found in a river if they try?