https://twitter.com/FATCA_Fallout/status/339903246665674752
This is excellent! Thanks to Just Me for tweeting the conference!
Asking the right questions about #FATCA
Leave a reply
Monthly Archives: May 2013
#IRS abuse of Americans Abroad – The greater the effort! The greater the punishment!
God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
The courage to change the things I can,
And wisdom to know the difference.
More on #IRS abuse of #americansabroad
The following comes from a post at the Isaac Brock Society.
The Future of Tax Evasion & Offshore Services
This is an exceptionally well done post! Thanks for the effort.
A government of laws or a government of Levins? #Standwithrand
Cook v. Tait 9: US may have to stop citizenship-based taxation to get #FATCA IGAs
As I watch the IGA spectacle unfold, I have the feeling that other countries don’t understand citizenship-based taxation. They don’t understand that by employing citizenship-based taxation, they are really asking other countries to identify lawful residents of their countries, and help the U.S. collect tax from them. This tax collected as at the expense of the country where those US citizens reside. All penalties paid under the OVDP and OVDI penalty programs erode the tax base of the country where the U.S. citizen abroad resides. Because no other country (except Eritrea) imposes citizenship-based taxation, reciprocity (even if the U.S. could be trusted, which it clearly can’t) would not mean that the US would report on citizens of other countries. At best, the US would report on residents of other countries that have bank accounts in the US. The point is a simple one:
A FATCA IGA does not require the US to erode its own tax base in any significant way.
Why is there this imbalance? The answer is simple. Only the US employs citizenship-based taxation. The US employs citizenship-based taxation as a weapon against not US citizens abroad, but against the countries where they reside.
Therefore, at the end of the day, if the US is going to get “FATCA Co-operation” from the rest of the world, it must stop citizenship-based taxation.
Interestingly this necessity seems to have been recognized in an academic paper – FATCA: Toward a Multilateral Automatic Information Reporting Regime by Joanna Heiberg. I highly recommend this article.
She writes in part:
US Ambassador to Canada Jacobson to join BMO
This is an incredible story. Ambassador Jacobson is best known for his amazing “70 year old Grandmas” speech in Ottawa on October 18, 2011.
“When I read all of this I was concerned. So last week I called the Commissioner of the United States Internal Revenue Service to see what we could do. I explained the problem to him.
The result is that both he and I are sympathetic to the concerns. We are going to work together to see if we can’t find a way to accommodate grandma — and others — here in Canada. But we have to figure out a way to do it without letting the person who is trying to evade taxes in the Cayman Islands off the hook.
My message on this one is to sit tight. We are not unreasonable. We are not unsympathetic. We are not irresponsible.”
David Jacobson – U.S. Ambassador to Canada – October 18, 2011
Mike Kelly explains why investigation into IRS just starting
All U.S. citizens everywhere should watch this video of Mike Kelly and Steve Miller. I predict that (as the Carpenters sang):
“We’ve only just begun!”
How Obama’s drones stir growing hatred of America and fuel terrorism
Ron Paul: The drone war is illegal, why do you think people hate us?
Yemeni Farea Al-Muslimi explains how Obama’s drones generate hatred for America
“What radicals had previously failed to achieve in my village… one drone strike accomplished in an instant: There is now an intense anger and growing hatred of America.”
IRS Abuse of power: What did Obama know and when did he know it?
Other than the power to prosecute, the taxing authority is the most awesome power the government has. It can ruin people and companies. When wielded for political purposes, it is a violation of the basic contract the American people have with their government. The abuse admitted by Ms. Lerner can’t be dismissed in a casual apology on a casual Friday as no big deal. It’s a very big and bad deal.
________________________________________________________________
Washington Post editorial, Playing Politics With Tax Records:
A bedrock principle of U.S. democracy is that the coercive powers of government are never used for partisan purpose. The law is blind to political viewpoint, and so are its enforcers, most especially the FBI and the IRS. Any violation of this principle threatens the trust and the voluntary cooperation of citizens upon which this democracy depends.
So it was appalling to learn Friday that the IRS had improperly targeted conservative groups for scrutiny. It was almost as disturbing that President Obama and Treasury Secretary Jack Lew have not personally apologized to the American people and promised a full investigation.
The problem is that this is exactly what you would expect of the United States of today.
U.S. Persons Abroad - Members of a Unique Tax, Form and Penalty Club 