If ObamaCare rollout is the most recent example of U.S. Government (USG) incompetence, then is this what we should expect of FATCA?
I just read this article by Tina Brown of the progressive Daily Beast about the ObamaCare Cock-up. I thought it was the good metaphor (not perfect) for the predictable FATCA Cock-up. The only difference is FATCA is global. Americans don’t know it exists, so don’t know that a Cock-up is in process.
I don’t think I need to expand much on why what she says is generally true, other than to note the opening and closing paragraphs. You can draw your own parallels, as I did mine, but generally this rollout fits the bigger theme, that American government is culturally unable to do these BIG COMPLEX programs well.
The big announcement and lousy follow-through, the technical glitches no one can figure out—not only was the roll out mess utterly predictable, it’s also a sign of our cultural moment.
Obamacare is the wildly complex Rube Goldberg contraption it is because getting the legislation through Congress required so many political trade offs and so many unavoidable deals with so many vested interests. But that’s no excuse. Lost in the raucous cable noise are the voices of desperate people shut out yet again, this time by incompetence. And that’s tragic, not uncool. That’s obscene, not a juicy partisan spin for Ted Cruz. How ironic if Obama’s signature accomplishment becomes instead a metaphor for his presidency’s signature problem: big pronouncements and lousy follow-up, the curse of our times.
Governments have never learned the KISS Principle, and/or never devote the attention to detail necessary to make the complex work! They don’t know how to “sweat the small stuff”, and instead take on the hugely complex and expensive instead. And if you are a U.S. Person living abroad, the predictable Cock-up consequences will fall on you!
@screen
As long as you keep your computer secured (security updates, etc), and as long as the FBAR site requires HTTPS, it should be no worse than doing banking online, I believe. Anyone have a reason why this wouldn’t be the case?
One thing I would NOT do is use a public computer for filing (e.g. library). I’d also avoid a public network if it’s a laptop (e.g. Starbucks).
As for proof of filing, hopefully there’s a confirmation number. In any case, a screenshot would likely be prudent. Anyone that’s done this can shed some light on confirmation number or lack thereof?
By branding US persons living abroad as tax cheats and those who renounce as traitors, it’s clear that FATCA is pitting Americans against each other, but is it by design?
This is a partisan piece, but it does contain a valuable graph that illustrates how Obama is the most divisive president ever, or leaves you to wonder if his status is due to a growing trend of uncooperativeness all around. The direness of the US government’s need to cooperate is growing, yet appears to be outpaced by the increasing inability to build a consensus. Is a functioning government soon to be something that needs to be dictated? I shudder to think.
http://justcommonsense-lostinamerica.blogspot.ca/2013/10/obama-most-divisive-president-ever.html
I think the USA is not at all concerned about their citizens, either in or out of the country. It simply wants their money. The USA wants their citizen’s money to stay in the USA so that when the Great Cyprusing or Bail-In or whatever they want to call it (I call it the Great Global Theft because it will be almost worldwide) takes place there will be more for the USA banksters and less for the non-USA banksters. That’s why they are discouraging homelanders from dispersing their money for “safekeeping” into offshore accounts and making it difficult for outlanders to survive in the countries they have chosen to live in, thus driving them and more importantly their money back to the USSA. For those who remain “offshore”, the USA intends to make it impossible for them to have a normal financial life and that is what CBT and FATCA are designed to accomplish. When the USA knows what you have and where it is kept then it makes it easier to finagle it away from you, not so much by taxes but more by penalties and if you don’t pay up then it’s Access Denied when you try to visit the homeland. Cynical? You bet I am?
I really thought Obama was interested in making the country better. I think he did right getting Obamacare started, even if it is a republican model like Romney care in Mass. No where’s as good as ours or Europe’s. The corporation insurance companies are going to rake in huge profits.
That chart on that link Bubble Bustin provided does not show the Iraq and Afghanistan war nor the Bush prescription drug plans..all very costly.
My father in law from Red Boiling Springs, Tenn., a black sheep in his Baptist family, told me that the paper never refuses ink. So Obama has screwed up with FATCA. I really don’t think he thought this out all by himself. I find myself upset with him and also I never knew about Delaware, Nevada and Wyoming as like the Cayman Island post office box residents who dodge taxes.THAT is pretty disgusting and hypocritical. I find myself pretty cynical now with politicians, both American and Canadian and Wall and Bay streets and Corporations and even religions. It is like we are going backward to the Charles Dickens era. Half of America wants to go back to the Civil War era and have slavery allowed..at least that is what I read in all these crazy politician talks. I am happy in Canada. I am hoping that we will not be pulled into the American cesspool sinkhole. I am taking a stand against FATCA..If it doesn’t work out. then I will figure out something. We all have limited time on t his earth and I will be dammed if the IRS gets my money.. And I don’t care if I ever go back to the USA. I will go other places and do other things. The United States of America is not the be all and end all. It is just one of 195 countries in this world. I never liked bullies and it is one big one.
With US Citizenship-Based Taxation, FATCA and Canadian FINTRAC, are all of Canadians affected by the problem of identity theft in the IRS?: http://www.accountingtoday.com/news/IRS-Needs-Get-Better-Identity-Theft-Detection-68611-1.html?ET=webcpa:e9542:2531408a:&st=email
This audit was a follow-up to a May 2012 identity theft audit report. The IRS reported that identity theft affected 1.2 million taxpayers in Calendar Year 2012, and an additional 1.6 million were affected in Calendar Year 2013, as of June 29, 2013.
“Identity theft is a growing epidemic, and I continue to be troubled by the lengthy case processing delays and tax account errors experienced by victims of tax-related identity theft,” said TIGTA head J. Russell George.
@ Calgary411
I retired from detecting ID fraud. And yes it is growing. Corporations don’t care. One has to spend a lot of money and time to clear up one’s name. I can tell you stories! It is very easy to do ID fraud in our capitalist society.
@ Calgary411
Imagine having to explain to Canada Revenue that you did not work that job that no taxes were collected on.
@Nothernstar…
The more you think about all the resources that have to go into collecting income taxes and combating ID theft and fraud; the more you read all the TIGTA audits; the more you have to ask yourself, why continue to defend the income tax collection system and apparatus that by nature has to grow and grow and become more and more authoritarian to accomplish the mission?
The more I think about it, replacing the entire system with something like the FAIR tax begins to make better sense.
I understand why that is a political impossibility, and why the idea will never arise out of the centers of government power, and why there would be adamant opposition by the compliance complex that make their money off all the regs, and in America all those that are subsidized by the tax system, IE, Earned Income Tax Credits (EITC) would oppose it, but there is a certainly simplicity that appeals to me.
Yes, there would be fraud there too, with the cash economy, but lets face it, without the cash economy the world’s economy doesn’t work!
Badger posted a blog entry that the IRS expects “glitches” in its roll out. Really, glitches, like Obamacare style glitches?
Yay, just what I wanted!