On March 10 2014 a small group of Canadians (with supporters in other countries) took a gamble and donated money they could not afford to try to bring down FATCA using a legal challenge approach.
What if similar groups in other countries took their governments to court over this?
One Brocker, upset that the Swiss referendum did not obtain enough signatures, already told us that:
“[The Swiss Federal] Constitution undisputably mandates guarantees of nondiscrimination and liberty of economic opportunity, as well as the right to a family and the protection of privacy, among many other things. Here at IBS, we all know that FATCA violates such guarantees, as expressed in the UDHR, as well as many constitutions around the world”.
http://isaacbrocksociety.ca/2014/01/14/swiss-anti-fatca-referendum-did-not-obtain-enough-signatures-disappointing-however-not-end-of-world/
Here is a list of countries with constitutions. How many of these constitutions guarantee fundamental rights that are violated by FATCA?:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_national_constitutions
Are there any Brockers/Sandboxers or their sympathizers in these countries who could lead anti-FATCA constitutional challenges?
See today’s new post on the Republicans Overseas website asking that this happens:
“Canadians Ask “US Persons” World-Wide To Challenge Legality of FATCA
In only six days Canadians Dr. Stephen Kish and Lynne Swanson received sufficient donations from Canadians and those in other countries to retain a constitutional expert attorney. The attorney will examine the constitutionality of the proposed IGA (Intergovernmental Agreement) between the United States and Canada to implement FATCA.
They and other Canadians believe strongly that the IGA will violate Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Kish and Swanson ask concerned peoples in all countries affected by FATCA (i.e., ALL countries worldwide) to begin similar efforts to bring down the FATCA beast.
See the press release for the Canadian Charter Challenge Fund: http://maplesandbox.ca/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/News-Release-First-Legal-Step-To-Stop-FATCA.pdf”
https://www.facebook.com/republicansoverseas
IRS Compliant Forever has a great idea about spreading the word to bring down FATCA. I do not know any possible U.S. persons abroad. However I am spreading the word among Canadians, formerly from the U.S., here in Canada. The IRS uses fear to intimidate and this makes some inclined to hide instead of deal with the beast. As well, I find my relatives in the States either do not know about FATCA or they are very under-informed. They seem shocked and dismayed that their government is doing this. It’s time to stand up to the U.S./IRS bully. I am quite willing to contribute more funds when the Charter Challenge goes to the next level.
Thanks Pat for being willing to spread the word and contribute.
James Jatras calls FATCA “the worst law most Americans have never heard of.”
When I tell American friends and family about it, their response is usually “Why do we wonder why everyone hates us so much?”
When I tell Canadians about it, they usually insist it could never happen in Canada.
An investment news letter writer named Porter Stansberry is predicting that FATCA will be the trigger that causes the US dollar to lose its status as the world reserve currency.
If he is right, the FATCA will be meaningless. It will have no teeth. Nobody will want the US $ anyway. We will all be scrambling to get gold, silver, Chinese Yuan and Swiss Francs.
Does anyone think it would be a good idea to organize protests at the US consulates in Canada? John Richardson spoke of how the US is stealing Canada’s wealth and Canada is paying them to do it. This may get some news attention and also make Canadians in general aware that this is about ALL of us, not just the sorry souls branded with the toxic US scarlet letters. Also it would be another avenue in a multi-pronged attack. I read somewhere the the world was watching what Canada will do having the largest number of IRS targets. In a way we owe it to the world to try everything possible to win this.
We don’t owe it to the world. If we win, the world will owe us. Furthermore, the US is stealing wealth only as long as the rest of the world foolishly continues to accept their worthless fiat dollar that warlord Obama and Bernacke are printing with such reckless abandon. Obama’s voter base is not the taxpayer. It is the tax consumer, and he needs Bernacke’s Federal Reserve to keep his voter base satiated.
Let’s face it. Despite sympathetic media efforts to portray him to the contrary, Obama is not the brightest bulb. He is not the sharpest knife in the drawer. He thought Canada has a president, and one time he said something about all 57 States. I doubt that he even has a basic grasp of Canadian geography, and he probably thinks we are a tax haven depriving him of enough revenue that we alone could redress his trillion dollar deficit. There is no point in appealing to the man’s sense of reason who has such limited intelligence, knowledge, and competence.
I’m meeting a lot of people now who are still in denial. The big banks here in France are FATCA-compliant and so far are still taking US persons as clients. So some folks are saying that, well, just don’t bank at a small bank here and you’ll be fine.
Others I’ve talked to are still convinced that thi is all about rich people and so it doesn’t concern them. There is a lot of confusion about the thresholds – one person I talked to throught that the reporting threshold for the banks was 200,000 USD. He was really upset when I explained that that amount was for his personal reporting (form 8938) but the threshold for the bank was 50,000. 🙂
Some good news though. I’ve been approached here by someone who is trying to get the banking stories of the French abroad in the US who are getting kicked out of their banks here. Remember these folks have representation in France and it looks like their reps are doing their jobs and going to bat for them.
A challenge here in France would not work, I think. thought it would generate very bad publicity. Europe is another matter, We would have to first go through the French courts (and lose) and then take it to the ECJ. All possible but a long long process.
@Victoria,
I don’t know the local scene but I would hate to give up on France.
You say that a legal challenge in France would not work. Why do you say that?
Is it because the FATCA IGA is unlikely to violate the French Constitution (or equivalent), which apparently references the “Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen”? Or because you feel that a challenge would receive no support from the people and would even be unpopular? I would argue that popular support is never needed on a rights issue.
For example, Joe Arvay, our Canadian constitutional lawyer, is also taking the government to court on a rights issue on behalf of a biker gang (Hell’s Angels) and is likely to receive zero or more likely negative popular support for this.