Schubert receives an important clarification from Finance Minister Jim Flaherty regarding the affect that the recently-signed OECD treaty will have on the Canada-United States tax treaty, specifically regarding the protections afforded to Canadian citizens.
U.S. cranks up the pressure on banks in Switerland
Interesting article in the Globe and Mail today. Amazing how the 2009 investigation into Swiss banks has destroyed the lives of law abiding U.S. citizens living outside the United States.
Interesting comment about the implementation of FATCA:
But the burden they’re putting on the world’s financial institutions dwarfs the amount of income tax the US will recover. Case in point, I work for a mutual fund company and we’ll have to disclose all US clients to the IRS. Even if we don’t have any clients we still have to report it. It’s a huge undertaking that will recover very little in the end.
This article is well written and worth a read.
Lessons for the U.S. Government: “The Space Shuttle and the Horse’s Rear End”
Cross posted from RenounceUScitizenship
The U.S. has been a leader in the exploration of space. For that it is to be congratulated. Of course, the U.S. can no longer afford the program. It is in clear economic decline. Curious minds ask why? There is not any one reason, but there are some specific contributors to the problem. It may have to do with the size of the “Horse’s Rear End”.
I came across this interesting read:
Feb 13, 2012 FATCA article
It seems Flaherty and Carney are raising more objections both with FATCA and the Volcker rule.
Germany has its own Fatca
The morning newspaper in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada has a front page article about a German couple who immigrated to Canada in 1963. They have lived here ever since that time and now have received a tax bill from Germany going back to 2005. They have been sent documents saying that there will be penalties unless they pay $2331 retroactive income tax.
The article goes on to say thousands of German-Canadians have been getting these notices recently.
Inquiries seem to indicate a change of the law in 2005 in Germany making German pensions paid abroad subject to taxes.
I can’t post a link as the newspaper has moved behind a paywall but it really is starting to look like people should be citizens only of the country where they live.
What is the REAL Size of the U.S. Federal Tax Code
WHAT IS THE REAL SIZE
OF THE U.S. FEDERAL TAX CODE
AND
HOW HAS THIS CODE BEEN EVOLVING?
This is the second in a series of comments made by Andy Sundberg, Fellow and secretary, the Overseas American Academny, Geneva, Switzerland, 12 February 2012. He may be reached at andy at sunberg dot com.
To see the first post regarding the past 50 year history of Citizenship taxation abuse go here. Continue reading
Is the US going to collapse by 2025?
I just finished reading a bit of a “futurist” prediction from Alfred McCoy, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
“How America will collapse by 2025“
In it he proposes a series of scenarios under which the “US century” will come to a crashing end, as, he states, has occurred to the UK, France, USSR and countless other empires of bygone years. The scenarios are as follows: Continue reading
Citizens as property of government – The tragic story of Robert James "Bobby" Fischer
Cross posted from RenounceUScitizenship
Warning! The following video contains language that may offend some of you. To articulate the obvious:
1. The language in the video irrelevant to the purpose and message of the post.
2. If I need to say this: obviously I do NOT share Mr. Fischer’s bigoted views.
To be forewarned is to be forearmed!
“None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free.”
– Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
“The notion of “dual loyalties” may seem old-fashioned to some – a throwback to the days of Cold War spy-sniffing. But the concept is hardly obsolete, for the same reason that monogamy isn’t obsolete (for most of us, anyway): No one can serve two masters at once.”
The above interview of Bobby Fischer after his release from prison in Japan contains some interesting comments about U.S. citizenship. Why did the U.S. government not intervene on behalf of U.S. citizen Bobby Fischer? Where was the protection of the U.S. government?
Continue reading
The true meaning of U.S. reporting requirements – is privacy a value?
I came across the following exchange in the comments section to a recent Isaac Brock post. Like many of the comments posted, I found this exchange particularly interesting. What are your thoughts on the requirement of “Reporting”? What if there were no prospect of suffering penalties for failing to report? Is there a legitimate privacy issue? Are there things that are not the business of the Government? Although this is not a direct analogy in the case of Roe v. Wade the U.S. Supreme court (per Justice Blackmun) did find a right of privacy in the Constitution that justified a prohibition of abortion laws. Continue reading
Yet another renunciant whose name isn't in the Federal Register. How many more are there?
Reuters ran an interesting piece on St. Kitts’ economic citizenship programme today, which inevitably touched on the issue of renunciation of U.S. citizenship. However, I was disappointed that the author missed the opportunity to fact-check the U.S. government in the following paragraph:
Adam Bilzerian, a professional poker player and the son of former corporate raider Paul Bilzerian, said he worked through Henley to get citizenship in Austria. But put off by the cost and exclusivity of Austria’s program, he purchased property in St. Kitts, filled out some paperwork, and within a year, became a Kittitian. Then, he became one of 231 Americans to renounce his U.S. passport in 2008. In 2011, government records show, the number of Americans renouncing their citizenship reached 1,788 – the highest number since the government began keeping track in 1997.
Except that Bilzerian’s name does not appear in those “government records”. Continue reading