Liberty and justice for all United States persons abroad

The Isaac Brock Society

Posted on by Posted in Issues regarding US persons abroad 78 Comments

Cross posted from RenounceUScitizenship

To the readers of the Isaac Brock Society blog. I recognize that many of you are no longer U.S. citizens. As a result, the November 6 Presidential Election may have no direct effect on your lives. Nevertheless, as citizens of other countries you have a clear interest in stopping the U.S. plunder of other nations through citizenship-based taxation. Therefore, I suspect that citizens of all free nations have an interest in putting an end to citizenship-based taxation,  FBAR, OVDI and FATCA to harm other sovereign countries. Although, Barack Obama is not the architect of citizenship-based taxation, his administration has used it in new ways to harm other sovereign nations.

Last night the Economist Magazine ran an online debate, on the issue of whether Barack Obama should be re-elected president. The debate allowed live comments. There were a total of 92 “registered” comments. Of the 92, approximately 7 were attempts to comment that never became comments (unless the absence of a comment was intended to be the comment). In any case, of the 85 substantive comments approximately 7 were from U.S. citizens abroad. The agony of U.S. citizens abroad is real. Their pain can be heard. The simple fact is that the Obama administration has made life for U.S. citizens abroad a life of agony. In order to spread the word, I created a number of tweets which link to the cries of anguish. Here they are:

Barack Obama began his road to the presidency by being a community organizer in Chicago. We must end his presidency by being community organizers in the Expat community. The Obama administration has destroyed the health, wealth and life of U.S. citizens abroad.  Michelle Obama credits the Obama presidency with allowing her to feel proud of America.  I credit the Obama presidency with creating conditions that make me ashamed to be a U.S. citizen. Renunciations of U.S. citizenship are soaring under Obama. People are desperate to renounce U.S. citizenship – and renounce  they will!

The only way to end the Obama presidency is for people to vote for Mitt Romney. In October I wrote a post which I titled “An open letter to Mitt Romney“. My letter included the following:

Governor Romney, I am writing to you for two reasons:

First, I believe that you are the most likely candidate to be the Republican nominee for President, and that you will likely be the next President of the United States of America.

Second, I strongly urge you to make FATCA an election issue. President Obama has been bad for America. I agree that “Obama means not working”. But, if FATCA is the legacy of the Obama Presidency, FATCA is the seed that will destroy the United States.

Governor Romney: I don’t want you to ever be in a position where you must “apologize for America!”

I am an expat American Patriot. But, America is no longer the country that you and I grew up in. I am not leaving the United States of America – The United States of America has left me!

I am of the opinion that Mr. Romney would be a good president and would be much better for U.S. citizens abroad. My reasons are captured in this comment to the post:

I have always felt that Romney (of all the candidates) is the one who would be most sympathetic to this. My reasons are:

1. Both he and his wife’s fathers were born outside the U.S.

2. I have speculation that Romney may also be a citizen of Mexico.

3. Romney has a family summer home in Grand Bend Ontario giving him a life long connection to Canada.

4. Romney clearly has to file FBARs.

5. Romney is (in truth) an “Independent” who is a pragmatist. Therefore, if given the proper education, he would see how much citizenship-based taxation hurts the U.S.

I have always felt that we should attempt to engage Romney. If we educate him, it will give him an issue to attack Obama. I have yet to meet a person who does not see things our way, once it is explained. Furthermore, it will portray Obama as the thug that he is.

In addition, we should reach out to Ron Paul – who very clearly is opposed to the Ex-Patriot Act. I noticed that he used the words “Trojan Horse” to describe some aspects of citizenship-based taxation.

At the very least, Romney should receive the very strong support of U.S. citizens abroad.

I commented further that:

How about pick up he telephone and tell him that U.S. citizens abroad would like to organize to throw their support behind him – I am very serious.

At the risk of oversimplification, you will find that in life there are three kinds of people:

1. Those who make things happen

2. Those who watch things happen

3. Those who ask – What happened?

Because we live outside the United States, we are able to observe the world and the United States in a much more objective way than those who live inside the United States. The common “Homelanders” and the “Homelander Elite Core” are captive to U.S. National Narcissism. They are in the third category – at the end of the day – as we watch the daily erosion of the United States – they will just ask “What happened?”

There are many U.S. citizens who read and comment on blogs and wish things were different. They are in great pain, but they are really just watching this happen.

It’s time to make things happen! If you don’t take steps to “make things happen” then who will? If you are an American Patriot, then I suggest you have a duty to get involved in the upcoming election. Find a way to help spread the word. Do everything you can to keep Barack Obama from enjoying a second term.

Now, I want to point out that the “Obama Central Command”, has created a sham organization, called “Americans Abroad For Obama” – americansabroadforobama.org.  This is their attempt to manufacture the  “illusion of support” for Barack Obama. This has also meant that Obama has inadvertently opened a dialogue with U.S. citizens abroad – an opportunity that we must take advantage of.

Conclusion: Democracy assumes that citizens (and that’s what we apparently are – or maybe not) assume a level of responsibility.  Assuming a level of responsibility means participation in the upcoming election. There are many U.S. citizens abroad who believe (a belief that I share) that through OVDI, and the FBAR Fundraiser, that the Obama administration has launched a vicious unprovoked attack on U.S. citizens abroad and on other countries. FATCA – the U.S. Berlin Wall – is simply icing on the cake. It is commonly said that U.S. citizens have two choices:

1. Renounce U.S. citizenship (the renunciation of U.S. citizenship might be the most patriotic thing you can do); or

2. Comply

This is true, but there is another possibility. That is to work as hard as possible to get Mitt Romney elected president. We cannot know for sure whether Romney would reverse any of the destructive policies of the Obama administration. But, we do know that nothing could be worse than four more years of Barack Obama. Our ability to survive as U.S. citizens living outside the United States is dependent on getting rid of Barack Obama!

This requires that you become a community organizer. As U.S. citizens abroad it means that we must become a larger community of smaller communities. Once we become that larger community of communities, then we make that telephone call to Mitt Romney. Community organization made Barack Obama president. Community organization is what is required to end it. Are the organizer for your community?

Can we as U.S. citizens living outside the United States make a difference in the November 6 election?

“Yes we can!” – Let’s effect some “change we can believe in!”

While you are at it, you might spread the following message:

Stop citizenship-based taxation – Repeal FATCA

78 thoughts on “Yes we can!! – Change we can believe in – Organizing the community of U.S. citizens abroad – One community at a time!”

  1. I wish this could be true!

    But hopes were dashed today after reading this input into the WSJ debate (posted below)

    They don’t care about us, and the situation is complicated way beyond the average, insular, domestic no-passport-never-been-outside-the-US mentality.

    Can anything we say make sense to these people?  I doubt it, they function on sound-bytes and fritos, it would take too long to explain.

    Armoný wrote:

    Dear Sir,
    I would like to weigh in on the question of tax reporting requirements for US citizens living abroad. Some writers claim they “never heard of” the required FBAR form. That FBAR form is not new. It was always required. For US taxpayers not to have heard of this requirement, they would need to have been living, not just overseas, but on some other planet.
    Across the total spectrum of presidential leadership, President Obama’s performance has been uneven. He has appeared to lack the savvy that LBJ and Clinton had for getting their programs passed by Congress. But all this hoo-ha from US taxpayers abroad alleging they feel “persecuted” by this administration is nonsense. The FBAR and FATCA requirements are designed to catch tax evaders. Honest taxpayers have nothing to fear. Their sense of grievance is mystifying.

  2. *@Armoný: I wasn’t aware of FBAR because I was told I didn’t have to file as a no-wage earning, stay-at-home mum by two separate “experts” in U.S. tax law. I also had no idea about FATCA or anything else until my MP told me at an event in January of this year. I was living on “Planet Parenthood/Life” I guess you could say.

  3. @freeatlast

    I agree that @Armony is not exactly the “brightest light in the stadium”. But we are not marketing to him. As I see it the issue is this:

    This is going to be (subject to an unforeseen intervening event) a very close election. If one could suggest to Romney that he has a chance of picking up a million or more votes, then one might be able to get a conversation or two. Romney is in favor of territorial tax for corporations. He is in favor of a territorial tax system for corporations because it is better for the health of the economy. The argument can then be extended in two distinct ways:

    1. There is no difference between people and corporations and separately and independently;

    2. Citizenship-based taxation of people is bad because it also harms the economy using the arguments that Roger has been making for years.

    It makes no sense to allow a total moron like @Armony influence this.

    Tax reform is certain to be on the agenda of the next government.

    No matter what the government is, we can and should use this election to get citizenship-based taxation, FBAR, FATCA, etc on the radar.

  4. @renounce, Isn’t American Citizens Abroad (ACA) already the community organization that you want to form? ACA is pretty active regarding taxation of US citizens abroad.

    @all, I would like to mention that I live in the US, close to Washington, DC. Please let me know what I could do around here to help. I can even go to places in Washington if I’m allowed in and if my schedule permits.

  5. @Petros, as a US citizen who lived and worked abroad who came back home many years ago, I totally support your position and this effort. Not only did the tax legislation of 1976 increase my comulative Brazilian plus US tax liability to 81% more than anyone else in Brazil (non-US citizen) with my exact same income and family status, but it required that I violate Brazil’s foreign currency exchange laws by buying dollars illegally on the black market and remitting them illegally to a”foreign” country’s tax authorities to pay my US tax liability. This was in violation of its money laundering laws. Since I could not survive and would have had to decide which prision system I would be most likely to survive, I shut down the business I was running selling US exports in that country and came home.

  6. @Shadow raider

    I have a great deal of respect for the work of ACA. I think they are responsible for fantastic research and have done their best to lobby. But, they are not an organization that is interested in the defeat of Barack Obama.  They will always  be a valuable asset and ally. Sure, the problem is citizenship-based taxation. Sure that has always existed. Sure Obama has nothing to do with it.

    But, Obama is in charge of the IRS, FBAR enforcement, and OVDI – these are things that are are the product of the executive branch of government. The creation of OVDI was just that – a creation of the IRS. The way that FBAR enforcement and FATCA enforcement is played out is directly under the control of the Obama administration. The Obama administration cannot say: Congress makes the law, we are just enforcing. It is the manner of and extent of enforcement that is the problem.

    So, as valuable as ACA is, this initiative should use this election year to focus on Obama. Perhaps the prospect of a large number of people supporting Romney will get him to listen.

    Your thoughts?

  7. @Roger, I want to remind everyone that I am not the author of all the posts at Isaac Brock, but your administrator.  You may be getting a notice from the old blog–but I am the one responsible for sending a reblog of the posts here so that old subscribers receive a notice of a  posting here.

    I do agree with the sentiment of this post by Renounce; yet as a former citizen of the United States I am somewhat ambivalent; I am disappointed that the only reasonable person in the room, Ron Paul, did not win the nomination.  But I won’t be voting this time around.  Lots of us won’t be, thanks to the current regime running the US today.

  8. *Consider yourself a refugee from North Korea, Burma, or Somalia.  You do not intend to go back, you do not intend to pay them tribute, you do not intend to vote.  In this light, the probability of your national government ratting you out and/or deporting you is non-existent. 

    Why would you even continue to show any interest in a nation that has basically said you are worthless?  Too many of you are still carrying around childlike images of the land of the brave and the home of the free.  Get over it.  

  9. @Joe Smith

    The answer is that there are people who are still U.S. citizens who are affected by the fact that the U.S. government is not – the “land of the brave and home of the free” –  but is like North Korea, Burma or Somalia. For them, Obama has to go.

  11. As I told some, this whole “getting out of the US” (or indeed deciding to stay in the US) process is soul deadening, similar to:

    Our Soul-Deadening Politics
    By Chuck Brown
    “Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right, Here I am Stuck in the middle with you” – Stealers Wheel

    All that makes life vibrant—its innate beauty; the joy of challenges taken on; the hope and awe of our unseen possibilities; the sense that our best days are yet to come—all this is being robbed from us by the current state of our politics. Politics as practiced in America, circa 2009 (and beyond), is about as soul-deadening and dehumanizing as things get. To be a member of today’s Republican or Democratic Party is about as meaningless an activity as one may engage in. To look honestly and unflinchingly at our political parties is something we choose not to do, something to be avoided at all costs. Because to do so is to look into the abyss. To do so is to see the black hole at the center of our collective heart. To look at it, to see it, to know it would assure us of not continuing down the same path. That’s why we don’t look.

  12. @Joe Smith

    I understand you don’t like Romney. The issue is which of the two is more likely to consider the questions of: citizenship-based taxation, FATCA, FBAR and the like.

    On the issue of the economy in general, the president cannot in and of himself turn the economy around. That said, the president has a great deal of influence over the general approach to the relationship between citizens and the government. What is clear is that Obama is running his campaign on the theme of class warfare. By this Obama means:

    A vote for Barack Obama is to use the democratic process to force somebody else to pay your bills. It’s completely divisive.

    As far as I can see Romney is a pragmatist, who just try to solve problems in a non-partisan way. Romney is not a particularly polarizing figure.

    Funny as I write this I could imagine Romney saying he is not particularly concerned about the poor (I think he did say something like that). Obama is not concerned about anybody.

  14. @renounce, I am aware that citizenship-based taxation and the FBAR have long existed, and that the exit tax, the increased FBAR penalties and its more detailed form were created under the Bush administration, but at least it made a few good changes, such as lowering all income tax rates, abolishing the limitation on the AMT foreign tax credit, and creating large exemptions on the estate tax. But I agree, it was the Obama administration that decided to persecute expatriates with OVDI, actual enforcement of the FBAR penalties and the FATCA monster.

    I understand that ACA’s purpose is not to offer political support to anyone. I also think that Mitt Romney would open his eyes if he realized the potential votes from US citizens abroad, but I already sent a letter to his campaign, with no response yet. Do you know how else I could try to reach him? And since you are talking about supporting Romney, are you are still a US citizen, despite your alias?

    @Petros, I used to be sceptical about Ron Paul, but after I found out about FATCA and the other tax issues of US citizens abroad, I really understood what he says about the government being too powerful. I used to think that only the “bad guys” could be negatively affected by government policy, until I saw how ordinary people can be unfairly punished for mundane activities. I was excited that Ron Paul got many delegates in the first primaries, but I was also disappointed that he did not get very far in the end.

  15. Thanks, renounce.

    Looks like Jesse Ventura gives a good analogy of US political parties — same as the Bloods and the Crips. The US seems to have been taken over by gang warfare and the expats don’t stand much of a chance. I’m going to treat myself to the Kindle version of this since it might be a long time to show up in my local library.

  16. Interestingly, in this article, they rate FACTA as a promise kept for Obama.

    “Obama promised to “create an international tax haven watch list of countries that do not share information returns with the United States.” Obama hasn’t done this precisely, but a new law now being implemented — the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act — does even more. The law offers a whole new layer of scrutiny for both Americans who have overseas accounts and foreign financial institutions that have Americans among their account-holders. Its long reach has been controversial among banks, but we rated it a Promise Kept.”

  17. *A few points. Of course the best for Americans Living and Working Abroad would be a residency based taxation like all other countries do. If this is impossible, for whatever reason, then the Earned Income Exclusion and Tax Credits will be OK, despite the paper work. I would even venture to say that even the FBARS would be OK provided that Americans Abroad who started sending the FBARS would not be penalized for not doing it earlier. And then they would add the FBARS yearly to their paper work. This would still be OK. If the IRS would like to place a time limit for the Americans Abroad to send the FBARS and penalize them for not complying, they should send a communication to each one of them stating the date line and what would happen if they did not comply. This would be honest and fair. Then the IRS would not tax income of Americans Abroad that are not taxed where he or she resides. They would not penalize Americans Abroad for not paying the tax they owe for a given year if the country where they reside do not allow them to do so. And finally, instead of concentrating on Americans Living Abroad the IRS should concentrate in Americans Living in the USA who have hidden accounts abroad. They must recognize that these two Americans are not the same. Am I making any sense? Finally I am totally in favor of Americans Abroad organizaing themself with the help of ACA: http://www.aca.ch

  18. Captain Obama steers toward the rocks, as Ron Paul tries to change course, while the Mitt Romney is happy to keep rearranging deck chairs. 

  19. @Renounce: It is hard to organize the people spread across the globe and living remote corners of the globe. But many of us want to do whatever we can do to contribute. In 2008, I contributed to Obama campaign and he betrayed me. I wanted to pay for my mistake. Many of us are willing to contribute a fund that can help (1) defeat Obama, (2) to educate mainlanders, (3) Lobby the congress or (4) fund a class action law suite against FBAR fundraising or (5) defense of OVDI victims. I might have taken the initiative, if I were not in the process of filing back taxes and renounce. But until I renounce, I want to stay anonymous. Even 5000 of us contribute we can raise a million dollars.

  20. @Bharat, I think US citizens should at least write to their country’s US ambassador, if they haven’t done so already.

  21. Frankly, I’m not impressed with any of the candidates from either party.  The United States has turned into a mockery of itself.  They espouse freedom, but they implement the NDAA; the ability to imprison their citizens that they think are a national threat.  How soon will it be until speaking out against the government because of unfair policy lands you on the NDAA radar?  The USA has become an absolute autocracy that thinks nothing of blacklisting its citizens who are protesting the unfair tax policy for expat citizens.  If anyone thinks the Republicans will be any better is just deluding themselves.  It’s the Republicans who are screaming about expats not being “patriotic” Americans and stating that the door should be shut. 

    Just absolutely pathetic. 

  22. @all

    I have been out tonight listening to Joseph Stiglitz talk about inequality in America, so missed most of this conversation.  

    That said,

    Here,… The @Demsabroad want your likes

    https://twitter.com/DemsAbroad/status/213074155996856320

    I sent them something slightly less than that… staying measured of course :)

    https://twitter.com/FATCA_BlowBack/status/213075107218866176

    Although I have to tell you, nothing about Romney attracts me as an answer to the Citizenship taxation policy, so I remain bi-partisan in my disdain for either party, and will not be actively promoting him either.  A pox on both of their houses. Now Ron Paul, if he were on a separate ticket, I might consider him as an antidote to the duopoly we currently have 

  23. @Christrophe,

    Promises kept indeed.  No wonder he has no interest in hearing about the unintended consequences  Mission Accomplished, and now all we need is an aircraft carrier equivalent moment, and a Big Banner, and we can move on to the next preemptive adventure..  

  24. @The_Animal

    Welcome to Isaac Brock, and for living up the conversation.  I understand Renounce just trying to work with what we have, and the choices are not pretty.   I am still a voter, and so even holding my nose, as I expect nothing from Romney any different than what we have now, I might pull the lever for him as compared to Obama, or I might just sit this one out.  Still undecided.  I take your point that it is “Just absolutely pathetic.” 

     

  25. *The Brocker who found the Economist article is a hero—and the posts are the only step to break into the media.
    Never forget that the object of every media source is to satisfy its reader base.  It’s advertisers want content to hold their readers/viewers.  Readers and viewers always return to the source which affirms what they want to hear.
    This means that, before publishing, an editor needs to feel that his story is fulfilling the desires of its audience.  When they believe that the majority audience doesn’t want to hear the message, it won’t be published.
    The economist now has a small majority of FATCA/FBAR posts and might start getting an idea for a story.
    Stories either snowball or die.  Let’s hope that the Vancouver Sun and Economist are starting off something.
    If anyone sees any other such opportunity—please bring it forward!

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published.

%d bloggers like this: