I often find myself in discussion with some Homelanders and Obama supporters about whether US citizenship-based taxation is a human rights abuse. Below is my argument, first published August 21, 2012, to say that it is unfair. Now I argue that with the implementation of FATCA, the USA has become a serial human rights abuser. Clearly, most people of reasonable conscience accept these kinds of arguments. Even yesterday, I manage to get a chuckle out of an AP reporter who was asking for my story. I mentioned my birth in Chicago, Illinois, and moving as a baby to Alaska. Off the cuff, I said, “Yet Illinois isn’t chasing me around the globe expecting me to pay state income tax.” That’s because once you leave a state, you can no longer benefit from the proceeds of taxation. It is a no brainer. Yet it is not self-evident to Congress and the IRS, which are pursuing US expats across the globe with FATCA regulations in order to make them pay taxes for the benefit of Homelanders.
Category Archives: Issues regarding US persons abroad
Finance Canada–244 Pages Access to Information
Cross-posted from MapleSandbox with permission
Finance Canada–244 Pages Access to Information
Posted on February 10, 2014 by Blaze
A few months ago, I submitted a request to Finance Canada for records relating to FATCA through Access to Information.
After several delays, I finally received 244 pages about 10 days ago. I’m still awaiting several other pages. I was holding off posting these records so I would not jeopardize the remaining records.
With the signing of the IGA, that concern is now irrelevant, so I am uploading the pdf documents here. You will notice some pages have been withheld entirely. Other pages have been partially redacted.
James Jatras has seen these and says the Canadians use nifty blackouts where the American just use black magic marker.
So, what have I learned from these documents?
1. Finance Canada has been far more concerned about the banks than they were about Canadians.
2. Canadians are neater at withholding information than Americans.
I also have a request in to Justice. They sent me some information in print, so I can’t post it here. However, the only information they provided was copies of laws, procedures, etc. Essentially everything to date was completely withheld. I am still awaiting more information, but I expect most will be withheld or redacted.
(Note – had to split into 4 parts)
FATCA Update from Access to Info Request_Part1
FATCA-Update-from-Access-to-Info-Request_Part2
NDP MP Alex Atamanenko’s commentary on FATCA in BC ‘Boundary Sentinel’…
Alex Atamanenko comments on FATCA in the Boundary Sentinel, Feb 11, 2014, (found and passed along by bubblebustin): “Alex Atamanenko . . .all Canadian citizens should be entitled to constitutional rights to privacy and fair taxation“.
His description is straight forward and easy to understand of what FATCA is, who in Canada would be tainted as ‘US Person’ and how that will affect them — and their country.
Consider the implications for those Canadians deemed “U.S. Persons” and for the Canadian economy of the following:
– savings and investments of more than $200,000 ($400,000 for couples) must be reported to the IRS
– homes valued at more than $250,000 are considered foreign investment and are liable for U.S. capital gains tax on the appreciated value when sold
– possible double taxation on wills and estates
– higher Canadian tax (financial planners advise clients to divest themselves of Canadian mutual funds and direct their investments to U.S. sources).
– annual reporting requirements are complex and expensive – even when no taxes are owed, legal and accounting fees can amount to thousands
– erosion of the tax base in Canada as investments and retirement security funds shrink
It’s another of the resources I’ll pass along to others.
See http://alexatamanenko.ndp.ca/ for other FATCA information on his “Issues Blog”.
This Could Destroy the Lives of Millions: Gwen talks to International Man
This Could Destroy the Lives of Millions
Another Brocker in the news.
IRS Would Like Citizens to Spy on Retailers Too
Interesting article in Bloomberg Businessweek detailing a program in Brazil that encouraged customers to essentially become arms of their governments tax authority.
This is how it works:
In the State of Sao Paulo in Brazil, customers who ask for a receipt can give their social security number to the cashier. Businesses have to submit their copy of those receipts—with or without social security numbers—to the tax authority. The authority creates an account for every social security number entered into the system and reports to customers which receipts have been entered with their social security number and how much they are for. Customers receive a rebate worth about 30 percent of their share of sales taxes paid through the business each month, and for every $50 of receipts they are entered into a lottery with a maximum payout of $500,000. They can complain online if they think receipts are missing or have the wrong price.
The IRS noted that “Overall, compliance is highest where there is third-party information reporting and/or withholding. …”
Not that anyone should be surprised by the existence of such a program, or the IRS’s admiration of coercing third parties to do some of their legwork. This is par for the course in the bankrupt era in which we find ourselves. People are no longer citizens but chattel who serve only two purposes – maintaining the status quo through blind, single-issue and/or reactionary voting and forking over the meager fruits of our labor into the money-pits that used to be our governments.
Don’t look for things to get less Orwellian any time soon. We have jumped the shark.
Government of Canada allows Washington DC to kidnap Canadian citizens
The inter-governmental agreement (IGA) between the USA and Canada which will enforce FATCA in Canada has an interesting line on page 27:
With respect to New Individual Accounts not described in paragraph A of this section, upon account opening (or within 90 days after the end of the calendar year in which the account ceases to be described in paragraph A of this section), the Reporting Canadian Financial Institution must obtain a self-certification, which may be part of the account opening documentation, that allows the Reporting Canadian Financial Institution to determine whether the Account Holder is resident in the United States for tax purposes (for this purpose, a U.S. citizen is considered to be resident in the United States for tax purposes, even if the Account Holder is also a tax resident of another jurisdiction) Continue reading
CARP weighs in on FATCA
UPDATE #3, February 12, 2014, CORRESPONDENCE TO CARP / ZOOMER:
From: caroltapanila
Sent: Wednesday, February 12, 2014 3:01 PM
To: Michael Nicin
Subject: Re: Your announcement of your “advocacy” for FATCA (which is combined with US citizenship-based taxation)Mr. Nicin,
If CARP / Zoomer is true to its word that they will follow the FATCA issue, you might want to keep up to date on how FATCA, combined with US citizenship-taxation law, can affect unaware Canadian snowbirds and their time spent away from the US when they spend winter months in the US, how they handle their US property when are in Canada, etc. Some of them have commented in news stories that they’ve been told the US will change their laws to accommodate them and the time they can stay in the US for no tax consequences. They shouldn’t be so sure. Canadian snowbirds, if they are not careful and now that their comings and goings will be recorded at the border, may want to take a page from the FATCA IGA give-away that Canada just negotiated with the US. It only proves their trust should not be given so easily to the governments of either country. It is oh so easy for Canadian snowbirds to be another group that the US will define ‘US Persons in Canada’. They can protect themselves and their interests if they do their homework to be in the know and are not careless. It is your job to advise them. I wrote to Zoomer on this subject when there was a misleading article in their “advertising” for snowbirds. Again, I never got a response.
Consider:
What will be the criteria for your vote for Canadian Government representatives the next time you exercise your right to vote?
From: caroltapanila
Sent: Tuesday, February 11, 2014 12:33 PM
To: Prime Minister Stephen Harper ; Minister James Flaherty ; Kevin.Shoom@fin.gc.ca ; Michelle.Rempel@parl.gc.ca
Cc: Murray.Rankin@parl.gc.ca ; thomas.mulcair@parl.gc.ca ; Elizabeth.May@parl.gc.ca ; scott.brison@parl.gc.ca ; Ted.Hsu@parl.gc.ca ; Abby Deshman, CCLA ; J. Paul Dube ; peggy.nash@parl.gc.ca ; Justin Trudeau ; James Fitz-Morris ; Patrick Cain ; Amber Hildebrandt, CBC ; Mike.Sullivan.P9@parl.gc.ca
Subject: If you have time, does this seem paranoia to you? How many US Persons in Canada do you know?
My Canadian Government Representatives,
We have a whole lot of stories to tell. That we are afraid to come forward and tell them in fear for ourselves and our families (fear which I still, or even more so now have that I have come forward) is a story in itself.
Every Canadian MP, our government representatives, must intimately know ALL aspects of FATCA and must know their US Person constituents stories. Blowing us off with no discussion, no answers to our questions is not appropriate. They are to represent me and my family. Their knowledge of FATCA, US citizenship-based taxation, how it wreaks collateral damage to so many of Canada’s population, the complicity of the Canadian government in draining the resources from Canada’s treasury, the cost to every single Canadian. If I don’t know that plus have their full support that the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms will continue to protect ALL Canadians, then my vote will not have been earned.
Continue reading
Liquid Lunch Brockers
Some of us have been invited to appear on Thatchannel‘s Liquid Lunch today. Expect us at about 1:30 pm on the live stream.
UPDATE: Gwen, Peter Dunn and Tricia Moon spoke with Hugh Reilly and Sandra Kyrzakos. Here is the actual video, the actual segment begins at 1:27:50
New Theo Caldwell Article in Canada’s Financial Post Attacking CBT, FATCA, the IGA, and Asking For a Leader to STAND UP to the Bully
UPDATE:
This article has also been published at The Hill’s Congress Blog. It’s a great opportunity to directly reach a Congressional audience so we encourage readers to get over there and comment!
This is the second article by Caldwell in Canada’s conservative-leaning Financial Post and is much stronger than the first. I have asked Mr. Caldwell to send his article as a submission to Canada Finance (deadline March 10).
http://opinion.financialpost.com/2014/02/11/canadas-u-s-tax-capitulation/
A few excerpts:
“FATCA, passed by the U.S. Congress in 2010, is an extension of America’s anomalous and larcenous practice of demanding taxes from people, regardless of where they reside in the world. The United States is one of only two countries that engage in this disgraceful conduct (Eritrea being the other.)
….Let us eliminate a deliberate misconception: This agreement is not about catching “tax cheats” as its proponents aver and journalists obediently repeat. It is about expanding America’s oversight of global commerce, while increasing its ability to confiscate funds to which it has no legitimate claim.