Monthly Archives: March 2014

On March 10 2014 a small group of Canadians (with supporters in other countries) took a gamble and donated money they could not afford to try to bring down FATCA using a legal challenge approach.

What if similar groups in other countries took their governments to court over this?

One Brocker, upset that the Swiss referendum did not obtain enough signatures, already told us that:

“[The Swiss Federal] Constitution undisputably mandates guarantees of nondiscrimination and liberty of economic opportunity, as well as the right to a family and the protection of privacy, among many other things. Here at IBS, we all know that FATCA violates such guarantees, as expressed in the UDHR, as well as many constitutions around the world”.

http://isaacbrocksociety.ca/2014/01/14/swiss-anti-fatca-referendum-did-not-obtain-enough-signatures-disappointing-however-not-end-of-world/

Here is a list of countries with constitutions. How many of these constitutions guarantee fundamental rights that are violated by FATCA?:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_national_constitutions

Are there any Brockers/Sandboxers or their sympathizers in these countries who could lead anti-FATCA constitutional challenges?

See today’s new post on the Republicans Overseas website asking that this happens:

Canadians Ask “US Persons” World-Wide To Challenge Legality of FATCA

In only six days Canadians Dr. Stephen Kish and Lynne Swanson received sufficient donations from Canadians and those in other countries to retain a constitutional expert attorney. The attorney will examine the constitutionality of the proposed IGA (Intergovernmental Agreement) between the United States and Canada to implement FATCA.

They and other Canadians believe strongly that the IGA will violate Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Kish and Swanson ask concerned peoples in all countries affected by FATCA (i.e., ALL countries worldwide) to begin similar efforts to bring down the FATCA beast.

See the press release for the Canadian Charter Challenge Fund: http://maplesandbox.ca/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/News-Release-First-Legal-Step-To-Stop-FATCA.pdf

https://www.facebook.com/republicansoverseas

The Richmond Hill session for March 29 has been expanded and based upon the program we had last June.

• When: Saturday March 29, 2014 – 10:00 a.m. – 3:00 pm
• Where: Emmanuel Anglican Church – 15 MacKay Drive, Richmond Hill, ON L4C 6N9

Session I:  The Financial and Emotional Costs of U.S. Citizenship Abroad

Session II: US Citizenship Abroad and Compliance Issues

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As the initial shock wears off and the first emotional responses to Canada’s signing of an IGA with the US begin to coalesce into well-written, detailed submissions, Charter challenge fundraising and myriad other signs of a growing and sophisticated anti-FATCA movement, it is worth taking a moment to pay attention to what is currently happening in Quebec.

The drumbeat of yet another referendum is beginning to be heard, carried now by powerful voices like that of Pierre Karl Peladeau, a true Quebec oligarch who has now fully and publicly embraced the separatist cause.  Despite the obvious concerns about conflict of interest as a campaigning politician who just happens to control most of the media pie in Quebec, Mr. Peladeau seems determined to put his money where his mouth is and champion separatism in a manner which will no doubt be unprecedented in Quebec politics.

Against this backdrop, it is interesting to consider how these two stories will inevitably intersect, since they both deal with fundamental questions about self-determination, national sovereignty and the democratic process.  Meanwhile there is a vast ticking FATCA time bomb for Quebec which the PQ so far seems to be blissfully unaware of, but which it will have to deal with head-on if it truly believes it is Quebec’s destiny to become a sovereign nation.

A Full Comment article in today’s National Post focusses on the splash that Mr. Peladeau has already made and how it is clear that while he may be a most savvy and ruthless CEO, he still has much to learn about the realities of politics and the campaign trail.   Continue reading →

Hard-hitting alternatives for this Conservative Government and all MPs on how they can stop, better analyze the consequences and not recklessly change what Canadians hold as values if the signed Intergovernmental Agreement with the US for FATCA is implemented. At the very least, let’s have some open discussion with ALL of Canada …

Richardson / Kish Finance Canada Submission, March 10, 2014

John Richardson and Stephen Kish give very specific reasoning the Department of Finance has not likely seen before in:

. Why there should be NO Canadian participation in FATCA;

and

. Specific recommendations in the event that Canada does participate in FATCA.

The Government of Canada should not assist the United States in general, and in any manner with the facilitation and/or implementation of FATCA on Canadian soil.

March 10, 2014

Tax Policy Branch
Canada Department of Finance

Enclosed please find PDF and and Word attachment versions of a proposal by John Richardson and Stephen Kish to Canada Finance entitled “Request for changes in legislative proposal to establish IGA between U.S. and Canada for the enhanced exchange of tax information.”

Mr. Richardson and I hope that you will find the comments to be useful.

Regards,

John Richardson
Barrister and Solicitor,
Toronto

Stephen Kish, Ph.D.
Professor of Psychiatry
University of Toronto
Toronto

We welcome your comments on this submission. We worked hard on it.

Cross posted with permission from Tax, Society & Culture

I have just posted on SSRN a submission to the Canadian Finance Department co-authored by myself and Professor Arthur Cockfield of Queen’s University. Here is the abstract [the full submission can be downloaded here]:

The United States enacted a tax reform in 2010 known as the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), which will impose an extensive third-party monitoring and disclosure regime on financial institutions around the world in an effort to “smoke out” American tax cheats and expose their undeclared foreign assets to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The flow of information from Canadian financial institutions directly to the IRS that is required by FATCA would violate a number of laws in Canada. Accordingly, the United States has requested changes to these laws. The Canadian government now seeks to accommodate these requests in the form of an “intergovernmental agreement” (IGA) with the United States, which will be enacted into law as the Canada–United States Enhanced Tax Information Exchange Agreement Implementation Act (the Implementation Act) pursuant to a proposal released for comment by the Department of Finance. The Department of Finance invited public comments on these documents. We examined the proposed Implementation Act and the IGA and we find that they raise a number of serious issues ranging from likely constitutional violations to violations of international law. We submit these comments in the hope that they will help lawmakers and the public understand that FATCA, while intended to catch tax evaders, is poised instead to impose serious and unjustified harms on people who live around the world as non-resident U.S. citizens and green card holders, as well as their family members and business associates.

I know that some of my good friends and colleagues view FATCA as a net positive step toward a much-needed global automatic information sharing regime, and some have not understood my reasons for caution. I hope that this submission will help explain some of these reasons.
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My submission to Department of Finance (IGA-AIG@fin.gc.ca), by Peter W. Dunn, PhD

Introduction:

In 2013, the Government of Canada deported head of Eritrean Consulate, Semere Ghebremariam O. Micael, for using the consulate as a base for the collection of a 2% Diaspora tax.   CBC’s Meagan Fitzpatrick reported the following (May 29, 2013):

Deepak Obhrai, parliamentary secretary to Baird, further explained the decision to expel Micael when he spoke to reporters Wednesday morning.

“We have been very much concerned with the actions of the Eritrean consul general here in Canada. We had asked him at the early stages not to do this, it is contrary to our laws, but our information is that they continued doing it,” said Obhrai. “And so we finally had to take action. We cannot allow our territory to be used for fundraising for other countries.”

Thus, the Canadian government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper took necessary actions to protect Canadians of Eritrean national origin from the tax collecting efforts of Eritrea. With the proposed legislation, however, the government refuses to protect Canadians of United States origin, and therefore, will be in violation of article 15 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.  Not only so, but the proposed legislation would violate several rights of Canadians.

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For Immediate Release March 10, 2014

Today a small group of Canadians began the long legal process to prevent the Conservative government from helping the United States impose a bad law on Canada.

With the announcement of an Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) for the U.S. Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) on February 5, 2014, Finance Minster Jim Flaherty makes discrimination against one million innocent Canadians and their families – those the U.S deems “U.S. persons” – mandatory.

Finance Canada has requested public input on the FATCA agreement, which will override federal laws to meet demands of a foreign power to seize private financial records of Canadians.

Canadian citizens Dr. Stephen Kish of Toronto and Lynne Swanson of London Ontario responded today to that request by retaining prominent constitutional lawyer Joseph Arvay of Vancouver to provide a legal opinion on whether this legislation violates Canada’s Constitution including the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and if so how a constitutional challenge might be mounted.

“It’s time for Canadians to get angry. FATCA is a threat to all Canadians and cannot be captive to party politics. MPs must NOT be required to vote along party lines – They must vote their conscience in a free vote” says Dr. Kish.

In less than one week a funding initiative, organized by Dr. Kish and Ms. Swanson, raised the money required to pay for this legal opinion.

“It is despicable the Harper government thinks so little of Canadians that they are forced to raise money from those with limited means to retain counsel to ensure their fundamental rights are protected from foreign demands,” says Ms. Swanson.

“As a Canadian citizen for 41 years, I never thought I would see the day when demands of a foreign government would take precedence over Canadian laws. The implications of this for Canada and for all Canadians are chilling.”

CONTACT: Lynne Swanson maplesandbox@yahoo.ca

C3F Press Release

Do you have any suggestions for Mr. Arvay?

You know that with the donations Lynne Swanson and Stephen Kish have retained Joe Arvay to provide a legal opinion on the constitutionality of the proposed FATCA IGA legislation.

@George recently made the good suggestion we are now following up on:

Could you start a thread where Brockers could make comments or observations which you could then hand to the Attorney?

The purpose of this thread is to receive those comments you feel might be helpful to Joe Arvay. In my own experience with lawyers, suggestions from people who have been harmed have made the difference.

If you make your suggestions by March 11, Lynne will coordinate and synthesize them and forward them to Mr. Arvay.

Also, if you are uncomfortable in providing comments publicly, you can email me at canadiancharterchallengefund@gmail.com If you do, please don’t use your real name.

Thanks

The following advertisement spontaneously appeared in the Delta Optimist. This paper appears weekly in the riding of Kerry Lynn Findlay, Minister of National Revenue (Kerry-Lynne.Findlay@parl.gc.ca). We accept free advertising like this from any concerned citizen who wants to try to make an impact. Thanks to the person who did this and sent me the graphics.

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