Our Friends in New Zealand Need Help

FATCA

Our friends in New Zealand need help. In an e-mail to Just Me (which he forwarded to people in several countries), Osgood said:

The New Zealand government has gone to great lengths to cover this legislation up as much as possible. They are trying to hide it from the parliament, and the New Zealand public. If they receive submissions from overseas this will at least alert them to the fact that their actions have been noticed elsewhere (perhaps more than in this country!). Also, whether they like it or not all submissions received must be made public on the website, and they must be addressed in the Select Committee report to parliament (due in June). It carrys a lot more power than letters to Ministers which can effectively be ignored (as I well know).
They are relying on the fact that people are unaware or too busy to make a submission. This is an opportunity not to be missed!
Many people that make detailed comments on Brock could simply modify them slightly and cut and paste them into the NZ submission form. It really is not difficult. The detailed analysis that you posted n Brock was great, but may put a lot of people off due to its detail. It is not necessary to go into that detail. New Zealand needs to be made aware that this is a global issue. Other nations, such as Canada are starting to stand up to the bully and need support from countries like New Zealand. Anyone that can report the shock, anxiety and horror at finding out about this would also make a good submission.
Osgood is asking people to make submissions to the New Zealand government–even if we don’t live in New Zealand. Submissions can come from anywhere in the world.
Osgood says submissions will be made public, but it’s possible you can ask that yours not be made public.
Here is more information from Osgood on the situation in New Zealand.
  1. The NZ cabinet has already agreed to “negotiate” a Model 1 IGA with the US. This has not been subject to consultation or parliamentary process
  2. NZ has extensive Privacy and Human Rights laws that need to be broken for our FIs to adhere to FATCA
  3. The NZ gov has introduced a bill to force NZ FIs to comply with the (as yet unsigned) IGA. It does by defining the IGA as a Dual Tax Treaty which overrides domestic Privacy laws. It is not clear how this gets around the Human Rights issues.
  4. The FATCA section (called Foreign account information-sharing agreements) is buried in the bill which contains much unrelated legislation
  5. The bill has been referred to Select Committee and is open for public submissions.

A lot of this certainly sounds familiar. Let’s help our Kiwi friends.

6 thoughts on “Our Friends in New Zealand Need Help”

  1. Thanks for posting this. Just to clarify, all submissions will be made public, but if you exclude your details from the body of the submission, they will not be published. Name, email address and a phone number are required on the web form at the time of submission.

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  2. Here is the submission I just made to New Zealand.Considering that I’ve never been to New Zealand, I hope I got it right.

    FATCA DEMANDS:
    If China demanded New Zealand identify any New Zealand citizens who were born in China and report their financial activities to China, would you? What if Russia made such demands? Pakistan? Eritrea? Iran?
    Yet, that’s exactly what United States is doing to New Zealand citizens and legal residents who were born in United States. Alarmingly, New Zealand is preparing to comply.
    FATCA demands comprehensive financial information on honest, responsible, productive New Zealanders with various degrees of connection to the United States. This includes joint accounts held with New Zealand born spouses, family and business partners.
    FATCA expects information on total assets, account balances, transactions, account number and other personal identifying information.
    In addition, the Investigations Committee of United States Congress has demanded such information be provided “upon request” to U.S. national security and law enforcement for investigation of money laundering, terrorist financing, drug trafficking, corruption, fraud and other crimes and misconduct–without a warrant.
    Why would New Zealand possibly consider providing such information to the US Internal Revenue Service, which readily admits to an “epidemic” of identity theft and which could compromise the safety and security of New Zealand citizens and residents?
    NEW ZEALAND LAWS AND SOVEREIGNTY:
    Recent reports indicate New Zealand plans to change its privacy and human rights laws to accommodate the outrageous demands of a foreign government.
    It is truly a frightening and sad day when a respected, independent democratic nation plans to change its laws on the dictate of a foreign power.
    New Zealand claims to be committed to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and has ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, both of which contain a right to privacy.
    The New Zealand Bill of Rights 19 (1) provides Freedom from discrimination
    (1) Everyone has the right to freedom from discrimination on the grounds of discrimination in the Human Rights Act
    The Human Rights Act 21 (g) prohibits discrimination based on:
    21 (g) ethnic or national origins, which includes nationality or citizenship:
    Does New Zealand really think so little of fundamental privacy and human rights that they will simply change those laws for a foreign power?
    Is New Zealand prepared to surrender its right to set its own laws in its own territory to a foreign country because of financial threats? Does sovereignty mean so little to New Zealand?
    Many around the world respect New Zealand as a nation of inclusion, freedom, independence and democracy that will stand up for its citizens. Surrendering to FATCA will compromise all those values.
    NEW ZEALAND CITIZENS AND RESIDENTS

    New Zealand’s Revenue Minister Tom McClay recently said changing New Zealand laws would affect only a few New Zealand “US taxpayers.” There are approximately 60,000 “US persons” in New Zealand. That is hardly “a few.”
    In addition, Mr. McClay wrote to a New Zealand citizen describing New Zealand citizens born in United States as “US taxpayers habitually resident in New Zealand.” What an insult that is to people who have sworn allegiance to New Zealand, have integrated into their communities and contributed to the country economically, financially, professionally personally and socially.
    Mr. McClay also insists the New Zealand “government is not doing any more than assisting these financial institutions to meet their obligations.”
    How did naturalized New Zealand citizens become “US taxpayers” in the country they call home? And why do New Zealand banks have any obligations to a foreign government?
    United States Department of State (7 Fam 080) says:
    “b. It is a generally recognized rule, often regarded as a rule of international law, that when a person who is a dual national is residing in either of the countries
    of nationality, the person owes paramount allegiance to that country, and that country has the right to assert its claim without interference from the other country.”
    AND
    “e. U.S. Policy on Dual Nationality: When a U.S. citizen is in the other country of their dual nationality, that country has a predominant claim on the person.
    Why isn’t New Zealand recognizing the paramount allegiance that their naturalized citizens have to New Zealand? Why isn’t New Zealand asserting its claim on those citizens without interference from the United States?
    Finally, if New Zealand laws are changed to single out “a few,” what group will be next? What other laws will become vulnerable to foreign demands?
    STAND UP FOR New Zealand
    New Zealand has two choices. It can capitulate to U.S. domination. Or, it can be a leader and stand up for New Zealand’s sovereignty, laws and citizens.
    Which will it choose? The world is watching.

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  3. Wonderful submisson.
    osgood, I made a submission as well, though not nearly so brilliant as that you have from Blaze (just above). Good luck with turning this around in New Zealand. The word “Canada” of course can be substituted for “New Zealand”. We can clearly see US Persons in both countries (and all others) become just more US collateral damage.

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