Cross-posted from RenounceUScitizenship.
This is a response to the email from Professor Green. Note to members of the Isaac Brock Society: This post is in part, an attempt to consolidate a number of the comments to Professor Green’s email.
Dear Professor Green:
U.S. citizens abroad – Democrats, Republicans and Independents – thank you for the “FBAR/FATCA Task Force” and we note with gratitude that:
Your FBAR/FATCA Task Force has been working steadily to seek relief for overseas Americans facing onerous tax reporting burdens.
Furthermore, your six proposals would be welcomed by U.S. citizens abroad – to be specific:
- 1. Define a foreign or offshore account as an account in a country other than one’s country of residence or the US, thereby recognizing the legitimate need for local banking services;
- 2. Raise the FATCA reporting threshold to $1 million to put the focus on taxpayers with wealth sizeable enough to justify the costly and complex investment structures normally used to conceal assessable earnings;
- 3. Index the reporting threshold to inflation so that it goes up every year just as the Section 911 income exclusion does;
- 4. Add a provision that excuses anyone who does not owe taxes (because of the Section 911 exclusion or any other exemption or a tax treaty) from the obligation to file form 8938, regardless of the threshold reporting;
- 5. Merge the FBAR reporting requirement with the developing FATCA legislation to eliminate duplication in filings; and
- 6. Offer amnesty to overseas Americans who are delinquent taxpayers, inviting them to pay what they may owe and restore their status as tax-compliant citizens. (See our opening remarks for our success in this area.)
That said, your proposals are merely an attempt to improve the conditions of the prison of citizenship-based taxation. You are essentially just accepting the ideas of citizenship-based taxation, FATCA, FBAR and the rest. Gotta be in prison anyway. Why not put the effort into getting along better with the guards! Continue reading