Category Archives: Issues regarding US persons abroad

With a weak economy, massive debt and high unemployment, are accusations against a small minority of being financially greedy the best means of improving the economy or even increasing political power?  The latest propaganda from the US government seems to lean in that direction:

“I’m a Romney girl, in a Romney world. Life is taxless. It’s fantastic,” sings the fictitious Miss Swiss
The Globe and Mail

Such talk may very well appeal to masses of poor people who are struggling to meet their daily needs in a weak economy.  They certainly have much more serious things to worry about than to question the propaganda being fed to them by their government.  Thus, they may not realize that “Miss Swiss” isn’t even Swiss, or that the video clip “I’m a Romney Girl” is not real.

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Our leader of the Canadian Cheekiness Movement (CCM) may be finding himself in some interesting company, namely Carl Watner, an American historian of libertarian studies and Voluntaryist, and Paul LePage, the governor of Maine. With a great deal of aplomb, Watner’s drawn parallels between the actions of the US government and Nazi Germany, Governor LePage in remarks he recently made about the IRS.

In his paper, Watner make references to regulations, including FATCA, that are ‘reminiscent of what Nazi Germany did to its citizens in the years before World War II’.

The Noose Continues to Tighten But No Government Lasts Forever

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At the Daily Reckoning, Byron King has offered a three article history of the Whiskey Rebellion:

The Whiskey Rebellion
The Whiskey Rebellion, Part II: Enforcing the Wealth Tax
The Whiskey Rebellion, Part III: Ending the Rebellion

Synopsis

After the Revolutionary War, the United States suffered chronic problems of debt and lack of revenue.  Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of the Treasury, created a tax imposed upon whiskey at its source.  This greatly upset the distillers of Western Pennsylvania who began to abuse the tax collectors.  As a result of this, President Washington mustered the army, which was in disarray, and so he supplemented it with the Virginia and New Jersey militias.  The Western Pennsylvania militia, on their way to attack Pittsburgh was met by a delegation of Pittsburgh men with wagons full of beer, beef and other food.  The Western Pennsylvania militia feasted and disbanded before Washington arrived with the US forces.  Washington proclaimed amnesty and the Whiskey Rebellion became a footnote of history.

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Quite some time back, it struck me that Canada is a tenuous construct. The occasion for that insight was realizing that what I like most about Canada as a “state” is the fact of its precarity. The wobbly prop at the prominent corner is Quebec. No a mari usque ad mare without getting across Quebec! Therefore no need to suffer rot about one nation indivisible. The wobbly prop at another corner is that weird opening to the anthem: O Canada, our home on native land [subtly emended in the interests of truthtelling].

This is all preamble to a pointer to a book review with a map that suggests how messy North America is, how artificial that 49th parallel is, and how fabricated the 145-year-old northern ex-colony is. Provocative, n’est-ce pas?

Never forget that all Canada has done for US extraterritorials is to reread the tax treaty and to reiterate what already happens to be there. Sort of like most of what the IRS manages to come up with after the ambassador tells grannies to sit tight.
 

Now Open:  Maple Sandbox for standing up to IRS bullies.

Outraged Canadian and Blaze invite you to come play with us at Maple Sandbox in a spirit of fun, friendship, sharing and enthusiasm as we learn, grow and share together.

While Maple Sandbox offers a calm and casual approach, we know the battle against the IRS is a serious one that has turned lives upside down.  So, we are determined to stand up to bullies, wherever they come from.

We know how alarming, distressing and worrying issues of dealing with IRS from afar can be.   At Maple Sandbox, we aim to offer a dwelling for rest and relaxation in an atmosphere of sharing, exploring, and learning. We are starting small, but we plan on adding building blocks and new friends along the way. Continue reading →