Yikes! This is scary stuff! Twenty Ways IRS Can Find Yankees. That could include those of us who have not thought for decades we were “Yankees.”
This somehow reminds me of Simon and Garfunkel’s Fifty Ways to Leave Your Lover.
(I’m showing my age again.)
Just slip out the back, Jack
Make a new plan, Stan
Don’t need to be coy, Roy
Just get yourself free
Hop on the bus, Gus
Don’t need to discuss much
Just drop off the key, Lee
And get yourself free.
We thought we did all those things ages ago. We hopped on the bus (or plane), slipped out honestly, made a plan for our lives in our new countries and had no need to be coy. We didn’t discuss much because US Consulate was clear and firm. We were no longer “Yankees.”
Now, we need to find new ways to drop off the key and get ourselves free. Can we come up with 50 ways or even 20 to do that?
When I used to be a US citizen, I didn’t care if the IRS or anyone found me. That’s not the problem. The problem is with what is done with the information found. If one is found and not harmed for being innocent, then all is fine. But, if one is found and and wrongly harmed, then there is a problem. Unfortunately, there are many groups and individuals who seek to cause harm to those they find, and it is thus for this reason that one often seeks to hide from being found, hiding for one’s own protection.
If anyone is counting, Center for Freedom and Prosperity is now asking: Can US Treasury Con 50 Countries Into Giving Up Their Sovereignty?
http://freedomandprosperity.org/2012/blog/can-treasury-con-50-countries-into-relinquishing-their-fiscal-sovereignty/
Unfortunately, “Treasury’s list of suckers is longer than one might have imagined… it is shocking the degree to which Treasury is willing to make up law to expand its reach.”
CFP says “also concerning is the degree to which foreign governments seem to be biting at Treasury’s bait, ushering us every closer to a FATCA reality of global information sharing (even with corrupt and venal governments) that excites only spendthrift politicians and the compliance industry, but will unquestionably be bad news for taxpayers and the global economys
“Also concerning is the degree to which foreign governments seem to be biting at Treasury’s bait, ushering us every closer to a FATCA reality of global information sharing (even with corrupt and venal governments) that excites only spendthrift politicians and the compliance industry, but will unquestionably be bad news for taxpayers and the global economy.”
Why isn’t anyone listening? Oh wait, because United States of Arrogance never listens. Other countries seem to be eager to be just as bad in the interest of appeasing the bullies.
Just tweeted this to Finance Canada and Canadian Civil Liberties Association:
Blaze @lynneblaze
@FinanceCanada @cancivlib: Will Canada be 1 of “suckers” 2 “bite bait” as US Treasury “”expands reach” by #FATCA? http://bit.ly/UB4O90
I great article recently ran in a UK newspaper that I posted earlier at Brock:
The Independent: “Land of the flee: why, despite Obama’s re-election, Americans are renouncing citizenship in droves”
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/land-of-the-flee-why-despite-obamas-reelection-americans-are-renouncing-citizenship-in-droves-8329319.html
From the article:
“a growing number of citizens have renounced their home country, which they see as having an increasingly anti-expatriate government that’s only interested in collecting cash and giving virtually nothing in return.”
The journalist is an expat. She really has it right. Ther comments coming in however are mixed. Many people are still unable to comprehend the hardships faced by expats.
@John Brown: Thanks! That sums it up quite nicely.
The people who are having the most difficulty “understanding” the FATCA Attack on honest, law-abiding taxpayers living outside US are those in Congress, IRS, Treasury, tax lawyers and accountants.
Upton Sinclair had a good explanation for that: “It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on him not understanding it.”
Here are seven reasons from renouncecitizenship why Canada should not sign an IGA. Let’s hope salaries of folks in Ottawa don’t depend on them not understanding FATCA.
http://renounceuscitizenship.wordpress.com/2012/11/21/fatca-id-like-to-teach-the-world-to-sing-in-perfect-harmony-seven-reasons-to-not-do-a-fatca-iga/
The lady who wrote this oped piece for the Minneapolis Star Tribune surely has no idea about FATCA nor is she aware that the FEIE will be put on the chopping block again.
FINDING THE AMERICAN DREAM OVERSEAS
http://www.startribune.com/opinion/180763881.html?refer=y
From her article:
“After applying for 279 jobs over two years, my husband finally got the offer he’d been hoping for: a well-paid position teaching philosophy at a respected university. We should have been thrilled. There was just one little thing. The job was in Hong Kong.”
“We didn’t know we would be part of a wave of educated young Americans heading overseas in search of better employment opportunities.”
My oh my, are they gonna be in for a big surprise.