Thanks to Saddened for sending me this fabulous find. IRS Troubles Go Global
The author gets it!
As would be expected, this regulation, which is U.S. financial imperialism of the worst sort, is causing great resentment among foreign governments, financial institutions and citizens, as well as Americans living and working abroad. It is very costly for foreign financial institutions to administer, and puts their executives at risk for both civil and criminal penalties for any failure to administer the law as the IRS may wish.
It seems he knows about Maple Sandbox and Brock.
Many Canadians, for good reason, are upset about these impending regulations, and there are groups in Canada who have said they will bring Canadian constitutional suits against the government under human rights violations if Canada signs on to the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act.
Austria is being forced to give up much of its traditional financial privacy, in part, because of the actions of the IRS and U.S. Justice Department. Many here in Vienna remember well losing their freedoms first to the fascists and then to the communists, which is one reason they have so resisted the efforts to destroy their financial privacy.
Americans are now learning that once tax authorities have the ability to peer into their bank accounts and to monitor their financial affairs, these authorities will abuse this power, and an essential freedom is lost.
Blaze:
The link didn’t work for me. In case anyone else has that problem, here’s the link again.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/jun/11/irs-troubles-go-global/
Thanks Hazy for catching that, alerting me and posting the link again.
I’ve corrected it. I hope it works OK now. If anyone has any problems with the link in the thread, please let me know.
And the EC is moving. Here is a proposal for a Directive that would accelerate their own efforts at an information exchange system within the EU.
http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/resources/documents/taxation/tax_cooperation/mutual_assistance/direct_tax_directive/com_2013_348_en.pdf
And for the context around this move, see this FAQ
http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_MEMO-13-533_en.htm