Liberty and justice for all United States persons abroad

The Isaac Brock Society

Posted on by Posted in Issues regarding US persons abroad 19 Comments

The October 12 print edition of the prestigious international and widely-read weekly UK journal, The Economist, has this article about FATCA, also on this web link

The Economist: Expats and tax — Loopy Tax Rules Spur Expats to Renounce their American Citizenship: Overtaxed and over there

Good and balanced article. So much for the Treasury’s Stack of Lies. It will be impossible for the US to ignore this one.

Happy (Canadian) Thanksgiving, everyone! (Not you, Stack and Obama …)

I was born and educated in the US. After completing my post-graduate education, I entered Canada on a temporary work permit, moving to Canada because of the Vietnam war. Shortly after unpacking, I applied for landed immigrant status. A few months later I received in the mail an induction notice from the US Army; I drew a peace symbol on it in felt marker pen and mailed it back. As a result, I was indicted and a warrant was issued for my arrest (both were quashed in 1977 by the Carter amnesty). I became a Canadian citizen in 1975. In 1976, for the US Bicentennial I wrote a political letter to Henry Kissinger, then Secretary of State. In it I mentioned that I had "renounced" (I didn't then know of "relinquish") my US citizenship on becoming a Canadian, explaining in several pages my reasons for leaving the US. I also mentioned the fact that on my mother's side I am a descendant of a soldier who fought in Washington's army during the US rebellion, but now I was declaring my personal independence from the US and rejoining the British Commonwealth. Within six months, I received by mail a CLN recognizing my having expatriated myself from the US in 1975. I filed away my CLN and forgot I had it, until I found it after searching for it upon learning of FATCA and OVDI in August 2011. Since then, I proudly keep a photocopy of it with my passport (which is Canadian; I have never had a US passport in my life, nor will I ever). As a Canadian who long since ceased being an American and who has a CLN, I am not directly affected by FATCA or other US taxation outrages. However, my wife and several of her friends are affected, until their relinquishment CLNs (dating from 30-40 years ago) are issued. Also I have several close friends who were born in Canada of US parents and are considered by the US to be US citizens, though they have never lived in the US, worked there, earned income there, held property there, held US passports, or in any other way excercised USC and are horrified they might be considered US. I am active on this website and in writing my elected Canadian politicians about these issues, on their behalf. I am a retired former employee of the Government of Canada who faithfully and proudly served his adopted and adoptive country for many years. Updated September 2, 2012: earlier this week, my wife finally received her relinquishment CLN, State Department formal recognition that (in their exact words on the CLN) she "ceased to be a US citizen on" the date she became a Canadian more than 35 years ago. Mission Accomplished, to borrow words from my least-favourite contemporary/contemptible American. I will continue to monitor this website from time to time to see if I contribute useful information or opinions, but my wife and I are determined to regain our lives after the past twelve months of angst. Best wishes to all of you on this website in your odyssey toward freedom from the US.

19 thoughts on “The Economist covers FATCA”

  1. It’s good to see a lot of this coverage and things picking up as far as informing the world as to the issues with FATCA.

    Thanks Ed for your Thanksgiving wishes and I wish you all the same!

  2. Leave the US and be punished. So much for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.. those things only apply when the government allows it.

  3. The Economist has traditionally been very sympathetic towards the plight of American expats. Many of the comments at the bottom of the article are sympathetic as well.

    BBC, Economist, WSJ etc. — the injustices against Americans abroad are finally getting into the mainstream media. We just gotta keep plugging along at spreading the word.

  4. The on line version appears to allow comments (although I did not see any). This would be a great opportunity to add further examples and details of the horrors of CBT and FATCA from Brockers.

  5. There are in fact comments on the Economist article, most of the early ones I saw I recognized as Brockers or Sandboxers. There is a link down there somewhere …

    We are indeed on a media roll, let’s keep it rolling! The demo on the Hill on October 16 (OUR Hill in Ottawa, not the manure pile in Washington) is another media op, we hope.

  7. I added my 2 cents worth to The Economist comments which are all very good. (I wonder when you-know-who-with-many-monikers will copy & paste one of his standard retorts.) Anyway, this has been a good day, media-wise and, like Schubert and others, I am really looking forward to the Oct. 16th rally which hopefully will produce more good media coverage. Atticus is kindly taking Mr. Em and me to the rally via photo spirit. If you get a “Not A Myth” photo to her in time she might just do the same for you. (E-mail a small file JPG to her at atticusincanada@gmail.com so it can be posted at http://we-are-not-a-myth.tumblr.com/)

  16. I thought the article was a breath of fresh air. Added my own comment about US persons with a net worth in excess of $2m, of which there may be many in the UK because of the value of residential property here. These “rich” US persons garner little sympathy, but their expatriation could cost more than $450 and the treatment of them shows Congress at its most arrogant and evil. That is because the heartache for them is the potential tax on their US citizen children who inherit from them sometime perhaps decades from now.

    It is so pleasing to see some of these issues in the mainstream.

  17. @ brockers….perfect media storm next Wed 16th oct in canda.. I wish wish wish UK would do the same… any takers? would provide behind the scenes support. 🙂

  18. re: The Economist comments — Looks like you-know-who-with-many-monikers did not go on furlough. Why in the world would the USG think his job is an essential service? Oh wait, the whole idea of shut-downs is to tick off Americans (national park closures, threaten SS cheques, etc.) so this is completely consistent with the USG’s twisted thinking. Oh well, 99.9% of the comments are 100% on the mark.

    @ crystal london
    How about an American Guy Fawkes Day in London to protest FATCA? It’s not the man as much as the spirit of the man which captures the imagination.

  19. jlibor recently posted this:

    “I have just received a US work visa as an Alien with Extraordinary Ability, but wonder why I should bother to enter the US. I have already paid 12,000 dollars just to get advice in order to avoid penalties as I want to be compliant. I will now have to pay another large sum to be compliant and then pay roughly 10,000 dollars each year to file my tax returns…and lose a ton of investment returns as I will be double taxed for my non-US investments. One truly needs Extraordinary Abilities to deal with all this nonsense. The end result will be that I will leave the US as soon as is reasonable which is a shame as I truly love the US (and my US wife!).”

    America’s tax laws are repelling the world’s best and brightest from being anything more than temporary workers, even though they would rather do otherwise.

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published.

%d bloggers like this: