Senator Paul stirs business ire over blocking of U.S. tax treaties

I had this in a comment to the FATCA thread but think more will see it as a post:

WASHINGTON, April 28 (Reuters) – Senator Rand Paul is coming under pressure from some multi-national businesses to drop his opposition to tax treaties between the United States and other nations.

Citing privacy concerns about Americans’ tax data, Paul, a Republican and libertarian, has single-handedly blocked Senate action on treaties with Hungary, Switzerland and Luxembourg that have been signed by authorities on both sides, but have been awaiting Senate review since 2011.

Read More at Reuters

39,000 Tax Cheats Come Forward Under New IRS Programs

So here we are, back to square one again.  A new article by AP hack Stephen Ohlemacher dutifully regurgitates stock IRS tax cheat language in reference to OVDI and FATCA and how “some taxpayers try to avoid penalties through a technique the IRS calls “quiet disclosure”.  I’ve already posted a couple of comments, but it frankly feels like pissing into a Category 5 hurricane of ignorance.  I would urge fellow Brockers to get on there and help out – this one is really bad. It feels like the clock has just been turned back two years or more.

This note concerns authors and editors of this blog.  Regular readers and those who only make comments may ignore this post.

Our web hosting service has put in an extra pre-screen for logging in to the blog (authors and editors).  It instructs that one must use the username and password on the pre-screen.  The user name was completely visible on my screen, but password was not:

password: web…”

I called our web hosting service and the technician informed me that the full password is:

webnames

Once you get enter the correct username and password, you will get to the regular author login for the blog and there you must use your own regular username and password.

This is  an additional security measure to prevent a botnet from accessing the login page.  They say that botnets will not read the message which is visible on screen regarding the username and password, and so this additional security feature prevents them from accessing the login page and infiltrating the website.

Dear ________:
Thank you for your correspondence concerning the United States Foreign Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) and the stance of the Liberal party on the issue. Please excuse my delay in responding to your email – my office has been working to respond to correspondence that had been misplaced during a recent staff transition.

Liberals were the first to raise the issue some years ago, pressuring the Conservative government to pursue amnesty against penalties as the IRS’s Foreign Bank Account Reporting requirements were not adequately communicated to Canadians who would be affected. A two-year amnesty period was negotiated in the face of overwhelming pressure from Liberals and concerned Canadians. Together, we sent a clear signal that Canadians expect their government to stand up for the honest and hardworking people who have been caught up by overly complex American tax rules. Canadians are not international tax cheats and it was past time for Stephen Harper to stand up for them.

During the two year amnesty period, we also made it clear that the government should address the concerns of Canadians regarding the US taxation of tax savings vehicles like RRSP and RESPs and regulations under FATCA that will force Canadian banks to share personal banking information with the IRS. These issues present immense sovereignty and privacy concerns for Canadians. The IRS does not have the jurisdiction or authority to persecute persons living and working in Canada. These people are already paying taxes – in Canada.

Over the amnesty period, the Harper government appears to have made no attempts to safeguard the interests of Canadians who will be victimized by the IRS if FACTA is allowed to proceed. As it stands, FACTA will compel not just dual citizens, but persons known to the US government residing in Canada to report to the IRS. These include dual-citizens, Canadians with American spouses, Canadians who have worked in the United States, and others. I am deeply disappointed in the government’s inaction on an issue that so brazenly threatens so many Canadians. I assure you that the Liberal Party will continue to pressure the Harper Government to address these concerns instead of caving into American pressure as has been its past practice.

Thank you once again for your correspondence; please do not hesitate to contact me if I can be of further assistance on this or any other issue.

Sincerely,

Hon. Dr. Hedy Fry, P.C., M.P.

Health Critic – Liberal Party of Canada

Vancouver Centre