We have a Vimeo site, Citizenship Taxation, to post this portion of the submission. I am not sure if it is necessary to be a member of Vimeo to view them; I do know I signed up for free access.
Having sat through the entire filming portion of each of these, I am impressed at how well each excerpt captures the essence of each individual’s point of view/situation. On the day these were filmed, it was very powerful to hear each of these people relate their stories; one person’s was done spontaneously, without any prior preparation. Generally, none used scripts and I was surprised at how incredibly capable they were, at describing their dilemmas in a focused way. Some were as short as 10 minutes and the longest was 30 minutes. Each has been edited to approximately 5 minutes each.
The point of our submission, is to demonstrate the harm the US policy of citizenship-based taxation brings in its various (and bizarre) applications to individual situations.There are of course, certain elements common to all. However, listening to “Linda” for example, describe what led her family to own Mutual Funds in the first place, is to understand how she and her husband, knowing of his fatal condition, planned and executed a way to provide for their three children after his death. It must have been excruciatingly painful to live through those years knowing that this young family would soon face life without their father, husband, & best friend. Yet, this was how this family survived. How perverse is it then, for her to face, not only the fact the US still considers her a “US Person,” but that she is a criminal, in spite of having left the US over four decades ago? Should she be willing to commit financial suicide due to a circumstance outside her control, that of being born in the US? What person could be expected to do such a thing? And for WHAT? Or Barbara, who received totally erroneous advice having already relinquished US citizenship decades ago, being put into OVDI? (Every time I hear of someone being advised to become compliant when they are NOT a US Person makes me want to scream for the blood of those who continue to do this.) And so on……
We will be providing the rest of the submission (as well as the full transcripts of the interviews) over the course of the next couple of weeks. The comments/letters document to which many of you contributed, is over 200 pages. We appreciate your patience as this has proved to be a very large project.
For now, please watch and do share these widely with family and friends, on Facebook, Twitter, etc. We especially need Homelanders to see these and understand that we are not the FATCATs.