Monthly Archives: March 2012

 The Ontario Legislature this week passed a bill proclaiming October 13^th  as General Isaac Brock Day.  The bill was sponsored by Steve Clark (Conservative), co-sponsored by Kim Craitor (Liberal) and Cindy Forster (NDP).  Mr. Clark, former mayor of Brockville,  represents the riding of Leeds-Grenville in the Ontario Legislature.  Speaking of the successful defence against US invasion of our country, Mr. Clark points out that, “The Battle of Queenston Heights was really a pivotal battle because Canadian troops were outnumbered but Brock was able to lead them effectively.”

Further information is on the Ontario Legislature’s website at: http://www.ontla.on.ca/web/bills/bills_detail.do?locale=en&Intranet=&BillID=2578

A newspaper article, quoting one of General Brock’s descendants, Windsor City Councillor Ron Jones, is at: http://www2.canada.com/windsorstar/news/story.html?id=b0140af2-93b6-4301-a7a2-b1fdca85599d

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Busy night here at Isaac Brock Society but we have a response up from Government/CRA on their position on FBAR. Somewhat legalistic language and a lot of information we already know but I want everyone to take a look at it. Key points: IRS ADMITS FBAR is NOT a tax and IS UNCOLLECTABLE in Canada and CRA has NO obligation under the tax treaty to help the US enforce it against anyone on Canadian territory.

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Some of the regulars over Jack Townsend’s blog may want to pass this along

Just saw this. Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney of New York City sent a letter to Tim Geithner requesting he start a FATCA and FBAR education campaign for expats. For some reason I don’t see this happening either and I think Maloney knows that too. I will note Maloney is becoming pretty powerful among House Democrats only a few ranks below(and supposedly a close personal friend) of Nancy Pelosi. I think perhaps pressure could be more successfully applied to US House members than Senators who are imbeciles led by Reid and Levin.

us_tax_CongresswomanMaloney_031412

Read this —

Ronald L. Brekke, 55, helped prepare phony tax forms for nearly 1,000 people, most of them Canadians, claiming more than $763 million in fraudulent refunds … Brekke told clients to cash their fraudulent checks as soon as they received them and take the money back to Canada.

http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-tax-fraud-20120316,0,4261032.story

                 — and then ask yourself how big the red flag is that now flies over the word Canada at the IRS.

$14 million … all but impossible to recover.
 

I found this Financial Times article about the Swiss parliamentary vote, you will have to register for free at Financial Times to retreive it (8 articles per day for free or something like that [Editor’s Note:  Try this link instead, routed through Google news]).   Financial Times : Swiss parliament backs tax amendment   The article seems to twist the whole affair around and as far as I am concerned it is negative press for us.

Here is a link to my original rant on the parliamentary vote

As the ides of March premonish the far more perfidious April 15, this day of 2012 just now passed seems to have coincided with the number of named participants at Isaac Brock Society having crossed the 200 threshhold. Hard to tell for sure, but it looks that way.

Ring… Ring…

Secretary: Hello John Culberson’s office.

American abroad: Hello, I am a voter in John Culberson’s district. What is the Congressman’s position on FATCA, FBAR, and Americans abroad?

Secretary: I am not sure. Let me see if Robert is free. He is the legislative director.

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A good example of why the U.S. should compete on tax rates.

Switzerland against the world