Why More Americans Are Renouncing U.S. Citizenship
They all generally agree on the facts of the situation. Even so, there is very little pressure to change it. As one Senate staffer pointed out, nobody in Congress represents overseas Americans. And government officials think this law is succeeding at catching the tax cheats.
That may be worth the side effect of losing a few thousand American citizens every year.
Via Ari Shapiro, International Correspondent, London
Atticus, that’s the same way people react here in Brussels, not just Belgians, but people from all over Europe. They’re appalled and find the way we’re being treated absolutely vile.
Unfortunately, I hold no hope of seeing a change come any time soon. I’m in the process of renouncing because my life is here, but I resent the hell out of the US for forcing me to make that decision.
@Atticus
I’m glad you brought up the reason why CBT even came about and how journalists don’t get it. Even Robert Woods doesn’t get it when he said in one of his articles that CBT is too entrenched in the US to ever get rid of it. I disagree. America is only learning about CBT and the affects of it are only beginning to be felt. Those who dismiss or deny what this means to America do so at their own peril, and will end up on the wrong side of history when the dust settles on this.
@foo says
Does your representative have a realistic challenger you could vote for? My representative is really vulnerable in the primary and general election, which gives me hope. Rangel, the main author of FATCA, also seems to be vulnerable in the primary.
People shouldn’t vote if they are planning to renounce, but the midterm elections, particularly the primaries, are the last, best hope for anyone who really doesn’t want to renounce to have a voice. I can’t see the U.S. adhering to an ICC ruling, for example, but they pay attention if the overseas votes cost someone their seat in the primaries.
The timing of the primaries is good. The midterm primaries have started and we need to stop Congress from ignoring us ASAP. See link below for the primary schedule:
http://www.thegreenpapers.com/G14/events.phtml?format=chronological
The House of Representatives is always totally focussed on doing things that will help them win re-election and 1/3 of the Senate is also coming up for re-election. If a stance starts to cost them votes, they might reconsider it.
Votes in primary midterms have more influence than any other federal votes because turnout is abysmal. This is particularly true of the Democratic Party, which seems particularly hostile. Although there are many more Democrats, only 8% of the voting age population voted in the Democratic primary in 2010 versus 10% for the Republicans (yes, turnout was just 18% for the primary). Voting in the 2014 primary is not expected to be higher. You do not have to agree with a party’s philosophy to vote it its primary, so if you have a ‘representative’ in Congress who is really hostile to overseas Americans, you can vote against them in their primary if they have a challenger no matter what your personal philosophy is.
At the very least, if your representative has been hostile, make sure your friends and family in the district know it and encourage them to vote against him or her. I think that my parents would gladly have voted for their sitting member of Congress usually, but not now.
@Em
I think I ran into the problem you reported, in a reply I was making about someone who was advocating for the new OECD GATCA.
Fortunately, I remembered your words, and save a copy, and then resubmitted as a new comment, and removed a link to be sure it DID NOT go into moderation.
It is the most recent comment up there now…
@Publius….
You make a good point about voter turn out in the upcoming election, but the Obama has a trump card up his sleeve, and that is the “minimum wage issue” that he is now trumpeting. Even he said it is good politics in a quote I heard yesterday, which means, “it helps get out the Dem vote.” That said, I do think Repeal of FATCA is a good politics for Republicans with Expats too, as with such low voter turn out, they can have a larger impact than normal.
@ Just Me
I replied to that “efficiency” expert too but I kept my wordage below 400. No problem posting this time. Your newest comment is great, BTW. I think with the large number of comments at NPR (heading towards 800) they will have to seriously think about doing more about FATCA. Hopefully more than 4 minutes next time.
@Em…
The guys at NPR that could do the time on the subject, is the girls and boys of @PlanetMoney on Twitter or at their NPR blog here. You should write them too, as it seems that I am the only voice at times.. (violins please! 🙂
mvh
@ Just Me
Okay …
Dear Planet Money,
Please take a look at this (note the number of comments):
http://www.npr.org/blogs/parallels/2014/02/20/275937138/why-more-americans-are-renouncing-u-s-citizenship
Now, doesn’t FATCA look like a good topic for you to discuss and soon?
Love your show,
Em
Only I couldn’t find an e-mail address so I left it as a comment on their latest podcast (Episode 519).
@em…
You really have to get into twitter as a way of commenting quickly and directly to journalist. It is right on the twitter link I sent you.. 🙂
Email us planetmoney@npr.org
BTW, I sent of another one too with a few patronizing comments… 🙂
Boys and girls…
Ari Shirporo did an excellent and accurate story on Morning Edition on one of the unintended consequences of FATCA, the subject long ignored by NPR. As a LONG time NPR listener, as far as I can tell, after 4 years, this is the first time it has been mentioned, which by the came came on the date of issuance of the final 229 pages of revisions to the original 544 pages of regulations plus Inter-government agreements (IGAs).
Impacts are being seen and felt around the globe. Full enforcement of the global “U.S. Person” round up and Citizenship based Taxation, (CBT, an anomaly in the international community) is about to begin. Data collection and reporting will start in July. 100s of thousands of Financial Institutions around the globe are impacted. Nina Olson, in her reports to Congress has been issuing warnings about international tax reporting burdens on Americans abroad, and the erosion of Taxpayer rights as represented by the toxic combination of FATCA and aggressive enforcement of CBT. Don’t you think it time to let your followers in on the program and what is happening?
Analysis and unintended consequences of BIG regulatory regimes is right up your alley…
Now, the OECD is out with their global GATCA or Common Reporting Standards that is modeled on FATCA, and it too comes 4 years after FATCA was launched with NO news coverage in America.
You are missing one of the Biggest Regulatory developments on the global stage in a LONG LONG TIME.
I keep looking forward to a podcast someday on the subject, as without news coverage, there is no debate, and FATCA had no debate before it was added in stealth in the Hire Act in 2010. This does not bode well for democratic processes when something this BIG gets so little attention.
I love your podcasts and your blog. You do good work, and know you are capable of doing a good, balanced presentation of this subject, if you would only devote some time into educating yourself on what it is and its’ impacts. I really have appreciated the podcasts you have down on Cotton subsidies to both U.S. and Brazilian farmers. It remains high on my list of recommendations to others..
Thank you yet again,
@ Just Me
Do you know if NPR closes comments after 3 days without notice? Tried several times to post a reply to “somewheresomeone” and it will not go up. PLUS, their system will not allow me to Log Out after having logged in (husband says they don’t want to let my cookie go). I had to reset my browser to log out. OR, maybe they’re just having problems in the last 24 hours? Can’t handle almost 800 comments perhaps?