Liberty and justice for all United States persons abroad

The Isaac Brock Society

Tag Archives: Financial Post

10 Things Ottawa Could Have Done Before Capitulating to the #FATCA IGA

Posted on by Posted in Issues regarding US persons abroad 23 Comments

In an article that I saw last night on the Financial Post, there was a headline which read

Ottawa had little choice in signing controversial deal with U.S. tax man

The ‘No Option, No Choice’ meme certainly has become a popular with journalist and politicians alike around the world. “We have NO Option” was the whimpering cry from Prime Minister John Key out of New Zealand.

Very disappointing to see these capitulations out of supposedly conservative governments who  DO HAVE OPTIONS, they have just elected for political expediency, fear of the bully’s sanction, ‘everyone else is doing it’ justification, or the desire for another golf game with Obama, not to take any of them!

So, when I see these memes, I am starting to comment with my 10 Options.  10 is always a popular round number.  Petros asked that I publish them, so here they are.  I am sure you can come up with others.  Continue reading →

Jamie Golombek of the Financial Post continues to carry Obama’s water

Posted on by Posted in Issues regarding US persons abroad 51 Comments

Obamacare could cost some Canadians a lot of money

My comment:

I recommend that people visit our website, the Isaac Brock Society where we the issue of US citizenship-based taxation from a much more sober and realistic point of view. Golombek, who works for CIBC, is not a good source of information on the issues of FATCA and US citizenship-based taxation. The practice of the United States of taxing “citizens” who are living in Canada is discriminatory and violation of the charter rights of all Canadian residents–and the banks, including the CIBC, plan to throw American “citizens” under the bus by instituting FATCA which they know already violates the charter and privacy rights of those they will expose to the IRS.

Golombek is clearly incorrect on the following point in his article: “This means that high-income Canadians may have to start writing a cheque to Uncle Sam for the first time in 2013.” According to the Canadian government, Canadian citizens never have to pay taxes to the United States on Canadian source income no matter how much they make, because the CRA will never collect for the IRS on a Canadian citizen, provided that they are a citizen at the time the tax liability was allegedly incurred. Golombek seems to me to be carrying water for the IRS, and he should really work much harder to get a Canadian perspective on this issue.

Also I should mention that Golombek’s sources are KPMG and Moody’s, folks that make a lot of money off your misery by charging you thousands of dollars to get your US tax affairs in order. They are very “interested” in your business.

At some point the Financial Post has to get some credibility on this issue. Using sources such as banks (Golombek), accounting firms (KPMG) and cross-border law firms (Moody’s), all of whom have millions of dollars at stake, is not the best way to gain credibility on what is essentially a human rights issue.