Liberty and justice for all United States persons abroad

The Isaac Brock Society

Rand Paul re-iterates his intention to FILIBUSTER all tax treaties that may be used to implement FATCA

Posted on by Posted in Issues regarding US persons abroad 55 Comments

http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/PaulLetter050714.pdf

“To be clear, I certainly do not condone tax cheats, but I can’t support a law that endangers regular foreign investment and punishes every American in pursuit of a few tax cheats,” he wrote. “Most importantly, I cannot support a bulk collection tax treaty that has complete disregard for the important protections provided to every American by the Fourth Amendment.”

http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2014/05/07/rand-paul-fights-tax-treaties-citing-privacy-concerns/

Bucking pressure from businesses and fellow lawmakers, Sen. Rand Paul says he will continue to oppose tax treaties that would let the Internal Revenue Service gather more information about Americans’ overseas financial accounts.

The move dims the outlook for a planned Senate vote on the treaties, while highlighting the Kentucky Republican’s contrarian streak. The treaties – including a significant one with Switzerland – enjoy widespread support among lawmakers of both parties. But Mr. Paul, who is preparing a 2016 presidential bid, believes they would encourage government snooping and erode Americans’ privacy rights.

 

 

55 thoughts on “Rand Paul re-iterates his intention to FILIBUSTER all tax treaties that may be used to implement FATCA”

  1. More power to him, I say.

    Never thought I’d see the day I would agree with a right wing Republican politician from Kentucky.

  2. Never thought I would be on the same side as Rand Paul. I don’t think it does our cause much good to be linked to an extremist like him.

  3. Rand Paul should be thanked and supported. He is a Libertarian and someone who understands the damage caused by and the danger of FATCA, the NSA and the IRS.

  5. @Islander and @Shunrata:
    Rand Paul is an exceptional Senator and one who has fought FATCA from the beginning.
    He is correct in the protections the 4th Amendment affords all Americans and he is correct about how FATCA walks all over citizens rights no matter where they are in the world.
    He has also launched a class action law suit based on that same 4th Amendment against NSA and all the spying they are doing.
    He deserves our respect and certainly our support. Would we had a Senator like him in OUR parliament!
    OR two or three.
    I know Ted Cruz and Mike Lee also agree with the concepts of protections the Constitution afford.
    I do not know why one would consider it undesirable to have Rand Paul on ‘our side’. If you are a freedom loving individual,who values privacy and is willing to fight against unwarranted and illegal intrusion into into each individual’s life, based on the flimsiest of pretenses, as FATCA does,not only threatening penalties, but sanctions against all who object to this gross and illegal intrusion, one would be hard pressed to have a more capable champion!

  7. I have supported Ron Paul all the way because of his defense of the constitution, not because he is right or left or Libertarian or whatever uninformed people want to call him. Rand Paul is the best things we have going for us. We are complaining that our sovereign rights are being trampled on and yet a couple people hare call him an “extremist”?

    I say those people are definitely on the wrong forum. Might I suggest this one instead?

  8. @FuriousAC,

    I didn’t say I consider it undesirable to have him on our side, I’m just surprised that we’re in agreement on something. 🙂

  12. I just posted this comment:

    12:58 am May 9, 2014
    Deckard1138 wrote:

    It is important to put Rand Paul’s opposition to FATCA into a larger context. Mr. Paul is simply part of a much larger anti-FATCA movement which defies all attempts at marginalization or demonization. This rapidly growing grassroots movement represents people of every political persuasion, Democrat to Republican, liberal to conservative, libertarian to green. If any good can emerge from the anti-FATCA experience, it will be to demonstrate what true respect and cooperation really means between traditional adversaries when they are ALL confronted equally by a common existential threat. Perhaps America’s diaspora may very well hold the key to breaking the self-destructive cycle of suspicion and polarization that is completely paralyzing the American system of government and civic discourse.

    The terrible law that is FATCA is completely indiscriminate in its discrimination. It stems directly from a deeply entrenched mythology that has been promulgated and pandered-to for generations of Americans – that every emigrant should be regarded with suspicion, for why would anyone want to leave the greatest country on Earth? Surely such people are intrinsically suspect and should be regarded as probable tax cheats or traitors. So much so, that their vestigial constitutional rights should be suspended, that onerous penalties should be assessed for arcane, unenforceable laws imposed in the early 1970′s, and that the very sovereignty of their adopted countries should be unilaterally breached to impose extraterritorial tax law that is simply breathtaking in its imperialistic scope and audacity.

    The United States is now embarking on a global economic war which it cannot possibly win, any more than it could ever hope to win an all-out nuclear war. Either this is a massive poker game and the US government is indeed bluffing, or the world is truly about to collide with the greatest single train wreck ever devised by an ostensibly democratic republic. FATCA is a clear and present danger for all of humanity; its true shape and power to be revealed beginning July 1st, 2014. Pay attention.

  18. @Deckard
    Excellent comment! But can you explain to me what “grassroots” means? Is grassroots a positive thing? For me, it holds the connotation of being a bit amateur?

  21. Excellent Deckard – have printed your truthful words – on the fridge for all to read!

  22. @Deckard
    May I send this to my US relatives and ask them to send it along to their legislators? (Seems each US legislator must be emailed via their own web page and a US addy must be included). I would so love to see you submit this to the large US papers and TV news folks. This would be something my dear Rachael Maddow could sink her teeth into. Front page of the NYT is where I want to see it!!!!

  23. I’d like the see the global political reaction if the US starts using the 30% sanction tax to enforce FATCA. Please remember in the late 1940s the US dollar was the logical choice for a reserve currency. However, in world 2014, the US dollar is being ‘allowed,’ by the rest of the world to continue this privilege. If the 30% sanction tax is used what is the US going to do about the BRICs doing work arounds the US dollar? Answer not much.

    If the US dollar becomes a ‘pain the neck,’ to use for trade, governments/corporations of the world will start voting with their feet rather than submit to all the red tape and regulation.

    So do I use the US dollar with all the bulls**t attached or use the trade friendly Yuan or Euro?

  24. @Deckard1138
    Very well stated. Sums up what I have also been thinking but could not seem to put into words.

    @shunrata and @Islander
    Think about what I have to deal with. I agree with Rand Paul on many, many issues (not all). But now I have more respect for the NDP, who are standing against big government overreach, than I do for the Conservatives, who are in bed with the Obama (and Reid and Pelosi) Democrats. I would have thought that Harper and Obama would be strange bedfellows, but Harper has obviously been seduced. From my perspective, the Democrats are acting like Democrats (and so are the Conservatives) while the New Democratic Party are acting like Conservatives.

  25. As Canadian Cop points out, the political world is definitely topsy turvy on FATCA.

    On FATCA, I don’t care if someone is right wing, left wing or turkey wing. I care what he or she will do to Stop FATCA.

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