The Name’s Levin – Carl Levin
Not as good looking as 007!
Not as suave as 007!
Not as smart as 007!
But, as a U.S. Senator – Carl Levin – is licensed to kill U.S. expats.
As FATCA approaches he is likely to become more prominent! He is the “darling” of the Financial Task Force.
Carl Levin is a U.S. Senator from Michigan. He is obsessed with tax Havens and is the architect of the proposed “Tax Haven Abuse Act”. Mr. Levin can’t seem to comprehend that there may be legitimate reasons to have a foreign bank account or to live outside the United States. He operates with a presumption that all foreign bank accounts are for criminal purposes. Jamie Downey writing for the Boston Globe notes that the disclosure requirements in FATCA (and presumably FBAR):
“… seem to create a presumption that those with foreign assets are evading taxes. In reality, most of the account owners are merely living abroad or have lived abroad in the past. The vast majority are complying with the tax law. So the significant minority evading taxes create a massive disclosure for the significant majority complying with the law.”
Senator Levin presumes the 30,000 people who entered the 2009 and 2011 OVDI programs are criminals. His comments clearly apply to the U.S. Canada dual citizens who entered OVDI. Is this 70 year old woman a tax cheat?
There is no confirmed evidence as to whether either of the following to dual citizens entered OVDI. That said: Is this Toronto writer a tax cheat? New Brunswick Premier David Alward is clearly not a tax cheat.
It’s no surprise that Ambassador Jacobson has promised relief to U.S. citizens legitimately residing in Canada. But, Carl Levin includes these long term Canadian residents in his description of “tax cheats”. Michigan lies along the Canadian border. Has he ever been to Canada?
Senator Carl Levin owes an apology to every U.S. citizen residing in Canada his following comment on OVDI:
Levin Statement on Closure of 2011 IRS Voluntary Disclosure Program for Offshore Tax Evasion
Thursday, September 15, 2011
WASHINGTON – Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., made the following statement today regarding the IRS announcement that its recently completed offshore program increased the total number of voluntary disclosures up to 30,000 since 2009:
“The 30,000 taxpayers who acknowledged they had avoided paying taxes by using offshore schemes show how rampant offshore tax abuse is,” said Levin. “Congress could do a lot more to stop offshore tax cheats who are costing this country an estimated $100 billion each year. That’s why I’ve sent a letter to the select committee urging it to include my Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act in its deficit reduction plan. Enacting that bill would not only protect honest taxpayers and increase tax fairness, it would bring in revenues allowing Uncle Sam to reduce the deficit.”
Check out Senator Levin’s proposed “Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act“. Once again, I don’t condone tax evasion. The problem is that these laws don’t make any distinction between hard working expats and U.S. residents uses foreign bank accounts and corporations for illegal purposes.
In the world of Carl Levin there is no good reason to have a foreign bank account. Maybe Senator Levin has never been outside the United States.
U.S. Persons Abroad - Members of a Unique Tax, Form and Penalty Club 
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