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.
Am I missing something? I don’t see how Patrick Martin’s post is right. Under current 26 USC 6039E(b)(1), you only have to give an SSN if you have one, and even if you don’t have one it’s only a reason for a fine not a passport denial. The fine might be a deterrent for those who don’t know about the “all zeroes” thing (Treas Reg 301.6039E-1), but other than that, you can still get a passport.
If Hatch’s passport confiscation bill passes, it could be a disaster for SSN-less children (working on a post about this now). But even then, they wouldn’t be prevented from going to the US, because the bill explicitly provides for them to get a limited one-way passport. They’d just have a hell of a time leaving again.
How crazy does it get? British church bell ringers FATCAed. Not just the British church bell ringer treasurer. All 12 British church bell ringers.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/bank-accounts/11571643/Church-bell-ringers-in-Kent-told-to-fill-out-US-tax-form-to-open-bank-account.html
Blaze: The British bell-ringers link has just been placed in the now lengthy file of addenda to the Human Rights Complaint to be sent to the U.N. this summer if need be. Thanks for alerting us to that piece of nonsense from Britain! Unbelievable!
I thought you posted a spoof at first, Blaze!
@BB That’s how insane this whole FATCA thing is. A British cooperative Bank must FATCA British church bell ringers. Meanwhile, a U.S. potty mouth Congressman has millions of dollars in investment funds in the Caymans. (See my post about that in the Senate submissions thread in response to R Talbot a cussing this site of being Republican).
P.S. I have no idea how much church bell ringers have in their bank account. But I would hazard a guess that it is under $50,000.
The 76 year old church bell ringer treasurer saw clearly what was wrong with this picture–including discrimination and the risk of identity theft. The Co-op bank did not see a problem–just doing their job.
@Blaze
Why don’t they have everybody in the world fill out the forms… US person or not… just in case… its a full out witch hunt… All this info to be added to that not so *secret* database I read about in Utah for the US….
Yes, I read the exchange, Blaze. No response from our parachutist yet I see. Both Republicans and Democrats are making me equally sick right now. If I have to involve myself with either evil, it will be the lesser one as they relate to Americans abroad.
Here’s an interesting test you can take to determine where you sit on the political spectrum. I’m a liberal libertarian, apparently, which I surmise makes me anti-authoritarian, as libertarian is the opposite of authoritarian according to some.
https://www.politicalcompass.org/test
@US_Foreign_Person FATCA is not about taxes. It is about information, power, control and punishment. The US is beginning by gathering information on “U.S. persons” under the guise of fighting tax evasion.
When I told a friend about the British church bell ringers, he said “What a bunch of ding dongs.” He wasn’t referring to the bell ringers.
I think we will see far more of this intensive gathering of personal information. FATCA is merely a prelude. Canada’s Bill C51 is next up.
I have no idea why Edward Snowden and Glenn Greenwald are silent on FATCA.
A very interesting decision by the US Supreme Court on Monday regarding double taxation within the States.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/05/18/supreme-court-double-taxation/22066863/
I don’t know where to start with this one (and the comments in the article), so I’m off to find the actual wording of the ruling.
@ Bubblebustin
Interesting test. Looks like we both landed in the same quadrant. I’d have to wonder about someone who lands in the very middle — how conflicted about everything would he/she be?
@ Blaze
Spot on — “It is about information, power, control and punishment.” The Powers That Should Not Be seek to control us all with information dossiers and the fear of punishments. It’s up to all of us to RESIST.
@OAP: Opinion here
http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/14pdf/13-485_o7jp.pdf
Fun game to play: take any random paragraph and replace “Maryland” with “United States”, “rstate” with “country”, “-state” with “-national”, “county tax” with “citizenship-based taxation”, etc.
@Blaze
U are correct about the info aspect of it…
Don’t get me started with C-51… the 2 so called terrorist in Canada were canadians who where pissed off by the Canadian gov’t… The one in Quebec was a person with mental & substance issues… Because of the actions of our closet hiding PM… we were viewed in the world as peace loving… yadda yadda… now people see us as the same as the US… I am not proud of that fact at all….
@Bubblebustin, @EmBee
Majority of family were Cons… see what that got us… Was kind of leaning toward Liberal… but that came off the table with C-51… Not sure now but I realized… alot of politicians talk out of their butt… will do or say anything to get the vote… whatever happen to doing the job for the good of the people? All people not just a select few… OMG… I sound like my grand-daddy… who believes that guns are a god given right… if u are on my property… shoot first.. then ask nicely why u are there…lol
@ USFP
All of my family were Con voters, except one rogue NDP uncle. Oh my the “discussions” when that one came to visit! I’ve never been anything but an issue voter. I would say through the years I’ve voted at least once for every party. Guess it’s pretty obvious what the issues are for me this time around — Part V of Bill C-31 (2014) and all of Bill C-51 (2015). I can’t believe what has happened to Canada — breaks my itty-bitty heart to say the least.
@EmBee
Grand-daddy was a Con… we were trained early to be… never really questioned it since Cons never did anything glaring as this bs now… like u… we have become an issue family… sad day indeed when we all think of the olden days… my kids say that… use to be very proud to be canadian… not so much these days…
U.S. loses meat labeling case; trade war looms
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/05/18/usa-meat-idUSL1N0Y90SL20150518
This is not related, but nonetheless interesting. The World Trade Organization says U.S. meat labeling illegal.
Maybe the complaint over CBT should have been filed with the WTO and not the UN.
If an organization can agree to that, which is a much more gray area than the human right violation with CBT, I wonder what they would do with a complaint regarding the FATCA extortion.
And personally, I think that from a consumer perspective, the decision in not right. Why should we, as consumers, not be aware and have the right to choose where the meat we eat comes from?
It can go both ways. You will have people who would rather eat US raised meat, an people who would rather eat meat from Canada where they think the industry is better regulated as for the food they feed these animals.
@Noone
I don’t think that they would take on all of CBT, but they certainly should have an interest in some elements of the tax code. The way the WTO is set up, only countries or multi-country groups like the EU can bring a case forward, not interest or pressure groups. I would hope that the EU has its batallions of lawyers perpetually looking through the U.S. tax code violations of WTO rules. The EU and India are particularly willing to fight their corner at the WTO. There certainly is a lot of protectionism masquerading as tax-evasion prevention in the US tax code for the EU to look into. I think that they should look at the PFIC rules, since these pretty much prevent U.S. persons from investing in foreign (such as Indian and EU) start-ups, particularly things like internet startups and the rules have been tightened up since the WTO was founded in 1995. The WTO has the types of expert panels that can actually cope with mind-boggling complex detail and see through the U.S. B.S.
Bloomberg BNA, May 18, 2015, Tough Issues Raised by U.S. Split From U.K., Canada Over FATCA (from Daily Tax Report)
Differences in how new accounts are treated by the U.S., the U.K. and Canada under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act are raising tough questions for banks across many jurisdictions, practitioners told Bloomberg BNA.
@Calgary411
My understanding is that there is a question of whether banks should have to close new accounts if the person fails to provide their U.S. tax status. The U.K. position is that the information from the accounts without the paperwork get sent on to the U.S., but the accounts remain open, so there would be a lot of junk data in what went to the U.S. for the U.S. to sort out. The U.S. position is that such accounts must be closed.
If you look at the Telegraph story comments, you can get some sense of how well is going to go down if ordinary Britons with no links to the U.S. are forced to verify that they are not British or have their accounts closed. The fallout from the Iraq War and some incidents from the War on Terror have really soured Britons on U.S. overreach. The only good thing about U.S. stubbornness is that could move FATCA from being about Americans in Britain (whom the public probably think of as being mainly wealthy bankers with non-dom status that prevents them from paying full British tax) to being about ordinary Britons. Right now,the U.K. is very anti-immigrant and if you told them that there was a piece of U.S. legislation that was coercing U.S. citizens back to the states, many Britons might actually support that idea as a way of lowering the numbers of immigrants and preserving more British jobs for British workers. If it affects ordinary Britons; however, they will get riled.
NYT Letter from DA:
http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/05/20/opinion/the-real-key-to-fatca-reform.html?referrer=&_r=0
The Real Key to Fatca Reform
Thousands of Batswana become foreigners overnight
http://www.mmegi.bw/index.php?sid=1&aid=56&dir=2011/November/Friday18
@purple state,
That is actually one of the less offensive statements put out by DA so far. Still woefully insufficient, but at least not actively infuriating as written.
But what is this?
Really, the DNC called for that? I know DA has, but have they actually gotten the DNC as a whole to pass some kind of resolution to the same effect?
@Eric
That’s pretty fu@&ed up. It seems Botswana only allows citizenship to be conferred jus sanguin ‘pur’. Imagine finding out you don’t have citizenship because your parent was born in the US? That would be the mother of all OMG moments! Kind of like what many of us felt when the Harper government told us we don’t have the same rights as other Canadians, but worse.
We should go back to living in tribes.
Church bell ringers in Kent told to fill out US tax form to open bank account
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/bank-accounts/11571643/Church-bell-ringers-in-Kent-told-to-fill-out-US-tax-form-to-open-bank-account.html
Can comment on this one.