Monthly Archives: November 2015

Justin Trudeau, King of Canada, has issued his first edict: the reinstatement of the long census form. Minister in charge of Canadian census Navdeep Singh Bains, will jail people who refuse to divulge personal information required by the long census form:

[The Liberal government] didn’t provide details on how it plans to make sure that people actually fill it out, although Navdeep Bains, the minister of innovation, science and economic development, said “the law is the law” and the Statistics Act hasn’t changed, which suggests penalties would include jail time. Bains said restoring the long form will mean a return to solid, high-quality data.

It seems lost on Bains that saying that “the law is the law” does not make any particular action of the government morally right. Putting old ladies in jail because they refuse to fill out a form is disproportionate to the alleged crime. That it is an invasion of privacy and a violation of universal human rights makes it all the more despicable. But the new Trudeau government seems to be carrying on the tradition of the elder Trudeau’s attitude towards law, as we discussed earlier (see, Burning down barns is not wrong because it is illegal; it is illegal because it is wrong).

In the past, the government found one woman guilty of refusing to fill out the long census form. She was 79-years old.  I have seen how government persecution of senior citizens can lead to fear and sometimes premature death, as in the case of friend of the Isaac Brock Society Mark Pinetree, who lived out his final years in fear of the IRS. He was a psychiatrist who had moved back to Brazil after becoming a US citizenship, not realizing that the IRS would persecute him even though he no longer lived in the USA.

In any case, if we were hoping that the government of Trudeau the Younger would respect the privacy rights of citizens of Canada, we now have tangible evidence that the new King doesn’t really believe in privacy. This bodes ill for those hoping for the repeal of the FATCA IGA.

I have, on occasion, taken a plunge into social media to see where our beloved topic of FATCA is being discussed and/or used. There is a considerable amount of posting being done on the topic, and I think it’s important to realize that, despite the plight of U.S. persons living abroad, enforcing FATCA is actually part of the job description for those who administer the violation of our rights on a 9-to-5 basis.

Often, during my seemingly endless scrolling on sites like Twitter and Instagram, I encounter posts by individuals who live overseas and work for foreign financial institutions.

Some of these posts are simply group selfies – taken to commemorate the conclusion of FATCA trainings that are intended to help staff understand the ins and outs of reporting. Some posts are flat-out advertising for financial services to help those caught up in the FATCA dragnet.

But I came across one post recently that really caught my attention.

It was an Instagram photo – a small, black and white poster that, apparently, makes its home on the wall of a Russian bank employee’s office. (Based on what I saw of the user’s profile.)

Aside from the obvious “W8” and “W9,” the poster’s text is Russian, and the image is borrowed from a famous World War II Russian propaganda poster.

The original WWII poster, entitled “Motherland is calling!” was created by socialist realism artist Irakli Toidze. According to history, Toidze’s wife had burst into his studio to announce that the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany were at war. Her face and posture in that moment were used by Toidze in the poster, and the original text is the Soviet military oath used between 1939 and 1947.

From what I’ve read, the poster was among Stalin’s favorites (he was personally approving every propaganda poster at the time). Stalin was so moved by the poster that he  ordered 5,000 copies printed upon seeing it.

Since then, the poster has been re-purposed as propaganda for many causes – including the cause of one particular Russian bank to whimsically ensure FATCA compliance.

The literal translation on the Russian bank version of the poster is “FATCA form can’t wait!”

Below, on the paper being held by the woman, the text translates to “W 8 or W 9?”

I reached out to the owner of the Instagram account to verify the context of the poster and they responded with: “actually it’s a joke, re soviet motivation poster) the direct translation is: “FATCA for [sic] does not wait! Form W8 or W9?”

That’s some joke.

The fact that a Russian bank has a “motivational” poster hanging in an office to envourage staff to get a W8 or W9 from suspected U.S. persons is interesting, to say the least. More like painfully ironic, given the context of the original poster.

Despite the overtones and irony of the original World War II poster, I think it shows a perspective of FATCA that we don’t always see – that of everyday people who are simply doing a job they aren’t in a position to question – much like the job of those whom the original poster was meant to “call,” I suppose.

 
UPDATE NOVEMBER 4, 2015: This Information Session is postponed until the weekend of January 16-17, 2016
 

In the interim, if you are interested in paticipating in a telephonic version of the meeting, please email
citizenshiptaxation at gmail dot com
and we will email you the details.

There are now several Brock commenters who have brought to light what we have already known in the years of Brock commentary — the hypocrisy in the subject of US tax evasion provided by the USA itself: Tax Justice Network’s *Financial Secrecy Index – 2015 Results*.

The US has jumped from sixth place to third in the Financial Secrecy index, which is prepared by the Tax Justice Network (TJN) every two years. It is estimated that between $21 and $32 trillion worth of private financial wealth resides in so-called tax havens across the globe, where they are untaxed or lightly taxed.

While TJN noted that “most countries’ secrecy scores have improved,” the United States is the “greatest” concern and is “more of a cause” for worry than any other individual country.

“Our analysis also reveals that the United States is the jurisdiction of greatest concern, having made few concessions and posing serious threats to emerging transparency initiatives,” the TJN said in a press release.

The United States is one of the few countries whose secrecy score has worsened since the previous survey in 2013.

“The US stays a tax haven, and undermines global co-operation,” the TJN concluded.

Don says; we can agree:

Perhaps the Trudeau Government should be reminded about Canada’s place on the Secrecy Index – 29th.

The USA is the 3rd most secret banking country in the world behind Switzerland, and Hong Kong.

The US should put its own house in order before going to countries like Canada.

badger provides RT *Question More* “Tax haven: US ‘threatens’ global efforts to fight tax evasion, financial crimes”.

U.S. Placed Above Cayman Islands in Financial Secrecy Blacklist comes from a Tom Alciere comment earlier today.

Both Barbara and The Mom provided The Guardian’s US overtakes Caymans and Singapore as haven for assets of super-rich, which was also highlighted in a query/comment at ADCS-ADSC, saying

*Please make this hypocrisy known as widely as possible*.