I think the whole world should just go communist.  Everybody can stay home, do nothing and complain about how people in other countries are not paying their fair share into some other country’s Treasury.  All these politicians should be locked up in a hospital for crazy people!  Instead of fixing problems, all they want to do is figure out ways to pick other countries’ pockets.

France Taxes America:  The Robin Hood Tax

The precedent here is outrageous. France is taxing Americans who hold French shares. And the example is likely to spread throughout the world. This is the beginning of a global attempt to tax the United States and make individual Americans liable for tax payments which will raise money for Third World dictators.

The UN and the European Union have long lusted after the American tax base and have wanted to find ways to get their hands on it. Now, France has led the way.

When will the fools wake up and repeal FATCA?

Thanks to low domestic savings rates and profligate government spending, the U.S. economy is reliant on continuous influxes of foreign investment to provide the capital necessary for growth. Yet no doubt thanks in part to FATCA, foreign direct investment in the US for the first half of 2012 declined by 39.2% over the prior year, and China surpassed the US as the world’s largest recipient of global foreign direct investment for the first time since 2003.

Coerced Foreign Tax Compliance Is Killing American Jobs

I don’t know if anyone has posted the link to this news article from June 21st already.

FATCA ‘failure’ will cost the US

“The real liability of FATCA, legislatively or politically, is not what it costs you as US expats or foreign institutions, it is what it costs domestic US institutions to collect information for the foreign ‘partners’.” Some estimates have projected compliance costs of $7.5bn just for the top 30 banks.

This is an open thread to talk about how you cope with generalized anxiety.  I’m one of those people who is anxious about everything all the time.  But when business is good (like before 2008!) I keep myself busy so the anxiety has an outlet and I’m able to cope.  These days business is slow as molasses and I obsess so much I think I’m going nuts.

Here’s what I’ve been doing but it doesn’t seem to work anymore:

– I take Ativan and Remeron every day.  It helps but not as much as it used to.

– I play games on my Playbook at bedtime.

– I watch taped TV shows (I’m now having nightmares about things I see in the shows!)

– I often watch Fox News hoping all the people responsible for FATCA get voted out of office (yes I live in a fantasy world).

Some people drink to relax but that’s not an option for me, I’d turn it into an olympic sport.

Little things can help some people to cope with anxiety.  What do you do that helps?

In rereading the letter written by the Institute for International Finance on January 25, 2012 to the G20 Ministers and Governors there is one sentence that stood out.  Emphasis is mine.

Furthermore, if the data privacy issue and inability to legally withhold ‘passthru’ payments prohibit financial institutions from entering into FATCA agreements with the IRS the objective of FATCA to combat tax evasion is not likely to be met.

No the above are not words spoken by an American expatriate, although we can all relate.

Those are the words of a prostitute (sorry escort) from Columbia who happened to have a deadbeat Secret Service Agent for a client.

Freaking Americans causing people all over the world to have nervous attacks and cry all the time!

Under a simplified “territorial” system, governments would see gains that would offset most, if not all, short-term reductions to tax revenue. Moreover, the long-term gains caused by increased economic activity and decreased compliance costs would dwarf any immediate losses.

World’s Highest Corporate Tax Rate Hurts U.S. Economically

I know this is off topic but it was too much fun to pass up.  Canadian politics are never this exciting.

Judges order Justice Department to clarify following Obama remarks on health law case

A federal appeals court is striking back after President Obama cautioned the Supreme Court against overturning the health care overhaul and warned that such an act would be “unprecedented.”

David Hryck, a tax lawyer for celebrities and billionaire businessmen, is concerned about the IRS’s recent efforts to crack down on international tax evaders.

“In many cases, from what I’ve seen so far, they’ve had numerous voluntary compliance programs, but it seems like the innocent people are getting penalized,” he said. “They might have somebody whose mother or grandmother is not a U.S. resident, and if the children happened to be a U.S. resident or citizen, they had no idea this account existed. Unfortunately those are many of the cases I see.”

Tax Lawyer to the Stars Sees Problems with International Tax Enforcement