A tale of two Green Parties
The Green Party is not a monolith. Different Green Parties take different positions on different issues. There is no such thing as a United Green Party. This is good news. It allows for different Green Parties to take positions that are appropriate to local needs and local constituents. It also allows for and a open and transparent debates on the issues of the day.
The principle of “open debate” is surely welcome (open debate is not permitted within the ranks of Canada’s Harper Government). Only through open debate will understanding be encouraged. Interestingly the Green Party of Europe’s hasty response to the the recent discovery of numerous offshore financial accounts is at odds with the Green Party of Canada’s carefully considered position on FATCA.
This is truly a “Tale” – A “Tale of two Green Partys”
Position of the Green Party of Canada on FATCA:
Canadian #Greenparty opposition to #FATCA is opposition to US financial #drone strikes in sovereign nations isaacbrocksociety.ca/2013/01/28/gre…
— U.S. Citizen Abroad (@USCitizenAbroad) April 8, 2013
IRS Tax Collection: Evasion of the US or Invasion of Canada?
The Green Party of Canada is calling on the government of Canada to stand on guard against the demands of the United States (US) for extraterritorial enforcement of an American law: theForeign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). The Government of Canada must protect our citizens and residents from FATCA’s invasive violations of individual privacy, and refuse to make Canadian consumers and taxpayers pay the significant costs to enforce a unilateral American mandate that does not benefit Canada in any way.
This US law, whose staggered regime is set to come into effect through 2013 and 2014, demands Canadian financial institutions report to the United States’ Internal Revenue Service (IRS) the confidential account information of a large number of Canadian residents regarded as “US persons” under American regulations, most of whom are Canadian citizens. The Department of Finance gave notice in November that an Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) on FATCA was being negotiated, and the proposed terms have not been made public. The IRS has only recently issued the final FATCA regulations on 17 January 2013.
The United States government wishes to ignore the fact of Canadian citizenship in pursuing people who were born in the US or to an American parent but who are Canadian citizens, as well as others with US “indicia” (Canadians with an American spouse or other family member, with whom they may hold assets jointly; Canadians who may have lived or worked in the US and acquired a Social Security Number, and so forth).
Position of European Green Party on FATCA:
Canadian #Greenparty opposition to #FATCA is opposition to US financial #drone strikes in sovereign nations isaacbrocksociety.ca/2013/01/28/gre…
— U.S. Citizen Abroad (@USCitizenAbroad) April 8, 2013
“Income from capital has to be given just as much consideration for purposes of taxation as income from labour. FATCA is the right instrument for tackling avoidance strategies and criminal activities. The fine of 30% imposed by FATCA and applying to all payments from the US to non-cooperative institutions, will lead to the automatic transmission of relevant data.
The Green Party of Canada position is driven largely by issues of human rights, the dignity of the individual and the US riding roughshod over local privacy laws. These are values that underpin liberal democracies that value the individual. What would John Stuart Mill think?
The European Green Party position is driven only by the need to ensure that “capital” does not escape taxation. Nobody disputes the importance of taxing capital. The European Greens, like the United States, do NOT consider the dignity of the individual and the importance of individual rights. Shades of Karl Marx.
FATCA is a symptom of a move into the world of Orwell where there the individual is irrelevant. The effect of FATCA and other FATCAesque policies will mean the extinction of human freedom. As Ronald Reagan reminded us:
Freedom is no more than one generation away from extinction. (Well, that was before the Government of the United States).
The FATCA debate is only beginning. It seems to me that the first question is NOT what FATCA is designed to accomplish. The question is whether human rights and freedoms matter in the debate!
As I finish this post I just heard that Margaret Thatcher has died. Lady Thatcher RIP! I would have welcomed your views on FATCA. You were fond of referring to the United States as:
“That Great Citadel of Freedom and Justice”
What would you have thought of the United States today?
I am going to take a slightly different tact. I have known about this since Friday and sent a nasty gram email to all the top figures in the EU Green Party that afternoon. The EU Greens and Canadian Greens do have limited ties. More than lets say the BC Liberals and Federal Liberals. Excerpts from my email.
Are the Greens/EFA grouping aware that the Green Party of Canada opposes the US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act and other similar legislation such as the EU FATCA which was proposed today by the Green/EFA group?
http://www.greenparty.ca/backgrounder/2013-01-28/backgrounder-canada-and-fatca
http://www.greenparty.ca/media-release/2013-03-13/implementation-fatca-likely-unconstitutional-says-leading-constitutional-ex
The Green Party of Canada is calling on the government of Canada to stand on guard against the demands of the United States (US) for extraterritorial enforcement of an American law: the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). The Government of Canada must protect our citizens and residents from FATCA’s invasive violations of individual privacy, and refuse to make Canadian consumers and taxpayers pay the significant costs to enforce a unilateral American mandate that does not benefit Canada in any way.
This US law, whose staggered regime is set to come into effect through 2013 and 2014, demands Canadian financial institutions report to the United States’ Internal Revenue Service (IRS) the confidential account information of a large number of Canadian residents regarded as “US persons” under American regulations, most of whom are Canadian citizens. The Department of Finance gave notice in November that an Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) on FATCA was being negotiated, and the proposed terms have not been made public. The IRS has only recently issued the final FATCA regulations on 17 January 2013.
The United States government wishes to ignore the fact of Canadian citizenship in pursuing people who were born in the US or to an American parent but who are Canadian citizens, as well as others with US “indicia” (Canadians with an American spouse or other family member, with whom they may hold assets jointly; Canadians who may have lived or worked in the US and acquired a Social Security Number, and so forth).
For example, the US recently required such Canadians to file with the IRS annual federal income tax returns on their financial accounts in Canada, including TFSAs, RESPs, and RDSPs, which are considered foreign trusts under US law. They face exorbitant penalties for failing to report the balances of these accounts even if they have no tax owing.
While no one disputes the need to combat international tax evasion, serious concerns have been raised by the Canadian Civil Liberties Association and others about FATCA’s impact on the rights of Canadian citizens and residents. There are also concerns about the costs FATCA would impose on Canadian institutions and consumers, as well as about the bigger question of why a US law should be enforced in Canada at all.
Does the Green/EFA group support terminating the Green Party of Canada’s membership in Green International or suspending ties between Greens/EFA and the Green Party of Canada over what would appear to be a strong disagreement in fundamental policy? I note with interest the attendance of MEP Jean Lampert (CCed on this message) at the Green Party of Canada Annual Convention in 2012 in Victoria, British Columbia Canada(The hometown of Canadian Green MP and Leader Elizabeth May)? I also note with interest that MEP’s of other group such as Ms. Sophia In’t Veld of the ALDE group who raised similar concerns to the Green Party of Canada as to effects of this extraterritorial US FATCA legislation on the privacy and civil rights of EU citizens. I would hope the Green/EFA group would share these similar concerns of MEP In’t Veld and ALDE.
A part of me thinks this email was perhaps too nasty but when I was writing I was inclined to be even more nasty. I think certain terms in EU Green press release were perhaps poorly translated into English. At least in Canada using betrayal as a word in political speak is very much a dog whistle.
For what it’s worth, I also left a comment (now awaiting moderation) on Sven Giegold’s blog pertaining to his article stating that “the time has come for a European FATCA”. It’s beyond me how the European Greens can call for a law which they quite obviously have very little understanding of.
http://www.sven-giegold.de/2013/offshoreleaks-die-zeit-ist-reif-fur-ein-europaisches-fatca
There are two cracks in the EU Green Party. One is other members such as MEP Judith Sargentini have in the past raised concerns with FATCA along with lines of Elizabeth May and others.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judith_Sargentini
The other is MEP Jean Lambert who attended the Green Party of Canada annual convention in Victoria last year.
http://gp.org/greenpages-blog/?p=3158
I have somewhere but have lost a link of a picture of Member of European Parliament Jean Lambert and Elizabeth May. I will try to find it.
Problem though is Jean Lambert and Judith Sargentini don’t serve on the EU Parliament ECON Committee. This Sven Giegold does. MEP Sophia In’t Veld does.
Tim, thanks for your communication with the EU Green Party and asking:
I don’t think any part of your email was too nasty — you said it as it should have been explained to them regarding the Canadian Green Party position. No pussy-footing around with this and chance of others misconstruing what so many of us feel is wrong!
Elizabeth May, leader of the Green Party of Canada, was born in Hartford, Connecticut. I have no idea of her present relationship to the US.
May became a Canadian citizen sometime in the 1970s. At the time she was told she was giving up her US citizenship permanently and irrevocably. She has never held a US passport since and has no intention of filing any US tax forms or obtaining a CLN from what I have been told.
Amazon Secretly Removes “1984” from the Kindle:
http://io9.com/5317703/amazon-secretly-removes-1984-from-the-kindle
More to do with copyright than censorship.
Thanks for that information on Elizabeth May, Tim. We whose stories are the same as hers (not now including me due to the stupid mistakes I made in this regard), should follow her lead. It is, I hope, one of the strengths of this site that others are informed so not to make similar mistakes as mine.
“Transparency” is a fantastic word in the entire Scandinavian culture. So much so, that both income and net bank worth are available on the internet. Why should they care about privacy?
In Norway, the 2 numbers could be acquired for any person on the internet (www.vg.no) up until 2010. Now it can be acquired from the tax authorities (skatteettaten) internet simply by identifying who you are when making the inquiry.
Sweden’s newspapers acquire the information and publish “here are the people who make over 1,000,000 kr per year in your neighborhood.”
The practice was questioned when the son of the founder of the Swedish leading electronic store was kidnapped.
People in Sweden like that new taxation forms are found so that the government can succeed. Most all else falls behind in priority.