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.
Time to select a worlwide manifestation date in front of all american embassies against FATCA and CBT to get the necessary attention to change the situation.
It’s the only way to get this out in the press and put pressure on USA by showing how the US treats their expats to the world.
@Jim Jatras: All your points taken. No use moaning about lack of vocal support for Trump during the campaign, although I certainly saw (and joined in with) endless expat comments on every possible forum, with testimonies of support for the Republicans after feeling betrayed by Democrats. And we’re not only appealing to Trump, but to Paul Ryan et al.
Would you like to propose a method, a time, a place for us putting our voices together in a way that the politicians in Washington will notice? As I said, I’m willing to put in work, and I assume there are others here who are as fired up as I am. But I don’t have the resources or charm to rally the troops. I’d say you’re in a better position to do that.
Should it be a petition? A coordinated letter-writing campaign? Stacks of testimonials and news clips? Is there someone who can deliver such things in person to congressional offices?
Just asking. I’m sorry, but I see a real opportunity RIGHT NOW, a greater opportunity than the 2015 Senate Finance Committee hearings which got everyone working, and which disappointed us so badly. I don’t want either cynicism or battle fatigue to allow it to slip away.
I wrote my Senator (McCain) and Congressman yesterday. Let’s all do this.
@Barbara, thanks for jumping in so well. I am in all the way on this. If we do not fight, we deserve what happens to us.
@Bubbles…..what can I say? 🙂 Absolutely fabulous you are the sometimes hidden warrior on all this fighting at times in the bright light and also fighting from the shadows.
@James Jatras, as always Thank You for everything and yes you were right then but having said that I have no problem stating that Trump did receive expat support for the platform because I for one did encourage expats to support him because of the platform!!
@Pat Moon, great first start. Can I suggest a second post next week? Piggy back off what JJ wrote and use your analytical accounting mind to put in type what we think Trump can do himself, what his new Treasury Secretary could do and what Congress can do. As a note we need to argue amongst ourselves first how to neuter the argument that this is a sop to the rich…..yes yes we know EmBee winters in Monaco on the family yacht sipping champaign…..
Oil for the wheels….other better informed can expand and can correct.
1. The IGA are excecutive agreements, I would think Trump can invalidate all of them by the stroke of a pen. Yes? No? He needs a reason, that reason would be the lengthy research submitted by American Citizens Abroad and Democrats Abroad. Note, I think you guys in Canada through ADCS and Joe Arvey need to ask the other lawyers if the Government still wants to defend the lawsuit, maybe better for them to drop it and curry political favour?
2. The Secretary of the Treasury under his/her authority in the BSA can exclude Countries, accounts and raise the dollar limit for FBAR reporting. Reason? Many Countries now have robust KYC/AML that was not in place in the 1970s this change would reflect that. Raising the reporting limit would reduce the FBAR burden and it would lower US Government processing costs.
3. Congress needs to do a repeal of FATCA, repeal CBT. Congress needs to also enact a provision so that citizenship can be regained for those that renounced. Congress also needs to amend that entering/leaving on a US Passport rule and go back to the old rule that said you needed to enter leave with a valid passport, period.
4. The Secretary of State needs to formally adopt an Adminstrative Assumption just as they did with lose of citizenship. First, they need to adopt an administrative assumption that in the event a person is born overseas and has not FORMALLY applied for citizenship, they are not to be treated at all as a US Citizenship. This is the “Calgary Son Clause.”
The second administrative assumption we need is that if a person has committed a relinquishing act and affirms that they intended to lose citizenship then State shall NOT rebut that action in any manner. Lastly, the fee to document loss of citizenship shall be equal to the fee of gaining citizenship.
Yes….this is a Christmas list but we need to ask for everything.
@Steven TRACY, I am in full support.
@Barbara, concur with your comments above Fred. I have zero contacts in US political circles, I relinquished so do not vote in the USA but I am willing to travel to Washington this spring as part of a group to knock on doors. The mods know how to contact me.
@Jim Jatras and all
What about NC congressman Mark Meadows’ bill to repeal FATCA? Does it now have a good chance of being passed in Congress and not being vetoed by a Republican president?
Barbara: Absolutely! We must act NOW. We must put all cynicism aside and get our issue up front and centre in the minds of the incoming government. We have nothing more to lose and everything to gain.
In anticipation of the many letters that are about to be written (and have been already) I’ve asked Pacifica to create a sidebar link for any that Brockers would like to have posted. I sent her mine this morning.
Tweeters and Facebook users can then make use of them for their postings.
Let’s do this!
@George
“The IGA are excecutive agreements, I would think Trump can invalidate all of them by the stroke of a pen. Yes? No? He needs a reason . . . ” Yes, he can invalidate at stroke of pen. No, he doesn’t need a reason. See METHOD below.
@Barbara @George
I don’t dismiss the efforts of individual persons, for which I commend and thank you. What I do fault is the lack of visible and vocal support from expat orgs (with the obvious exception of Republicans Overseas). I understand the issue with having a membership that is of mixed political orientation. But even so, it should have been possible to see that one party was offering bread, the other a stone. Other interest groups (unions, business associations, etc.) are perfectly capable of saying “We usually are bipartisan or even pro-[Dem or GOP], but THIS year because of THIS issue we are supporting [blank] even if we don’t much care for him/her on other matters.” That didn’t happen, even with the very, very obvious choice presented. Why? Maybe timidity about taking a stand in partisan environment? Maybe a membership that tends more toward Dems than GOP, all other things being equal? Maybe the widespread “certainty” that Hillary would win, so go with the flow? In any case, it seemed there was a lot more openness to the phony SCE from the Dems (who didn’t even promise it) than the specific commitments made by the GOP. Missed opportunity to bolster the case bu not fatal.
METHOD: Letters, demonstrations, etc. are all fine but that’s not how you get the job done. You need someone who can spend a lot of time and effort getting into the belly of the beast, working with the new Treasury officials when they are in place, with the committees, etc., to help draft and arrange for an order rescinding the IGAs, helping to draft the tax reform bill, educating the relevant officials, etc. In three words, that takes time, professionalism and money. Re @Barbara: “As I said, I’m willing to put in work, and I assume there are others here who are as fired up as I am. But I don’t have the resources or charm to rally the troops.” How many hundreds of thousands of dollars have been put into litigation, which I commend but believe is at best a roll of the dice, over which you have little control. How much has been put into working the levers in Washington? Zip.
Let’s tweet-bomb Trump’s transition team @transition2017!
@Jim Jatras
Imagine diverting all those renunciation fees into lobbying efforts. Over $3M in Q3 2016 alone. Sadly, in spite of the GOP being our best hope, I think because of the uneasiness Trump has instilled in the rest of the world, the renunciations will only increase. Trump needs to speak directly to Americans abroad about what he’ll do for us if he values an American diaspora at all, and not have the message filtered through Republicans Overseas or any other organization. I still believe he’s an uncontrollable loose cannon who for all we know would just say to us “don’t let the door hit you on the way out”. Can’t anyone get in this guy’s face for us?
@George
Thank you for your support. With any luck, the light will shine brighter than ever soon!
I think Jim Jatras is saying he is the insider lobbyist needed, but it takes someone (or some group) to come up with the money for him to do the job.
@Shoval
Thanks! You cracked the code! This is eminently doable, but it takes a lot of time and professionalism, and preferably a team I can assemble.
@Jim. That kinda makes sense. Lobbying Obama’s guys would have been pointless because they were so dead set on snaring rich fat cats like us, i.e. Canadian border babies and other criminals
But the issue with Trump is not ideological, it’s a matter of getting their attention. That needs lobbying.
And whoever works on our behalf in the halls of government, he/she/they need to know exactly what we want and exactly what we need. All that some of us can do is write letters. I say let’s take Bubblebustin’s advice and get those tweets tweeting to the transition team WHILE we are working on other means of getting the new government’s attention.
I would rather drink poison than dance with the Orange Devil.
While the Democrats may have pushed me out the door with FATCA and CBT, Tuesday’s US election result reminds me of why I want nothing to do with the the failed Republic next door.
@ George
“As a note we need to argue amongst ourselves first how to neuter the argument that this is a sop to the rich…..yes yes we know EmBee winters in Monaco on the family yacht sipping champaign…..”
Yes but wink when you say that last part. I’m seeing Brockers and honorary Brocker Jim with some fire in their bellies. It’s so heart warming. This change in the US political situation is a good opportunity to press for a change in its taxation system. Surgite!
@ Jim Jatras
If you or anyone else has time could you explain to a curious Canadian why 3 states (New Hampshire, Michigan and Arizona) have not declared their election results? When I look at election maps today they show these states as undeclared even though 100% of their ballots appear to have been counted. It just seems so incomplete and I believe if these states were added, the electoral vote would be 306 to 232 for Trump, instead of 279 to 228. Do they just stop tallying the electoral votes when a candidate goes over the magic 270 mark?
http://www.politico.com/2016-election/results/map/president
http://www.nytimes.com/elections/results/president
Those ANCHOR BABIES screaming and crying in Donald’s ears, have certainly riled up the Donald. He has railed against (Mexican) anchor babies from Day one, stating countless times that he’s going to end the granting of Citizenship based on birthplace. He is sick and tired of having AMERica $upport them and their parents until they die.
He may or may not institute a broad policy change of repealing CBT for the aforementioned reason.
ANd even if he does, it may or may not apply retroactively. But his impetus for doing so will be to save
the US money for having to support them. So while in principle it might appear that he is the best hope
for getting rid of CBT, it might be unwise to expect that this will happen. His beef is with freeloading
illegals who have babies on US Soil for US financial support. He certainly doesn’t strike me as the
type of individual who will ‘do the right thing’ and abolish CBT for all. Expats who contribute to the
US economy by filing and paying taxes to the IRS are a huge asset – not a burden – and from what
I’ve seen, for Trump, it’s first last and only about $$$. That being said, there is more hope with a
Trump presidency than lyin’ lock her up h.c.
@JamesJatras, re;
“…How many hundreds of thousands of dollars have been put into litigation, which I commend but believe is at best a roll of the dice, over which you have little control…. ”
I don’t know which litigation front you’re speaking of, but I am wholeheartedly supportive of the ADCS litigation efforts to knock down the Canadian IGA.
I demand to be treated as an equal citizen in my own home country. Which is Canada. I wholeheartedly believe our homegrown ADCS litigation against the unconstitutional IGA is vital (and any other similar or related efforts in other non-US countries). It is taking place on my home turf – where I am ACTUALLY resident. And, I believe that a defeat of Canada’s IGA would weaken the extraterritorial application of FATCA elsewhere, domino by domino ( see http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R44616.pdf ).
The origin for finding the document (and other Congressional Research Service reports usually not shared with the public) at the link above is;
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/index.html
then,
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/
and,
The document is;
‘FATCA Reporting on U.S. Accounts: Recent Legal Developments’
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R44616.pdf
@JamesJatras, re;
“…How many hundreds of thousands of dollars have been put into litigation, which I commend but believe is at best a roll of the dice, over which you have little control…. ”
Where else would you have us put it? Into the pockets of a Washington lobbyist’s pocket so the can whisper sweet nothings into the Orange Devil’s ear?
@Petros– Is a Washington lobbyist a sub-species of the Compliance Condour family? Does their natural migratory route include Canada?
@JamesJatras I’ll contribute. I thought ACA was kind of doing the job yet apparently not up to it and as you say writing letters is different than hiring an insider lobbyist.
You do know that ADCT has money for a legal opinion for lawsuit against CBT.
BCDoc.. I’m with you. I cannot fathom those who rejoice at the victory of a misogynist racist with the considerable help of the head of the FBI. Even if FATCA is repealed (good luck with that), it won’t have been worth it. The only choice now is to renounce.
Hope this doesn’t happen. It’s coming from Newsweek which printed victory issue magazines for Clinton before November 8th.
http://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-hillary-clinton-election-tie-519696