Media and Blog Articles Open for Comments – Part 4 of 11 (Year 2017)
You can access all years at this link: Media and Blog Articles – Links for All Years
If clicking on a comment link brings you to the wrong comment, click here to get on the most recent page of comments.(alternatively, to reach the most recent comment page, go to the url in the bar at the top of your browser and delete everything after http://isaacbrocksociety.ca/media-and-blog-articles-open-for-comments-part-4-of-4)
Media and Blog Articles
EmBee suggested that it would be good if there was a thread for new articles, so that people would be aware of where to comment. So, I created this permanent page. I’ll make a permanent list of links posted here and keep adding to it, but not deleting, so we’ll end up having sort of a “bibliography” of FATCA/CBT articles. [Note: Some articles are not open for comments]
For more articles on FATCA, enter FATCA into Google then click on the link “more news for fatca” just below the most recent featured article.
Notes:
From JC: To see #FATCA on Twitter for latest breaking news. JC finds that is quite a good source and there even are some international articles that one may read using Google Translate. Others may help certain tweets and articles remain in elevated position by retweeting them.
From Badger: On an important archival note, please use the Internet Archive Wayback machine https://archive.org/web/ (see bottom right ‘Save Page Now’ box to enter URLs of webpages you want saved for posterity, and try to save backup copies of articles and other items of interest in some other form – such as a datastick or external drive. Some important and very significant webpages and the fulltexts of articles are no longer available (although some can be retrieved if someone using the Wayback machine saved them).
Be sure to read the comment stream for this thread — there are usually very recent articles mentioned there that aren’t on this list yet.
2017.12.28
It’s time to address the double standard about tax havens, Angela Wrights, Macleans, Canada.
The US Is Becoming the World’s New Tax Haven, The Editors, Bloomberg View, US.
2017.12.21
Rep. Dina Titus Supports Americans Abroad Tax Reform, Democrats Abroad, US.
Now That The GOP Tax Bill Is Approved, The IRS Gets Busy, Brian Naylor, NPR, US.
2017.12.20
Taxpayers will have to wait to find out how they fare under new legislation , Renae Merle and Aaron Gregg, Denver Post (reprint from Washington Post), US.
U.S. Shareholders –Take Action by December 31, KPMG.
2017.12.18
Have You Ever Felt Sorry for the I.R.S? Now Might Be the Time, Patricia Cohen, New York Times, US.
2017.12.12
EU finance ministers issue warning to Trump over tax reforms, RTÉ, Ireland.
2017.12.11
Banque: les consequences étonnantes de l’accord FATCA, Edouard Lederer, Les Echos, France.
2017.12.10
As Australia ousts MPs with dual citizenship, Canada’s Parliament embraces many in its ranks, Kathleen Harris, Canada. (mentions MP who “assumed his U.S. citizenship was automatically rescinded because he did not meet several requirements for continued citizenship. [But when travelling to Washington] was told he was ineligible to enter the U.S. on a Canadian passport because he was a U.S. citizen. He was . . . allowed in on a one-time basis . . . it cost him $3,000 to later sort out the administrative requirements.”)
2017.12.09
The American Diaspora: Outreach and Organization, Victoria Ferauge, The Franco-American Flophouse, Japan.
2017.12.08
Foreign-owned banks to be hit by US tax rules, Financial Times, UK.
Trump Tax Plan Worries Europe, Christian Reiermann, Der Spiegel, Germany.
For articles earlier in 2017, click here.
Quite cheering to read that FT article. Sounds like it’s under active consideration.
Pity the journalist didn’t manage to get his head round CBT though:
“…the first portion of their foreign earnings — about $100,000 in 2016 — is already shielded from US tax liabilities, but they have to pay tax on any income above that level to both the host authority and the US. The mooted change would therefore benefit those on six-figure salaries.”
I wasn’t able to read the comments.
The FT article is really good news!
JC – I doubt the journalist (or the congressmen) understand the nuanced difference between RBT and TTFI. The RO proposal (as articulated in January) is really a hybrid anyway. Given that the term “Residence Based Taxation” has been around longer, it’s not surprising that they use that term for any change from CBT.
I’m still eagerly awaiting an actual bill – last I heard one might be released on 1 Nov?
As lacking in commitment it is, it is still unprecedented that US lawmakers are talking about getting rid of CBT. The article really deserves its own post.
Almost all of the comments are positive. The phrase “pay their fair share” hasn’t been used once.
@Innocente, ironic current quote from Mark Mazur now that he’s no longer working for the government, in Treasury ( http://isaacbrocksociety.ca/media-and-blog-articles-open-for-comments-part-4-of-4/comment-page-55/#comment-8034360 )
See his previous tone as a FATCAnatic AND supporter of FATCA as enforcer of US extraterritorial CBT, implying that those outside the US are likely criminals with billions of untaxed money ‘hidden’ ‘offshore’;
http://isaacbrocksociety.ca/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/12SE001798-SIGNED-Paul.pdf https://www.huffingtonpost.com/wendy-n-powell/around-the-world-americas_b_6957176.html https://www.alconburytrust.com/blog/u-s-global-tax-law-unhurt-republicans-treasury-official/
The FT article is quoted as saying: “The mooted change would therefore benefit those on six-figure salaries.”
Therefore…? I thought the Financial Times had better journalists than that. Making up fake news instead of asking any of the interviewees, “Does that mean it benefits only six-figure salaries?”
Yet more inspiration to send shrieking hippies into the streets demanding that rich expats “pay their fair share”.
That FT article made the front page. Double click on the front page here to see the whole thing.
Pls RT/Like
https://twitter.com/JCDoubleTaxed/status/923342615394660352
Is this the first time we hear Brady & Meadows get quoted asking for RBT ?
Does the FT ever release articles to non-subcribers after a certain length of time? Otherwise I’ll have to get the gist of it from comments here.
EmBee I got a sign in yet do not subscribe. You may try that way.
Keith Redmond posted the FT article text on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/AmericanExpatriates/permalink/876337339199006/
The American fiction of ‘universal jurisdiction’
The Founders thought they buried this legal outrage
By Andrew P. Napolitano – – Wednesday, October 25, 2017
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/oct/25/universal-jurisdiction-is-a-convenient-fiction/?preview
Stupid Financial Times reporter opened a can of worms with his uninformed remark that only expats with six-figure incomes will benefit. Check the opening line of this biased condor article:
http://www.advisor.ca/tax/tax-news/u-s-expats-might-get-lower-tax-bills-243846
Add your comments.
@ Barbara
Remember FT’s target audience earns mostly six figures plus. I wouldn’t worry too much about one whacky sentence in there. Take heart from the “under consideration” part. Other key phrases are “made the case”, “made inroads” and “end this damaging practice”.
“We welcome readers’ letters via email to letters.editor@ft.com – please include your address and your daytime telephone number.”
Suggest if mentioning “six-figure salary” mistake, try to explain rather than complain. The article as a whole is such a boon.
Embee:
“Remember FT’s target audience earns mostly six figures plus.”
Yes exactly. The article might not have even got published if CBT wasn’t affecting FT subscribers and potential subscribers.
Yes- the 100000$ cut off mark galls me too. As if this is all one needs to live so lets ignore all the rest. What would a homelander say who makes this amount and is punished if they make any more? And as usual, these articles always focus on the ultra wealthy, as if it didn’t affect all the rest- the actual majority of expats.
Polly – A six-figure salary is not ultra-rich. The journalist was pointing out that everything over $100,000 is US-taxable. Most FT readers probably have incomes greater than $100,000. They’re certainly not going to think US expats are tax cheats for wanting not to be taxed twice on earnings over $100,000.
It’s unfortunate that PFICs etc weren’t mentioned but maybe next time.
@plaxy
No 100000$ is not ultra rich. God forbid we should create any new millionaires abroad. God forbid anybody should strive to become more wealthy! What I am saying is that people are supposed to be satisfied with 100000 when compared to all the really poor people in America? But what IF somebody wants to work hard and get rich living abroad too? Why shouldn’t they get the same chances as anybody earning 100000$ in America? The twisted logic is enough to make a person choke on it.
http://edition.cnn.com/2017/10/26/politics/house-budget-vote-tax-reform/index.html
Could U.S. Tax Reform Include An End to Citizenship-Based Taxation?
https://taxcontroversy.foxrothschild.com/2017/10/u-s-tax-reform-include-end-citizenship-based-taxation/
The statement that “foreign” earned incomes above $100000 are taxed both by the USA and the “foreign” country is misleading, and the implication that this is the group who would benefit are misleading. If the money is earned in a country that has taxes equal to or above US taxes, i.e. most developed countries, the Foreign Tax paid on the excess income over the magic $number can be used as a credit against US tax and this may cancel out US tax. At least it did the one and only year I hit 6 figures (and it wasn’t due to carryover either)
The proposed changes would benefit a lot of people with less than 6-figure incomes, including those:
– bought a house in Vancouver, Sydney, Toronto, London, etc., years ago when it was affordable and now want to sell it to downsize
– saved money in tax-efficient “foreign” pension plans or superannuation schemes not recognized by the US
– own foreign Mutual Funds
– have businesses
I am sure you can think of lots more.
@ Badger:
“@Innocente, ironic current quote from Mark Mazur now that he’s no longer working for the government, in Treasury ( http://isaacbrocksociety.ca/media-and-blog-articles-open-for-comments-part-4-of-4/comment-page-55/#comment-8034360 )”
Indeed. I wonder what caused Mark Mazur, the former Asst Treasury Secretary, to do an about-face on taxing Americans abroad.
Robert Stack reported to Mark Mazur. Will he be the next to change this untenable position?
Did Mazur previously express support for CBT?
I see quotes about the wonderful fairness of FATCA. He doesn’t seem to have expressed any change of stance towards FATCA. Maybe he is in favor of moving to RBT but keeping FATCA.
I’ve been thinking for a long time that the apparent 1.2 million Chinese citizens in Canada should be wary if the U.S. FATCA and CBT issue. Here we go. So how will Canada respond?
https://beta.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/no-mr-xi-chinese-canadians-arent-agents-of-your-party/article36749313/
Doug Saunders says
“That puts Chinese-Canadians in an awkward and compromised position – one that Canadians of Jewish, Italian, Turkish and Russian backgrounds will recognize, as they’ve been similarly manipulated by parties and movements in their putative homelands”
No mention of U.S. citizens around the world.