A proposal for the Elimination of Citizenship Based Taxation has been written for the U.S. Senate Finance Committee by Shadow Raider over at Brock.
As EmBee says:
It’s brilliant … absolutely brilliant!!!
In clear language, Shadow Raider outlines why the arguments justifying CBT are invalid. He has done a comprehensive review of the U.S. mammoth and complex U.S. Tax Code, yet offers simple solutions to change it.
Do I think Congress will adopt these recommendations? In drawing a conclusion about that, I will simply quote Will Rogers:
The only difference between death and taxes is that death doesn’t get worse every time Congress meets.
The PDF seems to contain only the 1st page.
@WhatAmI: Thanks for letting me know. That is weird. I will try to correct it. .
It took me a little while but I think it’s correct now. Let me know if you still have a problem.
Looks good now. Thanks Lynne!
RT @MapleSandbox: Brilliant Proposal for Elimination of #CBT : http://t.co/tOzvRlM1gi
Though it is immaterial to me or my wife whether this proposal is implemented, I am extremely impressed by the logic and flow of the presentation and the amount of thought and research that has gone into it. Well done!
With Lynne and Will Rogers, I share a certain skepticism that Congress (and the US government generally) is any longer capable of rational legislation and governance, but one can live in hope (and keep one’s powder dry, to mix metaphors …)
Will Rogers is my third favourite US writer, after Mark Twain and Garrison Keillor. Great quote and good find, Lynne!
Schubert: If Mark Twain is your favourite writer, you will love this one:
I was going to use it in the post, but I did not want to insult idiots.
I am not optimistic that Congress has any common sense or logic. On his first international trip a couple of years ago, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry was a bit more polite than Mark Twain:
Hmmm. I do not remember learning that in school. I do remember learning about lots of other rights. Unfortunately, Congress is using Kerry`s right to be stupid to stomp all over all the other rights enshrined in the U.S. constitution.
LOL!!! Gotta love Sam Clemens!
Please someone tell me John Kerry was being ironic (or is it sarcastic?). Or is he just another idiot?
I’d add as an addendum to Kerry’s observation, … “but to qualify for Congress you have an obligation to be stupid.”
@Schubert: Kerry defends liberties, says Americans have “right to be stupid.”
Wasn’t it Mark Twain who also said “I don’t belong to any organized political party….I’m a Democrat”?
Re: John Kerry’s “In American, you have the right to be stupid”. He may be correct but the US is doomed if too many citizens exercise that right.
Not sure whether many folks are aware that Washington is discussing Tax Reform. Foreign Tax concerns appears to be one of the topics potentially on the table. With luck, some form of Residence Based Taxation will be on the cards. Hopefully they will act if a large number of folks like us submit comments outlining the difficulties we face with the current system. Washington is actively seeking comments from the public. See their website:
http://www.finance.senate.gov/newsroom/chairman/release/?id=3bcf1fcf-9dd8-47d4-9202-21a0870cd8d6
The more folks sending their comments the better.
Thanks JohnJ. That is the committee where Shadow Raider sent his proposal.
It is also where powerful and heartwrenching videos were submitted.
Stephen Kish, John Richardson, Marilyn Ginsburg and an anonymous Canadian were in Washington this week for meetings on this. I hope they will make a report here after they return.
I agree. The more submissions the better. However, I decided not to make a submission because I am taking the verry firm stand that I am NOT a U.S. citizen.
I’m not holding my breath, that’s for sure. There have been many papers and proposals put forward on removing CBT, but the US powers-that-be haven’t listened yet. However, maybe the FATCA-storm will have given them some pause for thought, so while I won’t hold my breath, I will cross a couple of fingers. Of course, IMHO, even if they did, it wouldn’t be retroactive. They’d want to claw every single penny that they can, so they’d say something like that everyone has to be completely up to date on taxes, fbars and fines before they’d let them off the hook.
However, every attempt to educate the law makers in the US is a worthwhile effort. Just as every letter we write to our Canadian officials is worthwhile, and so is every nickel we put into the lawsuit fund.
“…the manifest injustice of citizenship-based taxation.”
Allison Christians plans an upcoming presentation:
“I plan to focus on the international implications of the US approach to delivering benefits through the tax code from the perspective of a specific group of “end users” whose financial situations would make them eligible for benefits delivery but who are nevertheless systematically denied these benefits.
“This group is the globally dispersed population of “US persons” who are deemed to be permanently resident in the United States for tax compliance and financial reporting purposes but are not so deemed for purposes of benefits delivered through the tax code, notably, the earned income tax credit.
“The premise I am studying: The inclusion of all US persons in the tax base regardless of domicile, juxtaposed with the blanket denial of eligibility for income support based solely on domicile, reveals the manifest injustice of citizenship-based taxation.”
http://taxpol.blogspot.ca/2015/04/upcoming-event-on-delivering-tax.html
Even though his proposal–along with hundreds of other submissions–to U.S. Senate Finance Committee was virtually ignored, Shadow Raider is still active on the CBT issue.
He is making a presentation today to the Senate Finance Committee. Here is what he will be presenting in Elimination of Citizenship-Based Taxation.
Thank you Shadow Raider.