I know this is off topic but it was too much fun to pass up. Canadian politics are never this exciting.
Judges order Justice Department to clarify following Obama remarks on health law case
A federal appeals court is striking back after President Obama cautioned the Supreme Court against overturning the health care overhaul and warned that such an act would be “unprecedented.”
Guilty by association, even when the association is allegedly created by the government itself:
Someone You Love: Coming to a Gulag Near You
Merryn Somerset Webb has just posted a big-picture piece at Money Week – Why every bank will soon be a tax collector for every government everywhere. Bottom line? Financial repression is a government tool to force a broad population to hold debt that loses them money in real terms. This is outlined as the context for FATCA.
US regulators sue RBC. “You’re constantly doing things that in hindsight someone can come along and conclude differently,” says one bank analyst.
Found this Workopolis ad today. More evidence that Canadian banks are moving full steam ahead with FATCA compliance plans. The fat lady is warming up in the wings.
From Workopolis:
Senior Manager, FATCA
TD BANK GROUP
Toronto, ON, CANADA
2012-03-27
Senior Manager, FATCA
Another interesting article by Michael Cohn at Accounting Today. We have a couple “Fair Share Acts” in play in the Senate and the House, that all of us should be keeping our eyes on. Continue reading
Cross posted from RenounceUScitizenship
It’s no secret that U.S. Green Card holders and immigrants have been among the biggest victims of OVDP and OVDI. For countless immigrants, the “American Dream” has turned into the “American Nightmare”. Imagine coming to a country – let’s call it “Form Nation”. Imagine not being told about the tax and reporting laws of “Form Nation”. Imagine not knowing about Mr. FBAR and then being told that you were a criminal and that the only way out was to pay up. Imagine, being told that you were a criminal according to the laws of a country AND LIVING IN THAT COUNTRY. Imagine trying to seek help from the “cross border professionals” who told you that you must go into OVDI (and pay them lots of money for the privilege). U.S. tax compliance is very expensive. Understanding FBAR penalties is import in making the OVDI decision. As bad as the situation has been for U.S. citizens living abroad, I suspect that the situation is far worse for the immigrants. What are they do do? For the most part they want to be in the United States (although after hearing their story, I suspect fewer and fewer people will want to immigrate to the U.S.). Like U.S. citizens living abroad, the lives of Green Card holders are also being destroyed. Continue reading
MUMBAI/NEW DELHI (Reuters) – International trade groups representing more than 250,000 companies have told Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh in a letter that his government’s new retrospective tax proposals have led foreign businesses to reconsider their investments in the country.
India’s federal budget last month outlined a proposal to enable the tax authorities to make retroactive claims on overseas corporate deals and bring in new anti-avoidance measures, moves that have been criticized for further denting investor sentiment.
http://news.yahoo.com/global-business-groups-warn-india-over-tax-plan-080647693.html
The cover story for the current issue of Canadian Business is “Canada’s Banks Under Fire.” Cover caption is “Why we’re about to pay for America’s mistakes.” Long story, pages 24-29. All about Volcker rule and Basel III.
Not one single word about FATCA. Not one single word about current attempts to harvest revenue from hundreds of thousands of tax-compliant Canadian residents.
One of the best bits is a quotation from Ian Lee of Sprott School of Business: “There’s a casual carelessness from American government officials about the impact of their decisions on people outside of their country. They just shrug their shoulders.”
Estimated world population as of Oct. 31, 2011 7 billion
Estimated population of the U.S. for 2012 313,281,000
Estimated number of U.S. citizens living abroad 6 million
Estimated costs to administer FATCA and chase those 6 million- billions of dollars forever. Net benefit to be derived at the best is most likely zero but is more than likely to be negative because the taxes collected are not likely to ever exceed the cost of FATCA compliance. Of course we will never know because the U.S. very conveniently refuses to establish any criteria for costs calculation.
