Just a quick post to draw readers attention to this latest commentary by Naomi Wolf at the Guardian.
“The US is sleepwalking into becoming a police state, where, like a pre-Magna Carta monarch, the president can lock up anyone.”
Yearly Archives: 2012
Does FATCA officially mean the end of banking privacy?
Here’s an excerpt:
Banking privacy is dead. Completely, totally dead. Murdered, really. The US government is the assailant, and FATCA is the murder weapon.
Courage
…I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do.
Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird (Warner Books, 1960) 112.
Calvin Ayre, Fugitive from United States Justice
Calvin Ayre, Canadian citizen and owner of Bodog, has been indicted by the United States, along with three other Canadians. Is this an example of a big time money launderer? Or is it just another example of U.S. extra-territorial judicial overreach? Meanwhile, check out Ayre’s website, bodog.com.
The State of the U.S. Congress
Here is the link to an article in the Christian Science Monitor which talks about how polarized the Congress is becoming. If the author is correct then I don’t think that expats can really expect much relief from Washington’s war against them. This is an example of why the argument that we have no representation is a valid one. Where will there be any voices that will listen to reason? Our only representation is through the legislative assemblies of the countries in which we reside and the fact that the governments of other countries are willing to stand up for people that the U.S. believes belong exculsively to them is what makes them even more angry.
What Does Not Constitute Reasonable Cause
I attended a U.S. tax seminar yesterday and where the following link was given out on what does not “constitute” reasonable cause for not filing your tax returns. If you use any of these reasons you can be assessed a 5000.00 penalty.
http://www.irs.gov/irb/2007-14_IRB/ar20.html
I can say that after coming out of that meeting yesterday I can only conclude that, unless one took a vow of poverty, it will be well nigh impossible to get out of this mess without incurring a lot of pain. According to the presenter the IRS is coming out sometime soon with guidelines on how dual citizens can become compliant.
Playing With Numbers
These numbers are sourced at Quick Facts at USxCanada InfoShop. If you have a favorite number, toss in some more speculation!
Extraterritorial U.S. citizens number up into the millions. Say 6 to 7 million. Maybe more, and likely not less.
On the compliance side, Taxpayer Advocate Service says all FBAR filing added up to 218,840 for 2008.
For 1990 a total of 180,087 IRS Form 2555 were filed from outside the United States.
How the US treats its citizens as "Chumps". The example of Emirates Airlines
Perceptions of an Overseas Voter – the Saga Continues
And it just gets better. This is so funny that I just had to share it with you.
I discovered that one of “my” senators is up for re-election in 2012. So I went to her opponents website to learn a little more about him and read up on his platform. I really liked what I saw so I did what I do normally and sent a campaign contribution.
Playing the Corporate Audit Lottery…
For those of you novice Minnows, like me, who want an insight into how those ‘Super Persons” Corporations play the Audit lottery, I highly recommend to you Jack Townsend’s recent post called Thoughts on the the Corporate Audit Lottery (2/11/12). Fair warning, this blog post may add to your cynical view of how the Tax game is played by those like GE who have the Tax Attorney resources to assure they have the lowest effective rate they can, like zero last year. In summary Jack says….. Continue reading