The following is excerpted from a post at RenounceUScitizenship.
To put it simply: FATCA is an attempt by the US government to conscript other countries into its abusive behavior. As a country that believes in the rights of individuals Canada should NOT acquiesce in the immorality and abusiveness of US citizenship-based taxation!
But remember:
From the Irish Independent, Ireland’s largest circulation newspaper
December 6, 2012
IRELAND has signed an agreement with the United States to make it easier for Irish banks to hand over information on the financial affairs of US nationals living here, Finance Minister Michael Noonan said.
The agreement enables Irish banks to obey the rules imposed by US tax authorities under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act or FATCA.
http://www.independent.ie/national-news/deal-lets-banks-release-data-on-us-citizens-3317462.html
Michael Young (Twitter: @BeirutCalling), the opinion editor of Lebanon’s Daily Star, has a new column exploring a relatively undiscussed problem with FATCA: its impact on the privacy and security of U.S. persons abroad, an issue of particular concern in the Middle East.
However, there is one aspect of FATCA that has not been sufficiently examined, but that remains potentially hazardous. The American government is effectively asking foreign institutions to prepare detailed data bases of American citizens, with no guidelines explaining how this information must be protected. For a country obsessed with the security of its citizens in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, such behavior is paradoxical, indeed astonishing.
Foreign financial institutions will effectively become vast repositories of information on Americans—including what they earn, the sources of their income, what they spend, where they live, who their family members are, and so on. In their zeal to implicitly label Americans living abroad as tax cheats requiring monitoring, the sponsors of FATCA have shown utter indifference to the safety of their citizens.
As reported by the Wall Street Journal, Jim DeMint will step down from his position as junior senator from South Carolina to become the head of the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank.
For those of you not familiar with his name, DeMint deserves credit as one of a small number of Republicans who fought back against Chuck Grassley (R-IA)’s midnight sneak attack on U.S. persons abroad in the Tax Increase Prevention and Reconciliation Act of 2005. In the aftermath of that bill, DeMint realised the contents of the so-called “Tax Increase Prevention” he had voted for, and sponsored two bills to undo Grassley’s obsessive handiwork and make the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion unlimited: S.3496 in 2006 and S.1140 in 2007. Unfortunately, those both went to the Senate Committee on Finance, where they were left to die by the Committee’s chairman … Chuck Grassley.
At the Heritage Foundation, DeMint will replace Edwin Feulner, who has also on occasion spoken out against taxation of U.S. Persons abroad.
Editors note: The Progressive Canadian Party has now sent out its official press release. Let’s pull out the stops for this event–show the media and our politicians that they must not tolerate FATCA. Email your MPs and the media. Use your facebook and twitter accounts. And above all, show up for the meeting if at all possible. Speakers will include Jim Jatras of Squire Sanders and Professor Allison Christians, H. Heward Stikeman Chair in Tax Law at the McGill University Faculty of Law. One fringe benefit will be that you can meet other brockers in the area (including Petros–yes, I will be participating). Thanks to everyone in advance.
__________________________________
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
A Fact Finding Forum on US Tax Grab in Canada
“The American government is attempting to tax permanent residents of Canada whom they deem to be U.S. citizens.” said Sinclair Stevens, Leader of the Progressive Canadian Party. “This contravenes Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms and must be challenged.”
The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) was signed into law by President Obama on March 18th, 2010. Originally to come into effect the 1st of January, 2013, it has been postponed one year. Briefly, it attempts to catch ‘U.S. persons’ (which includes, by their definition, a very large number of Canadian citizens) living abroad who are not paying income tax to the U.S.A. It by-passes the usual inter-governmental agreements and imposes the reporting of income and personal information on financial institutions in all other countries directly to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service … and that for no remuneration.
“Financial institutions which refuse to cooperate in this gathering of personal financial information are threatened with an enormous penalty – a 30% with-holding tax on all income on investments coming from the US to their clients. Can you spell ‘extortion’?” Stevens continued, “This expands the impact of FATCA from just ‘US persons’ living here to all Canadians who have investments in the US and may well force Canadian banks to increase their banking charges for all their clients.”
“In addition, to recouping unpaid income tax back several years it imposes very large penalties for non-reporting on such deemed ‘U.S. persons’.” Mr. Stevens added.
Finance Canada has posted a notice on their website soliciting comments on FATCA. The Progressive Canadian Party (PC Party on the ballot) will be making a submission.
So that the submission can be as complete as possible the PC Party is convening a fact finding forum at the University of Toronto on Saturday afternoon, December 15th – doors open at 10:00 for an 11:00am start. (see directions below). We have invited ‘expert witnesses’ from the legal and financial fields to provide further details on this international “extortion” attempt and to discuss suggestions from the audience for possible corrective actions including legislation.
“All Canadians, even those who have only a bank account, should be concerned and are invited to attend and participate in the discussions with our ‘expert witnesses’, Mr. Stevens said. “The press are particularly welcome and should see this as a convenient opportunity to get comment from both experts and concerned Canadians.”
Further information on the forum, including the speakers who have accepted our invitation, will be available shortly on our website http://progressivecanadian.ca/ .
The forum will be held in Room VC115 of Victoria College, 91* Charles Street West,
[*accessed via a one-way street between 89 (Burwash Hall) and 93 (Isabel Bader Theatre) – drop off only].
For both parking and travelling by subway the target is Museum Station on Queen’s Park. Parking is accessed on southbound Queen’s Park just after the subway station. After parking you should cross Queen’s Park via the subway station. On exiting the station you will be facing Emmanuel College and will have to go around either end to Victoria College which is exactly behind it.
As some of you know, I have been trying to work through Canadian Civil Liberties Association on FATCA. They have finally registered concerns with Ministry of Finance.
The Open Letter From CCLA is posted at Maple Sandbox along with a link to CCLA website.
Official Swiss Federal Press Release (English Version)
RTS article (in French): Un accord fiscal a été conclu entre la Suisse et les Etats-Unis
Translation of RTS article:
A Tax Agreement has been concluded between Switzerland and the United States.
An agreement has been concluded between Switzerland and the United States on the application of American tax law. The agreement would permit the taxation of the accounts of Americans abroad, but under certain conditions.
The United States and Switzerland have signed Monday an accord about the application of the American tax law known as FATCA. The President of the Confederation Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf announced so Tuesday before the Swiss Senate.
Saturday, December 15, 2012
11:00 noon – 6:00 p.m. (doors will open at 10:00 a.m.)
University of Toronto – Victoria College – Victoria College Building – Room 115
Here are the details:
A relatively accurate, so far as I can see, article on FATCA in the NY Times:
Conrad de Aenlle, “A long-distance relationship with the I.R.S.”
Even articles that are fairly accurate seldom recognize that this affects “accidental” Americans, i.e. people who aren’t Americans at all, aside from a legal technicality of US law.
