ADCS Asks Democrats Abroad to Correct Misinformation

In a recent e-mail to Brazil Democrats Abroad, Regional Vice Chair – Americas and Vice-Chair Democrats Abroad Canada conveyed some glaring inaccurate information about the Canadian lawsuit.
Adrienne Jones to Democrats Brazil
That misinformation was:

Republicans Overseas “have exploited the fear of FATCA to the nth degree to target their Repeal FATCA ’cause’ and their proposed suit, get this, against the Canadian government for signing the compliance agreement (Intergovernmental Agreement)
On November 19, ADCS sent a letter to Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Chair of Democratic National Committee asking for a correction to the information. Here is the content of the letter:

November 19, 2014
Debbie Wasserman Schultz
Chair,
Democratic National Committee
Dear Ms. Schulz,
It has been brought to the attention of the Alliance for the Defence of Canadian Sovereignty (ADCS) Directors that Adrienne Jones, DPCA Americas Region Vice-Chair and Democrats Abroad Canada Vice-Chair, has communicated incorrect information regarding our Canadian lawsuit on the constitutionality and legality of the Canadian legislation enabling the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) Intergovernmental Agreement.
In her letter to David Ferrell and possibly to others, Ms. Jones stated:

Republicans Overseas “have exploited the fear of FATCA to the nth degree to target their Repeal FATCA ’cause’ and their proposed suit, get this, against the Canadian government for signing the compliance agreement (Intergovernmental Agreement).


We advise you that Republicans Overseas and the Republican party have no connection to our Canadian lawsuit nor have they provided any financial support to the lawsuit.
Please read a copy of the Claims (which we hope you and Democrats Abroad will support) filed in Canada Federal Court at: https://adcsovereignty.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/hillis-filed-amended-statement-of-claim-to-the-defendants.pdf
The plaintiffs of our lawsuit are two brave Canadian women who were born in the United States, but came to Canada at the age of five and have lived their lives since then only as Canadian citizens. The lawsuit is being funded only through donations to ADCS, a Canadian non-profit corporation, from Canadians and international friends from Australia to Vatican City.
Our lawsuit is the first legal challenge to FATCA in the world.
We also confirm that the ADCS Directors fully and enthusiastically support the Republicans Overseas planned lawsuit in the United States, but we are not involved in that litigation.
As Democrats Abroad are now fully aware of the devastating impact FATCA has on honest law-abiding people around the world, we hope that your organization will join with Republicans Overseas and with our Canadian group to defeat FATCA.
We suspect that Ms. Jones was confused regarding the lawsuit. However, ADCS respectfully asks that you, on behalf of Democrats Abroad, correct publicly the misinformation that Republicans Overseas has initiated a Canadian lawsuit, and that you take steps to ensure that Democrats Abroad will now work cooperatively, and in a non-partisan manner, with Republicans Overseas and ADCS to defeat the entirety of FATCA.
I will ask Michael DeSombre of Republicans Overseas to post this letter on the Republicans Overseas website and ask that you kindly post the letter on the website for Democrats Abroad. Thank you for doing this.
A reply would be appreciated.
Sincerely.
Stephen Kish, ADCS Chair
John Richardson, Co-Chair
Patricia Moon, Treasurer
Carol Tapanila, Director
Lynne Swanson, Chair, Litigation Committee
Toronto, Canada
CC:
Adrienne Jones, DPCA Americas Region Vice-Chair and Democrats Abroad Canada Vice-Chair
Sharon Manitta, DPCA Communications Director for Press
Michael DeSombre, President, Republicans Overseas

There have been e-mails exchanged since then between Stephen and Ms. Jones. There has been no correction.
Republicans Overseas posted this on their Facebook page.

7 thoughts on “ADCS Asks Democrats Abroad to Correct Misinformation

  1. New York Times is giving Boris different advice than Ginny.
    Get Real, Boris Johnson tells Boris to “Give us A Break. Get over it…It’s the law…Pay up.”
    I have better advice for Boris. Follow Churchill`s creed. “Never, never, never give up.” Fight back.
    Join Ginny and Gwen. Become the third person in the world to launch court action. “You have the political cache.”
    Also, be sure to donate to ADCS! We need you Boris.

    1. Your advice is solid, Lynn! Good reference to Churchill.
      I did not comment in that op-ed piece but this is what I would have said (and if you want to post it there, feel free but don’t send him my email):
      NEWS FLASH: We do not choose where we were born, so why should anyone be penalized for that? Boris has not lived in the U.S. since he was five. Therefore, filing taxes for him (or someone else abroad) is not as easy or as inexpensive to file as someone like you who actually does work and live in the U.S.–even when no taxes are owed. You, sir, get to file standard forms in your local language with everything already marked in U.S. dollars, and use off-the-shelf tax software or your neighbourhood H & R Block to get the job done. We who live abroad, besides filing and paying our local taxes, in order to satisfy Uncle Sam, have to find someone competent enough to deal with extremely complex forms that will have to be sent to a foreign country (the U.S.). Worse, our forms are NOT filed with the domestic IRS you deal with. No, OUR forms go to FinCEN (the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network), who are experts in applying severe penalties for trivial mistakes or a missing form. Just because the U.S. congress enacted laws to extort money from “US persons” around the world, doesn’t mean those laws are fair and just. Unlike you, we are NOT represented by that congress nor do we have any ability to address any problems through U.S. courts. It’s a totally different ball game for people who live outside the U.S. borders, a game that if we “play ball” always forces us to lose, and have the risk of losing everything we ever made abroad, thanks to FinCEN. Boris doesn’t want to play that game and I bet if you were in his shoes, sir, you wouldn’t either.

    2. Thanks Jan. I just realized I posted in this thread in error. It shouuld have been in the Ginny writes to Boris thread.

      I will copy and paste my comment and your response over there so it does not become lost in the wrong thread over time.

       

       

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