As I just heard this on CBC, The Sunday Edition: Welcome to the World on Online News — is this the death of serious journalism?, Molly found and commented on a Calgary Herald
“Egregious privacy breach attracts little attention” by Karin Klassen, Calgary Herald, May 16, 2014
Meanwhile, almost under the radar, except for a pocket of people trying desperately to raise the alarm, outrageous legislation has passed, enforceable in July, that directly affects the privacy of Canadians in the worst possible way. While indignant tweets were a flyin’ over whom precisely is allowed to read on my newsfeed that one of my friends needs help with diaper rash, we endured with barely a peep this egregious invasion of the privacy of actually important information.
…
Every country has a problem with this legislation; Stephen Harper, however, has handed over the ransom, possibly some argue, violating the Constitution. Canada is the last of the G7 countries to agree, but agree it did in a big way, by letting the Canada Revenue Agency be the middleman. (I suppose this was to avoid the banks getting a bad name, but also ostensibly to assure Canadians they are being violated by a not-for-profit organ.)Lest you think this isn’t you, keep in mind that
FACTAFATCA covers Americans in Canada, even if they’ve been here their entire lives, Canadians who worked in the U.S., Canadians born of American parents, and people born of Canadian parents who slipped out while on vacation in the U.S. (because whether you like it or not, the U.S. gives you citizenship, and then taxes on citizenship, rather than residency). If you are an American working for a Canadian corporation, or vice versa, the taxes of the corporation may also be open to scrutiny.
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While the legislation only affects those who potentially have more than $50,000 in assets, to prove this could cost tens of thousands in fees, fines, accountants and lawyers — even if you have never earned a penny. It’s that or risk never being able to cross the border again; last year, an estimated 3,100 Americans decided to do just that, renouncing their patriotism to Uncle Sam altogether.
Thank you Molly for finding this in the Calgary Herald. Thank you, Karin Klassen, for so aptly pointing out what we seem to want our journalists to feed us. Trivia, soap opera, lists, while some of us watch our rights evaporate, in this case appeasing a foreign country’s government! And, Michael Enright, for putting the same on the Sunday morning air waves.
Just in time, an antidote to the Cayo poison!
My Letter to the Editor of the Calgary Herald:
Excellent that at least one journalist has got it and Calgary Herald published the article.
Great response, Calgary411!
Meanwhile out in the big bad world:
http://www.nationofchange.org/132-nations-want-out-cabal-banking-system-1399298516
One little but effective antidote would be to stop shopping in the US by people who reside close to the US border etc etc.
You’re right, Eric. Probably only those of us in Canada affected and choose not to support the US economy will refrain from cross-border shopping, Canadian “snowbirding” in the US and holding US investments.
In the meantime, journalists like Mr. Cayo and the Conservative MPs who don’t represent us will blame those deemed ‘US Persons in Canada’ for not ‘taking our medicine’ and supporting the Canadian economy who they say will fail if we don’t. A whole lot of Canadian hypocrisy right there.
Sadly there won’t be many comments on the Herald article because it has a FB only policy. So thank you calgary411 for sending your LTTE. I hope it gets published.
Don Cayo seems to think that the only way to support the Canadian economy is to support the banks which have thrown their support behind FATCA implementation. I beg to differ. I think the best way to support the Canadian economy is to:
a) buy anything but American products, Canadian whenever possible
b) invest in Canada not in the USA
c) pay taxes to Canada and not to the USA
d) travel in Canada not the USA
e) use a Canadian credit union which invests in the local community
How did it ever get to the point where the economy has become the financial industrial complex and not actual industries producing actual goods and the people who make, sell and buy those goods, as well as those who provide essential or simply desired services to others?
Great advice @Em, to all of us;
“…I think the best way to support the Canadian economy is to:
a) buy anything but American products, Canadian whenever possible
b) invest in Canada not in the USA
c) pay taxes to Canada and not to the USA
d) travel in Canada not the USA
e) use a Canadian credit union which invests in the local community ”
I am disgusted at the attempts of the IIAC to get the FATCA IGA passed in order for them and the CBA to profit off our backs, and have all Canadians pay for it, no matter our Charter, Constitution and what is just and moral. Look up the members of the IIAC http://iiac.ca/about-the-iiac/iiac-member-firms/ . Ask yourself and others whether you want to give over your savings into the hands of those who like the IIAC and CBA, are eager for Canada to give our legal local savings and data over to the US. Here is the IIAC urging the expeditious adoption of US law on Canadian soil: “Ian Russell, president and CEO of the Investment Industry Association of Canada (IIAC), today urged members of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance to recommend approval of Bill C-31 at the earliest opportunity, which is necessary to implement the provisions of the United States Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) in Canada”….””We believe this package of legislation embeds the best possible tax-reporting framework for Canadian investors and their investment dealers, and should be passed expeditiously,” Russell told the Committee.
“Simply put, deferral of the Canadian legislative package this close to the July 1, 2014 implementation deadline would place a more costly and difficult compliance burden on Canada’s investment industry and expose Canadian financial institutions and investors to penalties and sanctions that would severely impede access to the U.S. marketplace,” he said.”
http://www.advisor.ca/news/industry-news/iiac-urges-feds-to-pass-law-implementing-fatca-152592
This discussion should be about media control, journalists aren’t to blame. I’m reading “Democracy’s Oxygen-How Corporations Control the News” by James Winter,1997. This book is very much in line with Mel Hurtigs opinions. Let me share a brief excerpt:
“Far from providing democracy’s oxygen, as they claim, the news media today legitimize a fundamentally undemocratic system. Instead of keeping the public informed, they manufacture public consent for policies which favour their owners; the corporate elite.
This book begins with an overview of the alarming extent of concentration of ownership in media industries. Case studies of two corporate media barons -Paul Desmarais and Conrad Black— demonstrate their neoconservative ideology, their broad influence and their quest for power. The news media mythology about dedication to the public interest contrasts with substantial evidence that the news is largely a corporate and management product. The result is “Media Think,” group think on a vast scale which pervades the media and through which they promote narrow ideological dogmas about the world around us, including: globalization, privatization, and deficit hysteria.
A primary focus of this book is its description of the way in which the news media create the news. Morton Mintz, a former Washington Post reporter, summed it up: “The media tilt is the net result of a gamut of causes and motives, including bias, boosterism, careerism, cowardice, libel risks, economic imperatives, friendships, ignorance, lack of resources, laziness, protection of news sources, retreats from investigative reporting, stupidity, suppression, survival instincts, and the pro-business orientation of owners and of the managers they hire.”
“The book continues with a discussion of Project Censored Canada, and its top ten censored stories of recent years: what they were, and why they were under reported or omitted altogether from the mainstream news media. Special attention is paid to the role the media played in creating “deficit hysteria” which subtly legitimated the attack on social programs, workers, and the poor. In this case, media boosterism contributed to the most successful propaganda campaign in recent Canadian history, and to the ongoing dismantling of our much-vaunted social safety net.”
@ Em, @Badger
hey great comments! could apply to any nation affected by FATCA, ie the whole bleeding world.
I will make this my mantra
) buy anything but American products, UK whenever possible
b) invest in UK not in the USA
d) travel anywhere except the USA except for family trips.
e) use a UK building society for savings and UK savings products
f) spread the story of FATCA and US imperial overreach to discourage others from investing/travelling/working in/moving to USA until the running sore of CBT is fixed.
and I refer back to a wonderful quote -paraphrased here- that i’ve seena few times
“the best way to get rid of a bad law is to enforce it!”
I continue to hope, pray and dream that CBT will go the way of the dodo and the dinosaur and that my pain this life altering last 2 years + will add to the cumulative weight of experience to teach the USG before it is too late……..
Brockers…keep up thegreat work. I wait to be told where to donate to the next stage of the legal challenge to FATCA in Canada.
@Brockers
one qualifier to the above non purchase of US products
I can’t live without Peter Storm hiking boots… I hope they are not made by US ultimate firm!
@ crystal London
I really like your f) addition. All Brockers should continue to go forth and influence whoever we can to get CBT abolished, assigned to the dustbin of history, never to raise its ugly head again.
Huffington Post Suggests Talking About Media Ownership Is Anti-Semitic
http://www.infowars.com/huffington-post-suggests-talking-about-media-ownership-is-anti-semitic/
@Crystal London
I like that quote too, because it applies so well to CBT and FATCA. We can thank Abraham Lincoln for it.
@ Crystal London
I make it a point to inform at least two people per day about FATCA. My mail man knows, my neighbours know….
I’ve joined groups and political protests in order to share my story and how it will inevitably affect us all.
I’d like to add to your list and suggest voting for Independents, supporting the CBC and seeking out and supporting alternative media sources such as: Akawasasne Notes, Briarpatch, Canadian Dimension, Canadian Perspectives, Fuse, Georgia Straight, Monitor, New Internationalist, New Socialist, Our Times, Peace Magazine, Ploughshares Monitor, Prairie Dog, This magazine, Windspeaker, The Epoch Times.
This is an old list some items may no longer be in print.
An excellent letter to the editor by Laura Frost in today’s Herald regarding Karin Klassen’s article.
http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Protect+citizens/9862159/story.html
@Crystal London, slightly modified your plan
a) buy anything but American products, UK/EU whenever possible
b) invest in UK/EU not in the USA
d) travel anywhere except the USA except for family trips when required.
e) use a UK building society or credit unions for savings and UK savings products. Yes, the UK
has credit unions. Search them out and join one!! The Archbishop of Canterbury is urging parishiners
to join a local credit union.
f) spread the story of FATCA and US imperial overreach each day to discourage others from investing/travelling/working in/moving to USA until the running sore of CBT is fixed. Help prevent a gotcha OMG moment with one expat a week.
@ All
Today’s Calgary Herald ran the (misinformed?) response below to Laura Frost’s letter to the editor: My accountant has sent correspondence that states “you are a U.S. citizen if one of your parents is a US Citizen”. Mr. Webrick’s letter contradicts that statement. If my accountant is correct, are there any Brockers willing to respond to the Calgary Herald & set the record straight? I think it’s important that readers realize just how far the global reach of the IRS actually extends.
Check your status
BY DANIEL WEVRICK, CALGARY HERALDMAY 23, 2014
Re: “Protect U.S. citizens,” Letter, May 21.
Laura Frost states she is being considered a U.S. citizen for tax purposes.
If she has done nothing to try to get herself registered as a U.S. citizen after being denied U.S. citizenship, then she is not a U.S. citizen living abroad and hence is not required to pay U.S. taxes.
I would strongly suggest she get confirmation from the U.S. government informing her whether or not she has U.S. citizenship.
Daniel Wevrick
Ottawa
@ All
Today’s Calgary Herald ran the (misinformed?) response below to Laura Frost’s letter to the editor: My accountant has sent correspondence that states “you are a U.S. citizen if one of your parents is a US Citizen”. Mr. Webrick’s letter contradicts that statement. If my accountant is correct, are there any Brockers willing to respond to the Calgary Herald & set the record straight? I think it’s important that readers realize just how far the global reach of the IRS actually extends.
Thanks
Check your status
BY DANIEL WEVRICK, CALGARY HERALDMAY 23, 2014
Re: “Protect U.S. citizens,” Letter, May 21.
Laura Frost states she is being considered a U.S. citizen for tax purposes.
If she has done nothing to try to get herself registered as a U.S. citizen after being denied U.S. citizenship, then she is not a U.S. citizen living abroad and hence is not required to pay U.S. taxes.
I would strongly suggest she get confirmation from the U.S. government informing her whether or not she has U.S. citizenship.
Daniel Wevrick
Ottawa
Sasha. It is entirely possible that your accountant is wrong and Mr. Wevrick is correct.
It is well established that Ms. Frost has a claim to US citizenship if she were to want it. However, she would have to take a positive step to establish that claim. Otherwise, the question is moot- they don’t know she exists and she has no obligation to tell anyone that she has the right to claim US citizenship.
P.S. If I were Ms. Frost, the last thing I would do is ask.
@George,
valuable reminder about joining our local credit unions rather than banks. I should have included that very important point.
sorry about my double post earlier . . . must have the return key twice.
I see that my letter to the editor has somehow popped up here. My reply was related to her assertion that she is “a U.S. citizen for taxation purposes”. No such animal exists. She is either a U.S. citizen or she is not. She has provided no indication as to why she believes that she is a “a U.S. citizen for taxation purposes”? She gave no indication as to why she believes that she now has must file U.S. taxes. Has she, out of the blue, received a letter from the IRS indicating that she must file or a letter from the U.S. government indicating that she has U.S. citizenship? She has, on the other hand, stated that sometime in the unspecified past (5 years ago?, 10 years ago? 40 years ago?), she “has been denied U.S. citizenship”.
U.S. citizenship through a parent depends on many factors (see http://www.uscis.gov/us-citizenship/citizenship-through-parents). If you read this web page, you will see that Sasha’s accountant’s blanket assertion that “you are a U.S. citizen if one of your parents is a US Citizen” is not correct.
Thanks for your comment, Daniel Wevrick.
The U.S. tax system (citizenship-based taxation) treats all citizens as U.S. residents for tax purposes no matter where they live, and requires them to file taxes. We have discussed citizenship through parents here many times and tried to pin down the Department of State as to whether or not there is a CLAIM to U.S. citizenship for those with the requisite qualifications as shown in the link you provide. Laura Frost’s MAY have to claim / apply for US citizenship based on the amount of time and when her US parent lived in the US. DOS, though, will not be pinned down as saying that in print.
However, I have been told by the US Department of State Overseas Citizen Services, Legal:
which agrees with the information that I paid for from an immigration / nationality lawyer from Washington, DC, to confirm my son’s US status and give possibilities for his renunciation. Result was that my children were US citizens from the moment of their births. And, straight from the US Department of State:
Now we have:
AND
To me, it all seems like a crap shoot. If I had “been denied US citizenship” at one time, I would be maintaining that denial.
Such an animal does, in fact, exist.
There are those of us that the US Dept. of State told long ago that we were not, or no longer, US citizens. The IRS, however, still considers us “US persons” (their all-encompassing definition) for tax purposes.
Dept. of State and Treasury have somewhat different positions on citizenship and US persons. State had the job of protecting what used to be seen as a valuable citizenship, and routinely denied said citizenship unless you fought it with an immigration lawyer. Pre-internet, you had two places to go to get information…State or the legal system. The internet has caught out State to be a frequent liar at worst, and incompetent at best.
Treasury (IRS), on the other hand, is charged with sucking every last dime from ANYONE they can. If State flat out lied in the past, the IRS doesn’t care, sticks a gun in your face, and demands everything you’ve got, plus a penalty for not doing so 20 years ago.
Both work the system to their advantage at every turn, now and historically.