Liberty and justice for all United States persons abroad

The Isaac Brock Society

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.

26 May 2015:  This thread is now closed.  It continues at Media and Blog Articles Open for Comment, Part 2 of 2.

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.

Articles from earlier in 2015 are at this link

Articles from 2014 are at this link

Media and Blog Articles Open for Comment, Part 2, is at this link

Media and Blog Articles Open for Comment, Part 3, is at this link

3,971 thoughts on “Media and Blog Articles – Part 1 of 11 (to 26 May 2015)”

  3. FATCA: Get Ready for the Train Wreck
    by David M. Quinones

    http://www.mainjustice.com/justanticorruption/2014/03/19/fatca-get-ready-for-the-train-wreck/

    The article quotes former IRS poster boy Mark Mathews:

    “I don’t know how you enact a statute that will have billions of dollars in global weight without a single public hearing,” he said. This summer we’re going to see some bad results.”

    “There are about 20 million tax cheats in the U.S., and of those the IRS goes after about 1,500-2,000, mostly strategically,” Matthews said.

    Matthews pointed to figures suggesting small businesses are far and away the biggest violators of tax law, pocketing some 52 percent of income without reporting it. “Small businesses are a little more politically protected, a little more connected.”

    “Again, I point to the Congress’ pushing so fast, so aggressive, in a unilateral way. Treasury is going to lose money on this legislation,” Matthews said.

  6. @ WhiteKat
    Look at Tom Hunter’s gravatar and consider the name he uses. He is a hunter. Although he likes to shoot epithet bullets like “anonymous coward” at his prey I believe there is a different image behind that gravatar (one has to hope so anyway — who poses in an undershirt for cripes sake?) and a different name behind the one he is using with its less than subtle message incorporated into it. You are doing a fine job, as always, at Squamish Chief. I had my fill of him on IB Times. The man wears a bullet-proof vest and his helmet has built-in ear plugs. He is deliberately unreachable.
    http://www.ibtimes.com/political-backlash-over-privacy-could-come-tax-evasion-reform-fatca-speeds-1557585#comment-1276522241

  7. @Em

    Interesting you picked up on that too. I made a comment about being suspicious of someone who’d wear a wife-beater in his profile picture, but the comment got deleted :-/

  10. Sorry, that is Operation Earnest Voice. We just had a new twig arrive on the family tree called Ernest (among other things) so I have Ernest on my mind. 🙂

  11. Congratulations on the new twig of your family tree, Em!
    And, interesting re such as Project Earnest:

    Traces of the implementation of the Operation Earnest Voice by the White House are obvious today on news sites and discussions in many countries, especially in Ukraine in the last few days. Website visitors are skillfully pitted against each other using this technology, interethnic hostility is implanted.

  12. From Thailand, a lot of misinformation, wishful thinking, and of course fearmongering. Oh, and if you are an expat who finds himself in a position of non-compliance, consider yourself lucky if you find a tax specialist who will work with you, however “There are still some advisers who are perfectly willing to accept US clients and assist them with… ”

    Please credit and share this article with others using this link:http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/investigation/401244/is-fatca-just-for-fat-cats-us-expats-beware. View our policies at http://goo.gl/9HgTd and http://goo.gl/ou6Ip. © Post Publishing PCL. All rights reserved.

  13. Thanks calgary411. He’s not on our particular branch (we have no children). This is my cousin’s branch (in another province). Twigs are always good news though, no matter where they sprout.

  16. downtherabbithole,

    There is a post at Isaac Brock regarding this, and this is my email to Mr. Flaherty: http://isaacbrocksociety.ca/2014/02/23/finance-minister-flaherty-has-responded-to-carp/comment-page-1/#comment-1138514, followed by http://isaacbrocksociety.ca/2014/02/23/finance-minister-flaherty-has-responded-to-carp/comment-page-1/#comment-1139247 (which went to Mr. Nicin at CARP). Especially good, as usual, was badger’s http://isaacbrocksociety.ca/2014/02/23/finance-minister-flaherty-has-responded-to-carp/comment-page-1/#comment-1139186.

    I, for one, have heard nothing back from my correspondence.

  19. Interesting aside by Bermuda opposition spokesman Marc Bean in a longer interview otherwise mostly about domestic issues:
    http://www.bermudasun.bm/Content/FAITH/Pastor-Gary-Simons/Article/-Casino-charade-is-about-one-deal-/42/573/74472

    Mr Bean worries that Bermuda is losing its competitive edge as a welcome place to do business and store money by appeasing international organizations and large countries like the US who are seeking to track down accounts held in Bermuda.

    “The big discussion is tax harmonization or tax competition. I stand on tax competition. These big, indebted nations are the taxmen. They’re seeking tax harmonization – to apply taxation across the board to all citizens of the world.

    “These persons who are seeking to come to a place like Bermuda, in some cases they are willing to renounce citizenship in their country, based on the principle of freedom and private property. Today, that is being eroded. In appeasing these international organizations, these big brothers, we are destroying our competitive advantages. Wealth management, asset management are under severe threat.”

    Sadly, the Bermudian politician who has been most involved in pushing FATCA is an ex-US citizen: Minister for Financial Services Ryan Pinder, AKA “I got my CLN, screw the rest of you chumps!”

  20. Last summer Senator Ted Cruz learned he was Canadian and made a pledge that he was going to shed his “clinging Canadian Citizenship.”

    Months later he remains Canadian, but why?

    “AUSTIN, Texas — Canada-born U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz has yet to renounce his birth country’s citizenship as promised — but a spokeswoman said Saturday the tea party darling plans to have that finished soon.

    Catherine Frazier, a spokeswoman for the junior senator from Texas, said lawyers are preparing the necessary paperwork.”

    http://www.politico.com/story/2014/01/ted-cruz-canadian-citizenship-101747.html#ixzz2wuHpTHwK

    Remember that Senator Ted Cruz is a Harvard educated lawyer;

    “After graduating from Princeton, Cruz attended Harvard Law School, graduating magna cum laude in 1995 with a Juris Doctor.”

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Cruz

    Wow, it must be pretty difficult to renounce Canadian Citizenship. So what exactly do you need to do to shed that clinging Canadian Citizenship? After all, a Harvard educated US lawyer graduating magna cum laude needs other lawyers “prepare the necessary paperwork.”

    Well, first stop is Government of Canada website;

    http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/citizenship/renounce-how.asp

    You fill out this four page form that asks nothing about social ties or connections;

    http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/pdf/kits/citizen/CIT0302E.pdf
    Folks, you are probably thinking there will be at least one interview and that you will need to face the Flag of Canada one last time. Not at all, you put it in the post and mail it to;

    Citizenship and Immigration Canada
    Case Processing Centre—Sydney
    Renunciation
    P.O. Box 10000
    Sydney, Nova Scotia B1P 7C1

    But you are now thinking, this simple service must have large fees? One hundred dollars Canadian, payable online or by cheque.

    How long does this all take, after all its less than one hundred dollars?

    “Eighty percent of applications, four months.”

    http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/times/canada/cit-renunciation.asp

    OK, maybe Canada is unique in the world. What about your cousins across the pond who want to get rid of clinging British Citizenship?

    The procedure is all online here;

    https://www.gov.uk/renounce-british-nationality/apply

    Amazing, you fill out this form with no questions of social ties but only two pages;

    https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/257089/form_rn.pdf

    Whats the penalty if you make a mistake?

    “I understand that I may be liable for prosecution resulting in a penalty of up to 3 months imprisonment or a fine not exceeding
    £5,000 or both if I knowingly or recklessly make a false declaration.”

    Then hold your breath, you simply put it in the post!!

    Cost in the United Kingdom? £187 payable by credit card or cheque.

    It looks like the United States has managed to impose the Expatriation Act of 1868 on the rest of the world except itself.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expatriation_Act_of_1868

    While we are fighting for residence based taxation maybe what we need from the USA is simple enforcement of the Expatriation Act of 1868 on its own shores. Maybe Senator Cruz could be an ally on this if someone could write him.

    I am sure many Brockers would renounce or document their relinquishment if it was simple, low cost, efficient and without fear. How can they expect all of us who are not magna cum laude Harvard Law School graduates to navigate the US waters?

    But remember, Congress is on record that a CLN is not required;

    “There is no obligation for an individual to obtain a CLN.”

    http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/GPO-CPRT-JCS-2-03/pdf/GPO-CPRT-JCS-2-03-7-2.pdf

  21. @Wren

    Robert Morris commented on his guest post on Nomadic Politics

    “I don’t think the expats that are already abroad will run home. I am certainly not doing so. There will be less expats going forward though.

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