Finance Minister Jim Flaherty resigns from cabinet http://t.co/uKfAL1H6uI Is it due to #FATCA #IGA
— USExpatCanada (@USExpatCanada) March 18, 2014
‘DATCA Lite’ Could Destabilize Banks, Spark Economic Crisis
As we have been saying for a long time, ‘DATCA lite’ (FATCA IGA reciprocity) has the potential to be financially destabilizing. It, along with GATCA, was birthed from FATCA. DATCA and GATCA are the direct progeny of the 2010 Hire Act. Given the stealth nature of the FATCA amendment, is very hard to make a case that this was the intention of Congress, but it is now the ‘Rosemary’s Baby‘ reality that we are dealing with.
See this new article by Alex Newman.
Obama Tax Scheme Could Destabilize Banks, Spark Economic Crisis
A crucial component of the widely criticized new addition to the U.S. tax regime known as FATCA, passed by Democrats and signed by Obama in 2010 as part of a “jobs” bill, could result in massive capital flight from American banks and economic devastation if efforts to stop it are unsuccessful, experts and policymakers are warning. With the U.S. economy still teetering, some analysts are even suggesting that allegedly unlawful IRS mandates purporting to force American financial institutions to report foreign account holders to their governments could be the straw that breaks the proverbial camel’s back.
For a complete history of DATCA evolution and its opposition in Congress, read more here.
Of important note, is this addition I just made. It is the analysis from 2004 which merits your attention.
Mercatus Center at George Mason University
Treasury had tried before FATCA IGAs (going back to 2002) to impose a DATCA regime, but didn’t happen until it had an Administration in power to its liking. I didn’t realize this history, until this pdf analysis was sent to me recently. It just goes to show, that bad ideas have a long gestation period, and vigilance against them can NEVER be relaxed.
UBS offshore Tax evasion scandal and the birth of FATCA obviously (at least to me) were the “Shock Doctrine” moments that gave the Treasury its opportunity again, to impose DATCA lite unilaterally by their interpretation of ‘regulatory authority’ without regard to the will of Congress.
One of the criticisms lodged against using Federal Register page counts as a proxy for regulatory burden holds that many pages can be consumed in the process of deregulation, while only a handful of pages may be required to impose a particularly costly rule. The latter instance is clearly illustrated by the IRS’s proposed rule to require the reporting of deposit interest paid to nonresident alien (NRA) depositors of U.S. depositories. I hold this conclusion despite the IRS’s unsupported assertion in the scant (4 page) documentation of its proposed rule that the “proposed rulemaking is not a significant regulatory action as defined in Executive Order 12866.” (p. 50387).
Although proposed in 2002, and the comment period has long since passed, the NRA deposit interest reporting rule has not been finalized; however, the possibility that it may be implemented provides the motivation for this study. The analysis that follows confines itself to the likely economic consequences of the rule, and leaves the legal and political analysis of the rule to others.2 For ease of exposition, I summarize my analysis of the rule’s potential economic effects into primary effects, secondary effects, and other likely consequences.
I will update my timeline of DATCA to include this as an earlier start date, as my start date only begins at my moment of awareness of what was happening.
Domain Name News – U.S. Government to Transition Domain Name Functions
Domain Name News – U.S. Government to Transition Domain Name Functions http://t.co/PPLzRubQyg via @webnames – Could only be good news
— U.S. Citizen Abroad (@USCitizenAbroad) March 18, 2014
Jon McComb on World Today interviews Vincent Gogolek from the BC Freedom of Information and Privacy Association, re: FATCA
The World Today hour 4, starts at 3:10.
McComb’s March 5 interview with Petros is available here.
Has the IRS opened an Israeli branch office to process audits?
According to The Times of Israel, American ex-pats in that country are now facing dual threats from the IRS:
The US is gearing up to reach out to American citizens abroad that it believes have not paid their fair share in taxes. Israel is set to begin enforcing new US rules on reporting the existence and activities of accounts in Israeli banks held by American citizens or dual-citizens. That is in addition to a marked increase in audits and investigations of American ex-pats in Israel by the US — to the extent that a rumor has surfaced that the Internal Revenue Service has opened a “branch office” in Israel to handle the volume of audits.
Read more: Americans in Israel to face FATCA, IRS collectors | The Times of Israel
Judging by the comments so far, Brockers should find a receptive audience. A good outreach opportunity.
Get your assets out of the United States before it is too late
I’ve been saying for about three years now that US citizens abroad and all foreign investors should liquidate their US assets and expatriate them. It now looks like it is too late for a few of Putin’s best friends:
Obama Issues Executive Order Freezing Assets Of Seven Putin Aides
I’m not sure about the legality of seizing private property without due process of law (cf. Fifth Amendment). But rule of law has never been Barack Obama’s strong point.
#Americansabroad must pay the extra 3.8% #Obamacare surtax for this?
Here’s an unusually simple and horribly stark analysis of US health system http://t.co/yhQirpMS3A @GuardianUS
— Jane Thynne (@janethynne) March 5, 2014
Both Homelanders and Americansabroad and especially those subject to the 3.8% Obamacare surtax will find the article referenced in this tweet to be of interest. It includes:
Gratitude as an antidote to the poison of FATCA and US citizenship-based taxation
Antidote:
An antidote is a substance which can counteract a form of poisoning.“Piglet noticed that even though he had a Very Small Heart, it could hold a rather large amount of Gratitude.”
― A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh“Sometimes life knocks you on your ass… get up, get up, get up!!! Happiness is not the absence of problems, it’s the ability to deal with them.”
― Steve Maraboli, Life, the Truth, and Being Free
This is hereby our Gratitude Journal. All expressions of gratitude (I know I have many, including the blue sky outside my window) welcome. It’s worth a try! Thanks for the idea, OMG!
Protesting at the US Consulates?
I am posting this thread on behalf of Charl who is wondering if anyone would be interested in protesting at the US consulates. Her mission is to educate the public, and get much needed media attention.
Charl says:
Most Canadians fortunate enough not to have a US branding, if they’ve even heard of FATCA amd FBAR, likely think it does not apply to them. They don’t readily see that legislation to implement a FATCA IGA will allow the US government to rob Canada of a significant portion of its assets, and that the Canadian government is actually paying to allow the US to steal from the tax base of Canada.
We need to expose the real numbers of dollars that the US is attempting to extract from Canadians. For example, there are estimated to be over one million Canadians with ‘clinging US nationality’ (WhiteKat loves this term, but forgets who came up with it). Even if only half of these unfortunate Canadians are exposed, and each has an average of 3 accounts never previously revealed to the USA on FBARs, the penalties owed would be at minimum $90 billion dollars (3 accounts * $10K per account * 6 years * 500,000 Canadians). In addition to this siphoning off of wholly Canadian earned, already taxed in Canada savings, Canadian tax payers will be on the hook for the welfare support that will be required by financially devastated Canadians, deemed ‘US persons’ and thus US taxpayers by the USA. In addition, the Canadian banks are spending billions to become FATCA compliant; guess who will be paying the banks’ FATCA compliance costs?
Dinner, Before CCLA Event, Toronto, Thursday March 20
Let’s meet at L’espresso Bar Mercurio, 321 Bloor Street W Toronto, ON M5S 1S5, southeast corner, Bloor St. West and St. George. Event is 6:00 PM nearby. So meet at 4:15-4:30 PM. I will ask for a space at Mercurio. May still be spaces still available at conference. I made a reservation for 15 people. The food is lunch-type sandwiches menu, casual and they are definitely open. Reservation made under Isaac Brock Society and/or “Dennis” See you then!!!
http://ccla.org/pathways2privacy/