9 thoughts on “Mark Shields: Welcome to the IBS Wall of Shame”

1. He’s a bit holier than thou.  I am surprised how easy it is for progressives today to act as judge and jury to condemn, and then also, to discern with such crystal clear accuracy the motives of individuals.

   Anyway, to make it clear to Mr. Mark Shields, in case he ever happens upon this blog, the reason that I renounced my citizenship has nothing to do with taxes or money.  No, I renounced so that I could be as far away as possible from hypocrites like himself.

2. Interesting how he tars Ms Rich with her husbands behaviour. Maybe someone should let him know that Congressman Tierney’s (of end-the-FEIE fame) wife was convicted of felony tax fraud, and I believe they are still married. But then, muck rakers like this seldom let facts get in the way of their reporting.

3. *Unadulterated hogwash at its worst.  Who does this guy think his is anyway?

4. Gosh, I would love to post there, but registering for all of these sites can be a pain. I guess these geniuses have never heard of the FATCA before, huh? It will be nice when a high-profile renunciant states FATCA as the reason. That would probably open some eyes.

   I’m still-to-this-day trying to figure out why most American “journalists” take the very small amount of filtered information that they are given and write articles based on that. Whatever happened to fact-checking and trying to look at things from other angles? Guess that’s just how they are…

5. @geeez, yeah, I can’t be bothered to register because a year down the road when I want to comment again at their lousy site, I’ll have forgotten all the login information.  If I had time, I could be infamous on the internet for responding to dumb dumbs. 

   “Honey, come to bed.”

   “I can’t.  Somebody is wrong on the internet.”

6. @geeez

   I would suspect that if you state FATCA or even denial of banking opportunities in a foreign country as a reason for your renunciation that it most probably would be rejected!

7. @Tim…

   I haven’t read the story yet, but before I would flame Mark Shields, I must admit to a bias, and that is I have been watching the David Brooks and Mark Shields Friday night commentary (civil debate) on PBS News Hour for years.  He and David are definitely insiders, but they are civil, which is rare these days, and neither one of them are dogmatic. They are often widely criticized by their partisan mates.  So, I will use this opportunity to educate and not flame, I think. 

   Now, that said, I will go read the link, and decide on a response.  🙂

8. @Tim…

   Well, I  finally read the Op-ed, and was disappointed in Mark’s commentary.  I was going to respond, and maybe I will, but I have to give a shout out to ” recalcitrantexpat ” 

   Eloquently said… In fact, I am going to publish it here…

   I must say Mr. Shields that I am very disappointed in this article. I have for a long time enjoyed your commentary along with that of Mr. Brooks on the PBS Newshour. I’ve always found you to be very fair minded in your dealings with the opposing view but with this article you have come down a notch.

   Maybe it is your patriotism that has blinded you to being able to see the other side, which is sad. To see you going along the same line of irrational reasoning, as Sen. Schumer and Casey, that dictates some kind of perpetual fidielity on the part of the U.S. citizen is deeply disappointing. I suppose that you have the same opinion about Mr. Eduardo Saverin’s act of renounciation.

   For the U.S. to elevate the renunciation of U.S. citizenship to the moral equivalent of an act of treachery shows just how distorted is the America’s moral compass. Neither Ms. Rich nor Mr. Saverin have committed an act that does harm to the integrity of the U.S. body politic. When you look at their lives and the contributions that they have made to the American culture and economy it would seem that it is America who should be grateful to them and giving them a word of thanks.

   The way that I see it there is a lot of confusion that is being made between who these people are in their own right and what America has done to make them. It is almost as if America believes that it actually set out to make them who they are when such is not the case. America did not deliberately orchestrate their success specifically. To put it another way the argument is like that of President Obama when he says that small businessmen did not make their businesses but rather that their business success was engineered by the community. Such an argument is baseless. America did not give either of these people their specific talents, nor was America’s capital at risk when they made their business venture decisions.
   It seems to me that it also is irrational and immoral to argue that U.S. citizens have an open ended obligation to leave themselves available to pay taxes. A contract that has no defined end date or agree upon price is not a valid contract. If these citizens pay all of their present and past tax obligations then that is all that can legally and morally be asked of them. To expect otherwise is the leave people with an future of uncertainty with regards to their taxation obligations.

   When it comes to living abroad as a U.S. citizen I don’t believe that you are familiar with all of the tax complications that the U.S., unique amongst all the countries in the world, places on its citizens. The U.S. tax reporting and investment restrictions make their lives virtually impossible and forces them to live as second class citizens in their country of residence and or citizenship. If America were to adopt a territorial basis for taxation it would not be suffering the embarrasment of having so many of its citizens renounce their U.S. citizenship, which I also have done.

   U.S. citizenship based taxation makes U.S. citizenship an annoyance and an expensive proposition to maintain. Because of one’s U.S. citizenship it is now impossible to have a bank account outside of the U.S. and no foreign businesses want U.S. persons as partners in their enterprises since now the I.R.S. wants them to expose their financial records to it. The U.S. is the author of its own problems with its taxation over reach. I think that it would do you well to look into the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) and the Foreign Bank Account Report (FBAR).

   I hope that this has made you reevaluate your position. I would also point you to the following site for information of the ruinous consequences of citizenship based taxation:

   http://isaacbrocksociety.ca/

9. Very eloquently written @recalcitrant, and thank you for posting it here for us to be inspired by, @JustMe.