UPDATE SUNDAY NOVEMBER 13, 2016
REINCE PRIEBUS CHOSEN TO BE PE TRUMP’S CHIEF OF STAFF
EXCERPTS:
WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald J. Trump on Sunday chose Reince Priebus, the chairman of the Republican National Committee and a loyal campaign adviser, to be his White House chief of staff, turning to a Washington insider whose friendship with the House speaker, Paul D. Ryan, could help secure early legislative victories.
But as chief of staff, Mr. Priebus will be the one who has several hundred White House staff members reporting to him. He will be the primary gatekeeper for Mr. Trump and the person most responsible for steering the president’s agenda through Congress. That role will be especially critical for Mr. Trump, who has never served in government and has few connections to important political figures.
As Mr. Trump denounced the Republican primary process as rigged and, on occasion, threatened to quit the party and run on his own, Mr. Priebus remained neutral. And when Mr. Trump secured the nomination, Mr. Priebus stood by his side.
Mr. Priebus worked with Mr. Trump on the nuts and bolts of presidential politics, trying to smooth his rough edges and staying in close contact as a bare-bones campaign prepared to go up against the Clinton machine.
PRESS RELEASE VIA MR. PRIEBUS JULY 2015
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I found myself wondering just what it is expats will want to focus on now, that the Republicans have the Presidency, and control of the House and the Senate. As Stephen Kish pointed out, this could change in two years (well, really just a bit more than a year as once the campaiging for the interim elections in 2018 start, we will likely have lost our chance to get this done quickly. What we do in the next year is critical to dumping FATCA and CBT.
I started thinking about what they promised and have gone through the Platform. I am going to list the main things I found that relate to our issues; if anyone finds more, please post. I also have two documents that focus specifically on FATCA and RBT as well as the link to Republicans Overseas Resolutions posted long ago on their FB site. It would be helpful if others want to isolate points and phrases to focus on in communications to the Republicans.
People may. may not want to coordinate efforts but I assume there will be letters written, emails sent and so on. You may remember that Congressman Mark Meadows (R NC) introduced H.R. 5935 seeking to have an oversight hearing on FATCA repeal. Once we know the date of the hearings and who will sit on the committee, we would start there I presume. And then follow the movement of what occurs……Calls for witnesses were posted on the Isaac Brock Society indicating interested parties should contact Keith Redmond by email at FATCA_Testimonials@outlook.com
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THE REPUBLICAN PLATFORM
excerpts from sections related to our issues
RESTORING THE AMERICAN DREAM
Fair and Simple Taxes for Growth p 1
The current tax code is rightly the object of both anger and mockery. Its length is exceeded only by its complexity. We must start anew. That will be an enormous undertaking and, if it is to succeed, it must command the attention and approval of the American people………….. We will welcome all to this enterprise — to discuss, debate, challenge, and amend — so that together we can restore economic growth for the American people and, even more important, renew their faith in the future
NB:This is their promise to listen.
Our Tax Principles p 2
To ensure that past abuses will not be repeated, we assert these fundamental principles. We oppose retroactive taxation. We condemn attempts by activist judges at any level of government to seize the power of the purse from the people’s elected representatives by ordering higher taxes. We oppose tax policies that deliberately divide Americans or promote class warfare.
NB:This would deal with the bizarre idea that 877A is retroactive.
To guard against hypertaxation of the American people in any restructuring of the federal tax system, any value added tax or national sales tax must be tied to the simultaneous repeal of the Sixteenth Amendment, which established the federal income tax.
NB:This would eliminate the whole need for filing in terms of taxes as value added or national sales tax will not affect Americans abroad in any significant way.
A Competitive America p 2
American businesses now face the world’s highest corporate tax rates. That’s like putting lead shoes on your cross-country team. It reduces companies’ ability to compete overseas, encourages them to move abroad, lessens their investment, cripples job creation here at home, lowers American wages, and fosters the avoidance of tax liability — without actually increasing tax revenues. A more damaging policy is hard to imagine.
NB:Please see an excellent paper by Roger Conklin which outlines how CBT directly affects Trade.(via The Revenue Act of 1962 & The Tax Reform Act of 1976; the U.S. has never recorded a trade surplus since 1975).
We endorse the recommendation of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, as well as the current Administration’s Export Council, to switch to a territorial system of taxation so that profits earned and taxed abroad may be repatriated for job-creating investment here at home. We believe American companies should be headquartered in America. We should reduce barriers to accomplishing that goal. A Winning Trade Policy International trade is crucial for all sectors of America’s economy. Massive trade deficits are not. We envision a worldwide multilateral agreement among nations committed to the principles of open markets, what has been called a “Reagan Economic Zone,” in which free trade will truly be fair trade for all concerned.
NB:Trade is important to Trump. He needs to know how CBT affects it. If they offer territorial taxation to corporations,they can offer RBT to Americans abroad.
A REBIRTH OF CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT
The Fourth Amendment: Liberty and Privacy p 13
The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) and the Foreign Bank and Asset Reporting Requirements result in government’s warrantless seizure of personal financial information without reasonable suspicion or probable cause. Americans overseas should enjoy the same rights as Americans residing in the United States, whose private financial information is not subject to disclosure to the government except as to interest earned. The requirement for all banks around the world to provide detailed information to the IRS about American account holders outside the United States has resulted in banks refusing service to them. Thus, FATCA not only allows “unreasonable search and seizures” but also threatens the ability of overseas Americans to lead normal lives. We call for its repeal and for a change to residency-based taxation for U.S. citizens overseas.
NB: This needs no comment. Other than it might be pointed out that many of the accounts reported on FBAR and 8938, are registered government plans. Some even include government grants which are taxed. The idea that these can be used for money laundering or terrorism is simply absurd.
GOVERNMENT REFORM
Reforming the Treaty System p 26
We intend to restore the treaty system specified by the Constitution: The president negotiates agreements, submits them to the Senate, with ratification requiring two-thirds of the senators present and voting. This was good enough for George Washington but is too restrictive for the current chief executive, who presumes to bind this country to bilateral and multilateral agreements of his devising. His media admirers portray his personal commitments — whether on climate change, Iranian weapons, or other matters — as done deals. They are not, and a new Republican executive will work with the Congress to re-establish constitutional order in America’s foreign relations. All international executive agreements and political arrangements entered into by the current Administration must be deemed null and void as mere expressions of the current president’s preferences. Those which are in the national interest but would traditionally have been made by treaty must be abrogated, renegotiated as treaties, and transmitted to the Senate for its advice and consent as required by the Constitution. The United States will withdraw from all agreements and arrangements failing those standards.
NB: Bye bye IGAs
Please see Professor Allison Christians excellent paper The Dubious Legal Pedigree of IGAs (and Why it Matters)
Internal Revenue Service p 27
We also support making the federal tax code so simple and easy to understand that the IRS becomes obsolete and can be abolished.
NB: Bye bye OVDP, Streamlined, threats of penalties etc
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Here are three more direct sources of the Republican positions. I will probably do the same with these as above. But the more the merrier!
Resolution Supporting Residence Based Taxation
Resolution toRepeal the Foreign AccountTaxCompliance Act
A proposed RNC Resolution titled — Resolution to Repeal the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) compiled by Republicans Overseas.
Yes, time to disengage from bickering.
There are, it seems to me, two main constituencies here:
1. Canadians
Canadian citizens living in Canada with dual citizenship, the majority being either “accidentals” born in the US but with no significant ties to the country, or Americans who emigrated decades ago and assumed they’d lost US citizenship when taking Canadian. In both cases they want to live their lives in Canada without interference from the US. Compliance could be anything from a minor paperwork chore to a very expensive tax bill, if for example they (foolishly) chose to declare capital gains on the sale of a home in Vancouver or Toronto.
I personally fall into the first category. I also find US tax compliance to be not the least bit onerous, because I don’t do it, and at present I foresee no negative consequences for my not having done so. That is the reason why I have some concerns about the ADCS lawsuit – we might actually be worse off without the IGA, if the banks were subject to “raw” FATCA – at least with the IGA some of the registered tax-exempt savings accounts are not reported (though of course to be compliant you’d still need to list them on your FBAR).
2. American expats
I think these folks have a more difficult time of it, either because they cannot obtain a second citizenship and renounce, or because the banking systems in their adopted countries are far stricter in their treatment of US citizens. Some of them also live in Canada but have not acquired Canadian citizenship.
The “Canadians” are presumably less interested in what happens to the US post-election, with the exception of issues that are truly global (climate change, trade protectionism, nuclear proliferation etc.) and affect us all. Given that, in the aggregate, our values and culture are generally more liberal than south of the border, many of us are personally horrified by Trump and the people around him. I will however focus on keeping my criticism under control – it’s not my country, after all.
The “expats” seem to be a more varied bunch. Some of y’all really have partisan axes to grind. (I wouldn’t claim to know anything about it, but somehow I doubt that the CBT mess can be laid exclusively at the feet of Democrats. No I don’t want to be educated here.) So on that note maybe just focus on the business at hand, killing FATCA and maybe one day CBT and otherwise making life simpler for non-residents, and we’ll all be happier.
PS What I recall from the story about Natasha Richardson wasn’t that her death was due to substandard medical care or long wait times or socialism or any such thing, but rather that the ski resort was in the middle of nowhere and the nearest hospital was a five-hour ambulance ride to Montreal and Quebec doesn’t have much in the way of helicopter transport. The way I see it is, broadly defined, demand for health care will always exceed supply, there will always be some form of rationing. You can ration by making top-down decisions about how to prioritize and allocate resources, or you can ration by privatizing the entire thing and letting patients’ financial means determine the quality of care they receive, or you find some sort of hybrid. Each society makes its own compromises in different ways. I, and I think most Canadians, are generally satisfied with what we have, despite its problems; unfortunately the system is sometimes misrepresented for domestic consumption south of yon border, which leads to all sorts of silly assumptions being made by people who don’t actually live here.
Nonymous: in the country I live in, Belgium, it is impossible to open a bank account without an ID card. Though I am an EU citizen they know my birthplace and use it to identify me as a US person. The banks then threaten to send all your info to the Belgian Govt to be forwarded to the US Govt. therefore, as it is expected to, FATCA brings people into compliance forcibly. If I had a non-US birthplace or the possibility of not disclosing it I would, like you, ignore the mess. Note that in the long run it may become harder to ignore.
I came to this site, and donated hundreds of CAD to the legal action, because it was the only way to struggle against this huge injustice. I am a Democrat and have taken issue with others here who are apparently Republicans. But I think it is undeniable that Obama and the Democrats have put us in this mess and that it is conceivable that the Republicans may get us out of it. While neither you nor I feel much threatened by CBT and FATCA we must realize the potential threat to us, the legal insecurity, and also that it has been ruinous to many fellow expats or US persons whose only crime was to attempt compliance. Should Clinton have won and Schumer be let loose, should regulations (say anti-terrorist laws) in Canada force banks to get a copy of customers ID with birthplace you could very quickly be in a tough place. In fact this could happen in 4 or 8 years with a populist Democrat intent on cracking down on wealthy tax evading expats, group that they insist includes you and me. They’ll call you willfully non compliant. You’ll be unable to travel safely to the US because they will have determined that you owe a lot of money and will have organized border detention of people like this. And you’ll be Unable to bank because unable to produce either a CLN or a US taxpayer id. No more new accounts, no loans. Threatening letters every week. Your private banking info shared with the Canadian Govt, the IRS, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. Subject to data theft. Etc. This nightmare isn’t that difficult to imagine, so yes, I’d love to see the US have Medicare for all and so forth but the election happened and if the GOP can rid us of FATCA and CBT I will be very happy.
These are indeed plausible worst-case scenarios. We don’t know the probability of course. I’m gambling that they not come to pass, but may one day be proven wrong. Or, wonder of wonders, this change goes through.
What is the rule in Belgium regarding enforcement of US tax collection? It may not be a wise decision, but should you be reported under FATCA, one could still remain non-compliant if there’s no risk of penalty. Or do the banks require a higher standard to keep your accounts open, proof that you are in compliance? I had heard reports of that in some countries. In Canada, for now, there is no threat of penalties being collected so even if one were identified by FATCA, no consequences other than possibly receiving a letter.
@Fred…………the even greater fear had Clinton won and the Congress went Democrat…..
FATCA II on steroids………….
I could easily see an IGA that required the CRA to collect on behalf of the IRS!!!
Your Government, my Government and little Trudeau would have collapsed so quick….
@Nonymous,
There is a third constituency here – former US citizens (some in Canada, others, like me, elsewhere). There are several of us who still hang around here.
I’m still here because I am incensed by the injustice of FATCA and CBT. It cost me dearly to exit the system, and I’m still a bit angry about that. I also talk to many dual citizens and accidentals, and each time I’m struck anew with the outrageous arrogance and willful blindness of the US tax system. I’m also still here because I found this site extremely useful while I was going through my “divorce from the IRS” – and therefore I believe I have an obligation to provide similar support to those who come after me.
i for one certainly hope that those of you who are looking at the election of mr trump to be the white knight to take down the facta darkness.
i think he was the best choice for our cause in any case.
as a frequent user of the canadian health system due in part to my adverturesome lifestyle i have nothing to complain about. in my many hospital/emergency room visits over the years i have received top notch health care.
yes the elective surgery’s i have gone through have had a few month wait times but once the ball was rolling i have nothing but good things to say about the doctors and nurses that looked after me.
@mettlemam
Mine and my husband’s experience with major surgeries have been the same, PLUS, because Canadians don’t have to wait before we’re half-dead to see the doctor, many health problems are dealt with earlier. At least that’s my impression, for what it’s worth.
Nothing changes the fact that Canadians have a longer life expectancy than Americans.
One can only ask why healthcare is such a mess in America. Just another amazing fact about the “greatest nation on earth”.
It didn’t use to be. Most were happy with it as it was. Most wish they could return to to how it was.
@Brockers…..as I violate “Georges Rule” on extraneous comments in threads. On my side of the pond the healthcare system is OK but for what I would have paid for insurance in the “greatest nation on earth” I can go private and get superb and efficient service. The cost of going private is far cheaper than US health insurance yet the quality of private care is superior to anything I ever received in the USA.
Why is it that every post here lately turns into a discussion of Canadian health care? Can we set up a different thread for such comments?
@dod
It proves that a service she paid for was not available when she needed it.
@George
Never said it was the best nor that it could not be improved upon. However, certain things that I would not willing put up are excepted in supposedly superior systems. I have never been put on a waiting list nor denied treatment. But my required college student insurance turned down my claim after the campus infirmary refered me to the city hospital. Ended up having to pay for it out of pocket, months later, despite the $300 a semester premium.
I live in a country where everyone is proud of their nationl health care system, a sytem that up to five years ago lacked a trauma medicine speciality. I know the doctor, am American, who is training willing doctors and nurses in this field. I have not met him in five years and do not know the current status, but at that time he and those assisting him received absolutely no compensation for their time and expenses including the customary hotel and transportation reimbursements. The doctors and nurses partaking of this training paid for the considerable expense for it (pigs, deceased, were used for the practice and transport, storage and disposal of them and all othe supplies and the facility, etc) out of their own pockets. Some may have received help from their institutions but no public funds were used. So, a system that charges the working members of a family of three $600 a month and %30 of treatments received and yet turns away patients in amulances needing emergency care can not fund a training program with the mission of bringing trauma care to its citizens.
Then we have Canada, where a movie star can not get transported in the expeditous manner her condition requires despite having paid for medical services. I would later learn from a newspaper article and quizzing Canadian coworkers that hospitals in Canada also can and do refuse patients in ambulances and I give prayers of thanks that my niece (the daughter of a then under employed auto mechanic) was in neither Japan nor Canada when she was involved in a head on collision with a tractor trailer on an interstate that instantly killed her mother and left her still strapped into her child seat an unbelievably long distance from the mangled remains of the car.
Traffic on the highway was stopped, a private medical helicopter landed on the highway and wisked my niece approx. 100 miles to hospital in another state where she received intensive medical intervention including skull reconstruction and enough metal parts to take down combat aircraft. She has since gone through physical rehab and years of follow up treatments costing far more than my brother has thus far earned in his lifetime.
This was around 15 years ago. Japan’s health care service still can not provide the care my neice received. I do not know if Canada could in 2009 when Natasha Richardson had her accident, but if my niece suffered her accident at the same time and place as she, my neice would no longer be with us they would not have beeen able to get her to a hospital in time.
And the most damning indictment against the J and C systems that no argument can dispell is that residents of those two countries can not receive what they have already paid for and even those who are rich enough to afford it can not receive the level of care an infant daughter of a poor mechanic received in the rural American midwest 15 years ago.
“The way I see it is, broadly defined, demand for health care will always exceed supply, there will always be some form of rationing”. And that is THE problem. Rationing invariably denies needs to those who would have been capable of procuring that which is ration if left to their devices.
And if you don’t want hear more from me on this subject, stop bringing it up again, and again and again. I have keot silent on it and others, including some complaining sbout the subject keep bringing it up. Should never have been brought up in the first place, which my main beef anyway. But because far too people believe it their GOD given right to have others pay for what they want is the reason why they US needs to scour the globe to shake as much lose change as it can from as many people it can claim as subject to its rule.
PLEASE MOVE THE HEALTH CARE COMMENTS ELSEWHERE. This site is about taxation and FATCA and FBAR.
I mean, really, CUT IT OUT!!!
Tsk, tsk, George.
Let it go, man, let it go…
@Bubbles……I just knew you would say that…knew it…. 😉
Japan T’s report on his niece is actually somewhat on-topic. Members of the US’s diaspora often have to pay medicare insurance premiums which are actually taxes like social security premiums, when they often won’t ever be eligible for medicare benefits though they might be eligible for social security benefits. At least it’s heartwarming to see that some of this money went for a good cause. I still think it should be converted from CBT to RBT though.
Now I’ll be off-topic for a minute. If I had heart surgery in the US I wouldn’t have been eligible for medicare, and I probably would have gone bankrupt. Although Japan usually makes patients pay 30%, there are limits based on income and I only had to pay about 5% of my heart surgery. To bring it back on topic, my heart was damaged from stress caused by the IRS and courts. A cardiologist ordered tests and observations by catheter to find which arteries needed a bypass operation, but my arteries were clean and I didn’t have a bypass operation. Valves were damaged by stress. And there were no apparent symptoms; it was discovered accidentally. I swear, don’t ever tell the truth on a US tax return. Trying to comply honestly can kill you.
It is on topic. If we do not end the USG’s appetite for our money we will forever be trying to keep them from it. It is like trying to fight a fuel fire without shutting off the fuel or dewatering a compartment without plugging the leak. Record high amount of revenue and still a 20 trillion dollar debt. Killing FATCA and CBT is not enough. As long as the need for money remains, they will always becoming up with new ways to get at it.
Yes, ND the big problem with health care in the US is paying for it after it is received. Problem elsewhere is receiving it after paying for it.
Oh, and if the 20 trillion dollar debt is not enough to scare you about how determined the USG is to get your money, then consider the 60 trillion dollars of unfunded mandates for programs, coverage, benefits and freebies etc. that homelanders have already been promised and are expecting.
Ending FATCA and CBT are just the first skirmish in a colossal battle.
@JapanT, but wait a second…..its not the money aspect its the control aspect.
Having to file any forms with what is a foreign country when you are compliant in your own resident high tax country is absurd.
When I registered to pay tax in my country of residence the “Tax Officer” who helped me told me the Dual Tax Treaty with my country and the US meant I had no further obligations with the USA form or tax wise.
Also look at the “passport rule” on entering and leaving the USA. Requiring by way of example that an accidental have to get a US Passport is absurd…..its about control.
@George,
Yes, I agree. What I was trying to communicate was that if for no other reason than money, which seems an easier motivating reason for a larger group of people to understand, the US must pursue every possible revenue stream, law, reason and method be damned.
As long as they have so much debt and unfunded mandates to satisfy, they will continue to exert ever more control over us.
@JapanT, I would argue that they would still want control even if they had a balanced budget and no debt. Money is cheap wine, control is opium.
@George,
I do agree totally but many do not and think there is nothing to fear. The huge deficit is a fact however and can be cited as a huge motivating factor.
@George,
Also, in my discussions with homelanders, they invariably state that FATCA is necessary because our money is needed to fix their schools, bridges and roads and pay for their health and mntal care and birth control. Would be funny if not so scary, they use the same words and phrases, as if reading from the same cue card.
Actually, I wonder if the debt was intentialy run up to be used to exert control.