Author Archives: Petros

Roger Ver has been a victim of character assassination in the last few days over his renunciation of US citizenship. He has told the public why he renounced, however, and it is because he is a victim of the US Justice system. His story is reveals what happens when you criticize the IRS and the US system of taxation.

Used with permission of the author

Roger Ver’s Journey to Voluntaryism

November 12th, 2012 My road to becoming a voluntaryist began in junior high when I found a copy of the book SOCIALISM by Ludwig von Mises. At the time I hadn’t given politics much thought and was a typical statist who assumed that there wasn’t any reason to limit the State’s power if it was being used to help people, but I also had a vague idea that Americans were opposed to solicalism.

When I initially started reading SOCIALISM I thought it would be a pro-socialist book, but that it would be a good idea for me to hear the other side of the argument. By the time I finished it, I had learned that it is an impossibility for the government to centrally plan an economy as efficiently as the free market. After this book, I was inspired to read other books on economics by Ludwig von Mises, Adam Smith, Fredric Bastiat, Leonard Read, Henry Hazlitt, Friedrich Hayek, Milton Friedman, and just about anything else I could order from Laissez-Faire Books, since this was before the internet was wide-spread. I learned that prices transmit the information required to most effectively allocate resources and that government intervention in the economy is preventing the world from being as wealthy as it should be. The more I read, the more appalled I became at the economic ignorance displayed by politicians and governments around the world. I became frustrated because anyone who spends the time to study economics can learn that nearly everything the government does makes the world a poorer place and that people, especially the poor, would be much better off if everyone were simply allowed to do anything that is peaceful.

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As you know, I refused to fill out a W-8BEN for Scotia iTrade. First, I received a letter. Since then, I missed a phone call which I never returned. And now I’ve received at least two e-mails.

This video, with numerous screen shots from the Isaac Brock Society, explains why refusing to fill out bank paperwork increases the compliance cost for the bank, and effectively thwarts efforts of the banks to come into compliance with FATCA regulations.

Congratulations to the Isaac Brock Society!

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has announced a new offshore amnesty program,  the anti-FATCA:

I announce a full amnesty for capital returning to Russia, and I repeat, a full amnesty. What does that mean? Those people who fully legalize, fully bring back their capital to Russia, should be protected from being dragged to various law enforcement agencies, and from having to prove where they got their money from, and from being exposed to criminal investigations.

We need to reverse the history of capital flight from our country, we need to end this era…. We have already done a lot of work to improve our investment climate, and now we need to turn to implement that legislation.

This is a brilliant move on President Putin’s part. Instead of punishing expatriated funds, he has welcomed them home. Wealthy Russians who have been burnt by confiscation during the Cyprus bailout and by illegal sanctions by President Obama, will find likely this a very welcome opportunity to repatriate their wealth.

I have received my (not) FATCA letter.

Background:  I opened my Scotia iTrade account without providing citizenship information. I was a permanent resident of Canada at the time. I did not fill out US paperwork W-9 or W-8BEN. The trading account is inactive. I have whited-out the account number and address.

Last Friday, I received a voice message from Scotia iTrade regarding this case number. I am planning to ignore them for the moment. This will, of course, increase the cost of FATCA implementation.

Observations:

1. The letter makes no mention of freezing or closing my account. But it does say I must respond to the letter or I will be subject to 30% withholdings on US income sources.
2. It seems that this is a fishing expedition to obtain US status information.
3. Renewal of the forms must take place every three years. This is new to me.
4. Certain information is allegedly “required” to open an account–such as “driver’s license, passport, citizenship card or age of majority card”. Does this mean if you prove you are a Canadian resident, they will be satisfied?
5. No mention of FATCA or new Canadian regulations conforming to FATCA appear in this letter. Instead, Scotia iTrade claims to be “a Qualified Intermediary for the Unites States Department of Treasury Internal Revenue Service (IRS)”.

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I had the most interesting comment to my post that pointed out that OVDP is a money-laundering program in which the IRS takes a piece of the action (e.g., Walter White puts meth money into a foreign account and launders it through OVDP):

Yeah, it’s an amusing story; but so far-fetched, I don’t see where the humor connects with reality. Far from being “so right on”; …transferring 600’000 cash offshore, letting it sit for a while, then entering the OVDI is so impossible and far-fetched these days, that one might as well have included aliens in the story too.
Sorry, Forrest Grumpy

I really like this comment because it expresses my own doubts about what I wrote. It seems very far-fetched indeed.

Nevertheless, I’ve been personally oppressed by the policies of the Treasury Department. I’d never committed a felony until about four years ago, but now I fear to return to the country of my birth because the Bank Secrecy Act has become an instrument to extort money from me and other innocents. This oppression has opened my eyes. But still I doubt. Would government officials dispense with truth, justice and equitable application of the law? Is that really far-fetched? What is in it for them?

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In the five season series Breaking Bad, Walter White earns an untold amount of cash through the production of blue crystal methamphetamine. In order to launder this money, his wife, Skylar, insists that they buy a car wash, through which she produces false invoices for cash sales. But in this scene Skylar shows Walt the cash that he’s brought to the car wash. She has moved it to a storage locker. She says she can’t launder this much money–not in ten years or even a lifetime.

What Skylar could not do through a car wash with less than a million dollars of gross revenue per year, the IRS has made possible through Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program. First, one transfers the funds to an offshore account. Second, one enters the voluntary disclosure program and pays all back taxes, fines, interest and a in-lieu of FBAR fine of 27.5%. The money is now freshly laundered and can pay for Walter White’s childrens’ education, the legal costs for the defense of Skylar against criminal charges, and his extended family’s escalating health care expenses.

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Canada AM: US tax backlash