We’ve had some requests to post the letters people are writing. Some of the letters are from people pointing out facts and information, some are angry letters, and others are heartfelt pleas.
Reading what someone else has written can help us figure out what we want to say, so Blaze and I thought it would be a good idea to have a place where people can share their letters.
You can cut & paste into a comment, but if you want to submit a PDF or Word document, just email it to me and I’ll get it in and create a link to it.
Thanks to Petit Suisse for the inspiration for this. Petit Suisse has added the letter to the comments on the FATCA Information from Canada Revenue Agency thread.
I’ve uploaded it here, and it’s a great way to kick off this thread.
Reminder of address:
Email: IGA-AIG@fin.gc.ca
Snail Mail address:
Tax Policy Branch
Department of Finance
140 O’Connor Street
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0G5
My letter is not copyrighted. So if you are worried about FATCA and older ex-Americans, feel free to copy and paste as much as you want and send it to whomever you please.
Some useful email addresses:
Conservatives
jim.flaherty@parl.gc.ca. Finance
Kerry-Lynne.Findlay@parl.gc.ca. National Revenu
alice.wong@parl.gc.ca. Minister of State (Seniors)
NDP
Peggy.Nash@parl.gc.ca Finance
Murray.Rankin@parl.gc.ca National Revenu and Pensions
irene.mathyssen@parl.gc.ca. Seniors
Liberals
scott.brison@parl.gc.ca. Finance
Emmanuel.Dubourg@parl.gc.ca. Nation revenu
john.mccallum@parl.gc.ca. seniors.
Ex-American:
Elizabeth.May@parl.gc.ca
thanks Petit Suisse – the email addresses are great!
I’ve received a letter submission to Finance Canada on the FATCA IGA. The author has said that if anyone finds it useful and wishes to use any part of it, please go ahead. Personally, I find it extremely well written, well reasoned and literate.
The concluding paragraph, I quote below, but the entire letter is well worth reading in it’s entirety.
“In summary, FATCA is an attack on Canada’s sovereignty and the IGA is the acquiescence. The entire arrangement has many flaws and shortcomings, some of a moral and offensive nature. Obviously, I strongly oppose any legislation that would enable the implementation of the
IGA (Canada U.S. Enhanced Information Exchange Agreement) and would urge all members of Parliament to reject any means of facilitating the imposition of FATCA in Canada. To pass this legislation would be betrayal of the constituents of members of Parliament.”
You can read the letter at the below link.
http://maplesandbox.ca/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/FATCA-IGA-Submission.pdf
Wow. Really powerful letter. Thank you to whomever wrote it.
I hope Finance Canada and the Minister of Finance will listen. Unfortunately, if past experience with our earlier submissions and our repeated requests to Finance Canada are any indication, they won’t.
Nonetheless, we need to be sure to get our own submissions in.
Outraged: Would you ask the writer if we may forward this to Joe Arvay when we retain him for a legal opinion. We still have a long ways to go, but I am confident we will raise the money we need to do that.
@Blaze, the author is happy to have it sent to Joe or anyone else who finds it useful!
Emailed my letter today.
http://maplesandbox.ca/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/OC-IGA-Letter-to-Finance.pdf
I wrote a letter to the government and sent it through email. After sending it I felt a little ill at the thought that I have now given my own government my name and contact along with the concerns I have about FATCA.
How sad that I now feel like I could be a target. The government that I depend on for my safety now has me feeling unsafe. I feel for everyone that is going through this. How sad, and how wrong.
@Outraged: I’m just now seeing your great letter. Sorry, I have been overwhelmed the past week with other FATCA projects, the efforts towards raising the funds for the Charter challenge, signing the retainer with Stephen Kish for Joe Arvay, etc.
Great input. I tweeted your letter today.
@Sherry: Welcome to Sandbox. I don’t think I’ve seen you here before–or I may have missed it.
You are among friends here. We all know the feeling of terror that we face for simply saying Canada should protect our long-held rights under Canada’s laws and constitution.
@Sherry, I think many of us feel the way you d0, I know I do. However, to inform our government of just how they are impacting the lives of literally millions of Canadians is something I can’t pass up. And I do not believe they will pay any attention to anything sent by an obvious pseudonym.
It IS sad and it IS wrong that we have to live in fear that our own government will betray us to a foreign government. But, that’s our new reality. It sucks.
Here is a submission from Dr. Stephen Kish and Lynne Swanson (aka Blaze)
We kept our joint submission brief.
My personal submission was a bit longer than the one Dr. Kish and I submitted together.
In that submission, I stand by my original submission of November 14, 2012.
Here is another excellent letter. This submission is from Grouchy and Mad who sent it to me and asked me to post it here.
Thanks Grouchy!
Great letter, Grouchy and Mad!
I love your opening point:
“By signing this agreement Canada accepts the United States violation of
international residence based taxation norms, against residents of Canada,
and at our cost. The agreement negotiated does not address the threats
that FATCA poses to Canadian privacy and human rights.”