Goat Rodeo:
A chaotic situation, often one that involves several people [or organizations], each with a different agenda/vision/perception of what’s going on; a situation that is very difficult, despite energy and efforts, to instill any sense or order into.
I don’t think there’s a much more apt expression for what is happening right now in the larger FATCA / FBAR / CBT universe. The calm-before-the-storm waiting game of the last few years is now clearly giving way to frenzied activity and veritable verbal warfare across multiple organizations and web sites around the globe. The big-picture dots of this reality have not yet been fully connected into a single post and thread, so that’s why I’m starting this one.
In no particular order, here are some of the latest developments to consider:
1. The ADCS summary trial is poised to begin next Tuesday, August 4th. Even now, the Canadian Government is wheeling out their propaganda machine to fight our lawsuit in the court of public opinion as well as in the Federal Court in Vancouver. One of the first targets of their inevitable smear campaign is our legal counsel, Joe Arvay, via a Conservative Party soapbox piece published in today’s Globe and Mail. And, as I write this, news that the Canadian federal government, “…may seek an adjournment of the summary trial scheduled to be heard on August 4-5,” as reported in the ADCS thread.
2. Mirroring the Canadian Charter Challenge is last week’s filing of the James Bopp / Republicans Overseas Action FATCA lawsuit whose seven plaintiffs include Rand Paul and Stephen Kish.
3. Republicans Overseas reports on the US Federal government response to their motion to expedite a Preliminary Injunction:
On July 22, Republicans Overseas Action and the seven Plaintiffs asked the District Court to expedite the consideration of the request for a preliminary injunction to give the Court adequate time decide the matter before some of Plaintiffs’ sensitive account information is reported to the IRS at the end of September. The government’s response is to say that shortening its response time would be too burdensome and that it needs even more time to respond. Normally, they would have 21 days to respond, and we’ve only asked to have that time shortened by a week. The federal government instead has asked the Court to delay the suit and give them 60 days to respond to Plaintiffs’ request for a preliminary injunction—three times the amount of time to which it would normally be entitled! The truth is that the Plaintiffs are the ones playing catch up in this case. The government has had nearly five years to consider the constitutional underpinnings of FATCA. They should not be allowed to complain now that they need more time to understand it when American citizens’ constitutional rights are being pushed aside.
4. Democrats Abroad has published a couple of trash-talk pieces here and here condemning the Bopp/RO suit. So far, every one of the 22 comments on the DA Switzerland piece has been uniformly opposed to DA’s positions on FATCA and Same Country Safe Harbor (SCSH), which has also been referred to as SCE (Same Country Exception).
5. Democrats Abroad has doubled-down on its SCSH campaign by re-igniting its FATCA Reform 1000 letters sign-on campaign, apparently completely ignoring the frustration of its dwindling constituency, as exemplified by one of the comments:
Most of us will not support this. Same country exemption is a diversion from the issue. It will enable you to try and tell people that you have done something. 90% of us see right through this and want nothing to do with this. Full repeal of FATCA and CBT is what needs to be done. Anything else is a distraction. Time for the democrats to join the rest of the world and use the world standard tax practice of residence based taxation (RBT). Why does the party of “progress” want to hold onto an outdated, civil war era tax policy that all other countries have abandoned?
6. Republicans Overseas is also pushing back on SCSH and the letter writing campaign:
By delaying the Motion for Preliminary Injunction, it gives DA time to push for the Same Country Safe Harbor (SCSH) exemption
DA is asking expats to write 1,000 letter to Congress to support SCSH by pressuring Treasury Secretary Lacob Lew and IRS Commissioner John Koskinen to selectively enforce FATCA based on expats’ accounts in one foreign country or more than one foreign country. DA knows better than that. This is lawlessness because neither Secretary Lew nor Commissioner Koskinen have the constitutional authority to amend or selectively enforce FATCA without a vote in Congress to amend the law.
7. Meanwhile, other organizations have apparently chosen to hitch their wagons to the increasingly-maligned Safe Harbor campaign, including FAWCO (Federation of American Women’s Clubs Overseas) and AARO (Association of Americans Resident Overseas), though the latter has posted a position paper calling for the replacement of CBT with RBT. American Citizens Abroad has remained rather low-key, focussing on its own, rather convoluted RBT proposal and partnering with the University of Nevada via its ACA Global Foundation on a research study about the effects of FATCA on American citizens living abroad. Other groups, such as American Expatriates, appear to be inundated by a confusing and often contradictory array of opinions from across the political spectrum, though the same thing can often be said of IBS.
8. The Trump factor. Will his brand of demagoguery help or hurt our cause? Here is a quote from his most recent advertorial for his own book:
America has become the world’s “dumping ground” for everyone else’s problems. A “whipping boy” for other countries as we sink further and further into the debt of no return.
Trump warns of so-called leaders willingly giving our jobs to foreign hands and further crippling the economy. Literally taking future opportunities from our children and grandchildren.
Meanwhile those same leaders feed America’s looming debt beast — an $18 trillion tab — with foreign aid and terrible negotiations.
And what then do we get for extending our wealth to help a legion of other countries? Lack of respect. We’re the “laughingstock” of the world.
These are just a few examples of how fragmented and confusing the landscape has become, and just how far away US Persons are from achieving any kind of consensus about how best to fight back against FATCA and CBT. The dominant “camps” now emerging are, predictably, identifiable largely along traditional party lines, but with some important exceptions. On one hand, “Safe Harbor” has crystallized into the Democrats singular take-it-or-leave-it proposition. On the other hand are the lawsuits in both the US and Canada, initiated by an increasingly diverse mix of Republicans, disaffected Democrats and untold numbers of other supporters who have no allegiance to any US party. In the case of Canada, our battle is dishearteningly with our own Canadian government, which has lowered itself to becoming a mere proxy for the US. Nevertheless, when it comes to the issues of FATCA, FBAR and CBT, it would appear that the most dominant fault line now starkly divides an increasingly out-of-touch and disingenuous Democratic Party with, literally, everyone else on the planet.
In a our hyphenated, multicultural Canadian society, it is perfectly natural to refer to oneself, or others, as French-Canadian, Italian-Canadian, Greek-Canadian, Chinese-Canadian or whatever.
Now try calling yourself American-Canadian at a cocktail party and just wait for the bovine-like stares.
@AnonAnon,
Exactly. Why are we bitching about some information being sent to the American government? We’re privileged to be citizens of the greatest country on earth, so just suck it up.
Many times while commenting on articles over the last couple years, I have seen fellow Canadians say things like, “happy to see those duals who think they are so special, get their up and comings.” People as a whole are not that evolved, and really don’t give a shit about Canadians with US citizenship since it doesn’t apply to them. They don’t get the concept of loss of rights for one group of Canadians potentially affecting them, since they are “just Canadian”
I could see the court of public opinion looking upon us unfavourably if we supported the FATCA IGA and the enforcement of US law in Canada at the expense of Canadian sovereignty, but to oppose it???
@Bubblebustin re: I could see the court of public opinion looking upon us unfavourably if we supported the FATCA IGA and the enforcement of US law in Canada at the expense of Canadian sovereignty, but to oppose it???”
That is some interesting logic. Sorry…don’t get it.
The court of public opinion is not that highly evolved. It is made up of average people going about their daily lives who could care less that some Americans living in Canada (regardless whether or not they are also Canadian) are having their financial data sent to the USA. . And besides, there is that pesky 30% withholding the rest of the Canadians don’t want to deal with.
I’d like to think better of Canadians than that.
@Bubblebustin,
I’d like to think better of the current Canadian government (consisting of Canadian citizens) too, but here we are today fighting for our rights as Canadians. The Cons (and likely the Liberals, and even the NDP would have done the same) justify their actions (at least partly) by referring to us as “Americans living in Canada”, and when the Canadian public hears that, they get a vision in their heads of people who are different than the rest. So, when we (the affected ones), also present ourselves as such, we add fuel to the discrimination fire, and hurt our cause.
@AnonAnon
That attitude is held by Canadians who wish they, too, could have the privileges of U.S. citizenship
I suspect this attitude is held a lot by Canadians whose jobs require travel to the US–probably not so much by Canadians who are fortunate to have jobs that never require crossing the border. If you have to travel to the US and don’t have US citizenship, there is always a chance–it might be small but it’s always there–that when you cross the border you might catch a US customs official on a bad day and end up barred from entry–seriously messing up your Canadian life.
It definitely adds an element of stress to the lives of Canadians who need to cross the border regularly for work as compared with those who never need to cross. So I can definitely understand that they might be envious of those who are perceived as being able to cross the border freely. It may take a lot of educating people to realize that the downsides of US citizenship as a nonresident usually exceed the risk of being denied entry as a non-American.
I suspect those Canadians who never need to cross the border for work and generally can–and do–avoid entering the US wherever possible will understand the liabilities of US citizenship better.
To say we should hide the fact that we’re Jewish, oops, I mean American is further victimization. If we have to fight bigotry against us, then so be it. I’m sitting at the front of the bus.
Our old adversaries over at Tax Justice is at it again. They complained today the IRS’ budget is being cut too far for them to operate effectively.
http://www.taxjusticeblog.org/archive/2015/07/the_irs_you_dont_have_to_like.php#.Vbfmn7XCaSo
I guess that’s good for ex-pats if they can’t process FATCA data efficiently. The IRS may have to be more careful how it allocates its resources.
Its not about hiding. Its about image. Its about cultivating public and political support.
Its about insisting that we are Canadians living in Canada and that any additional citizenship we might have takes a back seat in the Canadian bus while we are sitting in the front of the bus as Canadians.
@WhiteKat, ” I don’t deny I am a US citizen either. I know the rules. I was born in USA, therefore I am a US citizen.”
If I get to scold Bubbles…..I get to scold Kitty……
Whilst in Canada, you are governed by Canadian Law and under Canadian Law you are solely and absolutely a Canadian Citizen.
When any of us refer to us as being a US Citizen in our home country you are doing two things. First, you are giving in to the demands of a FOREIGN country. Second, you are belittling the laws of your own country.
A certain former Warsaw Pact country claimed me as a citizen…..now a certain EU Country. During the time it was a Warsaw Pact country the USG because of my occupation had me sign all kinds of papers and made me go through all kinds of briefings with legal counsel.
The USG does NOT recognize dual/multi nationality in law!!! Today, they simply recognize that it can exist but it is not in law.
Kitty, whilst in Canada you are solely and absolutely 100% maple syrup in your veins.
@George, MEOW! I should have known you’d get me on that one!
“Its about insisting that we are Canadians living in Canada and that any additional citizenship we might have takes a back seat in the Canadian bus while we are sitting in the front of the bus as Canadians.”
Well then I guess we better not plan any more protests or comment on any media articles in Canada, lest any “real” Canadians think we’re getting too uppity!
@Bubbles/@WhiteKat…….
In Canada, you are BOTH equal to every other Canadian Citizen.
Because some FOREIGN Government calls you its own, does NOT make you anything better than any other Canadian Citizen.
Because some FOREIGN Government calls you its own, does NOT make you anything less than any other Canadian Citizen.
You are both 100% Canadian, pure Canadian, no different than any other Canadian.
You are both loyal subjects to your Queen HM QE II and her successors according to law.
In the end, that is what this is all about.
If someone calls you American they are insulting you.
If you call yourself American, you are insulting your fellow Canadians.
@Bubbles/@WhiteKat…….I have gotten to the point to going to High Street FIs to open accounts so that I can call a spade a spade.
I have no indica, though I have an accent problem.
If someone questions my citizenship, I go for the juggler………I ask, if my skin was black would you ask what is my tribe in Africa?
In the USA during the 1940’s hyphenated Japaneese Americans were questioned for their loyalty. If your loyalty is to HM QE II there is nothing more you should say or accept.
I no longer sing My Country Tis of Thee.
I proudly sing with a tear in my eye God Save the Queen!!!!!!!
Bubbles/Whitekat…….
http://canadiancrown.gc.ca/eng/1396463862280
@George
Well, you know what they say, George: “When fighting clowns, always go for the juggler.”
@Bubblebustin, I wrote: “Its about insisting that we are Canadians living in Canada and that any additional citizenship we might have takes a back seat in the Canadian bus while we are sitting in the front of the bus as Canadians.”
And in response you wrote: “Well then I guess we better not plan any more protests or comment on any media articles in Canada, lest any “real” Canadians think we’re getting too uppity!”
I have no clue how you came to that conclusion based on what I wrote. But whatever.
@Don
Re: Tax Justice blog
If these guys would instead focus their lobbying efforts on the elimination of even half of the 70,000 + pages of gaping loopholes in the IRS tax code then the agency might be completely awash in extra tax revenue and wouldn’t need another budget transfusion. These idiots have it all backwards.
@ George, To both Bubbles and Kitty you wrote:
“If someone calls you American they are insulting you.
If you call yourself American, you are insulting your fellow Canadians.”
I think you may have insulted Bubbles with those comments. Not me though.
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Glen Terrell
@ggeett37aaa
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@Kitty, remember I am referencing both your statuses in Canada. The converse would apply in America.
@George,
Meow! Got ya!
I always wonder why it is that somehow anyone with Canadian+US citizenship is vilified and told they should “pay” for the privilige by the same people who may well hold Canadian+citizenship of countries other than the US…Where is the logic?
@GWEvil,
US exceptionalism.