I think we have a new Hall of Fame candidate. I had not heard Representative Reichert’s name mentioned before in connection with FATCA concerns, but this post caught my attention yesterday. I thought it merited a ‘call out’ rather than just a comment on another thread. I have alerted ACA that we have a sympathetic ally that we should reach out to.
In early October, Ways and Means member David Reichert, R-Wash, raised several issues and questions regarding FATCA implementation in a letter sent to IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman. In the letter, Rep. Reichert appears to question the process and authority of the Executive branch to enter into intergovernmental agreements (IGAs) absent Congressional oversight:
Further, Rep. Reichert states that Congress must understand how the implications of these IGAs combined with FATCA could specifically impact the following:
US persons living abroad — the degree to which US persons, US companies and their foreign affiliates are increasingly unable to access normal financial services while living or working abroad, the disparate effect this may have on them in comparison with their compatriots at home, and the potential impact on US corporations’ ability to build export-led business caused by the potential difficulty in finding US persons prepared to accept the significant additional tax and personal financial burdens that a foreign posting to generate export sales may increasingly involve.
You can read the actual letter from his web site. BTW, notice his Issaquah Office which probably contains a lot of Microsoft employees! That tells me something. This might be a fertile area for FATCA discontent.
Update Oct 23. Here is the canned type of IRS response I would expect he will receive. It will contain these points, like the one Senator Rand Paul received.
Will Commissioner Shulman or his replacement, Acting Commissioner Steven Miller, respond or respond in a timely manner – similar to responses requested to Shulman by Nina Olson of Taxpayers Advocate Service?
*The answer is that the IRS could care less. If you are an American Citizen, regarless of whether you live in the US or abroad, you are subject to US income tax just as if you never left home. It is congress that has decreed this through olegislation it has enacted and the president has signed into law.
It is “let the chips fall where they may” legislation. Americans are Americans, wherever they live. And as long as Congress contines to subject American living abroad and already taxed once by their host countries, that is just their bad luck.
Rediculous as this may seem, and it really is, it is Congress the sets the rules which the IRS is required to enforce. That is the only place where effective action to change this has to begin and be finalized.
Roger “Hit the Nail on The Head” Conklin. Kudos.
It seems that he is trying to copy that letter from the other 4, although without an understanding of the fundamentals. That other letter focused upon making foreign agreements without a ratified treaty, which he seems to be one track of this new letter.
Glad that we have an interested Congressman, although he is at this time looking for a solution outside of his own organization. The House is where bills and repeals are supposed to start, if I remember 12th grade Govt class correctly.
Maybe he will put it together, realize that he is responsible for policy, and begin talking with his House cohorts.
Is there a list of good, bad and indifferent that we can turn to?
It would be great to put together a table much like OnTheIssues or VoteSmart.Org, or work this up in the same way that other advocacy groups have done. They have created tracking on issues such as reproductive rights, gun control, civil rights, etc.
Perhaps we could ask http://ontheissues.org/Issues.htm to create an issues section for us. we could offer to provide ratings (like NRLC and NARAL do).
We have great material: Remember Victoria’s excellent post:
http://isaacbrocksociety.ca/2012/07/25/evaluating-u-s-senate-races-from-abroad/
Perhaps, if we extended the “hall of fame/shame” concept into something with more dimensions and categories.
Champions
Reichart sounds like a true champion, like Caroline Maloney or Jim DeMint.
Friends – advocates without portfolio
Jeff Flake, John Campbell, John Culberson, John Gingrey, Mike Pence, Joseph Pitts, Walter Herger, Greg Meeks, Samuel Johnson, Jeff Miller. see Just Me’s excellent post: http://isaacbrocksociety.ca/2012/04/08/a-residence-based-tax-proposal-working-paper-issued-by-aca/
Allies
There are others who are on our side, but in a different way: they are the enemy of one of our enemies e.g. Saxby Chambliss, Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan, Ron Paul and Rand Paul.
Villains – those whom have inflicted harm without specific aim
Take Chellie Pingree from Maine who voted for FATCA and is part of a party that is painting Mitt Romney as a tax evader because he has off-shore accounts while her partner uses tax havens in the Virgin Islands.
Barack Obama for luring Americans overseas with promises of fairer treatment only to approve and promote FBAR, OVDI, OVDP and adding 800 agents just for overseas enforcement – the largest shakedown ever. Of course, he topped this off by listing FATCA as an accomplishment in his first term. One can only wonder what he has up his sleeve for a second term.
Chuck Schumer and Bob Casey for their Ex-Patriot Act.
Enemies – those whom have aimed specifically to harm us
First, Obama is teetering into this category. There is no proof that he aimed to do us harm or exploit us, but the evidence is mounting against him.
Charlie Rangel who sponsored FATCA (while receiving a slap on the hand for his tax violations overseas).
Charles Grassley who has continually attacked the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion in order to create more pressure for lower overall taxes. This is the same guy who always feigns attacks on AMT to look like a hero of the middle class while his real intention is to use the middle class outrage over AMT as a bulwark against income taxes on the rich. (I actually consider him a frenemy because I think the FEIE is bad law and should be abolished.) John Tierney and Mike Honda are, of course in the same class of enemy.
Max Baucus, Joe Biden, John Kerry, Ben Nelson, Bill Nelson, Dianne Feinstein, could make this post too long and full of rants.
And the grand wizard of them all, Carl Levin.
@zuludogm
That’s a great idea. Maybe Petros could create a link in the sidebar to such a page.
That way Congress persons who are standing up for Americans abroad get recognition for it and those in Congress who aren’t doing the right thing (the Schumers and Charles Rangles of the world) are called out as well. It would be a useful reference for Americans Abroad of who is on their side and who is not. Their names could even link to a wordpress tag for that person, thus showing all posts related to them.
@Michael,
Excellent idea (all of your points, including tags for links to posts related to them and their actions) for zuludogm’s excellent idea!
Though it’s nice to see congress finally starting to question the reality of what is has done, this letter looks to me as much an exercise in shifting blame as anything else. All of the problems Reichert says are caused by IGAs combined with FATCA are problems of FATCA alone. The IRS commissioner’s correct response is: the IRS has to enter into IGAs because congress passed a bone-headed law that cannot be implemented otherwise, and if congress doesn’t like that then it will have to correct its mistakes and either change or repeal the law.
Badger just posted this…
http://isaacbrocksociety.ca/2011/12/11/fatca-a-ticking-time-bomb-for-the-economy/comment-page-4/#comment-82166