Posted on 10/27/2009 9:17:09 AM PDT by markomalley
Congressional Democrats are set to announce Tuesday legislation aimed at squeezing more information from foreign banks and U.S. citizens with offshore accounts to ferret out tax evaders.
The bill from Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D., Mont.), and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel (D., N.Y.), includes some of President Barack Obama's proposals to fight offshore tax cheating. According to a summary of the bill obtained by Dow Jones Newswires, it is expected to raise $8.5 billion for the U.S. government over 10 years.
Foreign banks with U.S. customers would face a 30% withholding tax on income from U.S. financial assets, unless they agreed to disclose the identities of their U.S. customers and report to the IRS on annual balance and account activity of those customers.
Individuals with holdings in foreign accounts of more than $50,000 would be required to report information on those accounts annually when they file their tax return. Failure to do so could incur a penalty of up to $50,000.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
If the money was made in the US, it will either be reported on a W-2 or a 1099 (of some variety), right? If the money was made outside of the US, it's foreign income and exempt from taxation then, right?
If interest is earned on the money deposited in the foreign account, it is foreign income...and thus not taxed...right?
(Obviously, if it is illicit, under-the-table, earnings, then that would be a separate situation)
So what am I missing?
I’m just glad that Charlie Rangel is involved. I wouldn’t trust such a bill to anyone else.
You should be able to keep your money offshore. We almost went to live in Rome Italy, then Muscat Oman, then Brazil. We could have opened a bank account there and we could have left money there when we returened to USA.
I guess they need another kind of tax evasion bill to catch Geithner, Rangel, etc here IN the USA??????
Well, if anyone knows about tax cheating, it's Charles Rangel!
“...House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel (D., N.Y.), includes some of President Barack Obama’s proposals to fight offshore tax cheating”
Rangel the off-shore tax cheat??? The fox guarding the henhouse once again? What a whacked out group of delinquents we have there in Wash.
“Will somebody smarter on finance than me explain why this is ANY of the government’s business?”
Big Brother can’t have people thinking they can go against its whims. And they need to keep looting in order to keep bribing voters.
“So what am I missing?”
The logic of the looters.
Just more reparations. Evil rich etc.
He’s done his research!
It is always funny when the libs try this. You would think that after all these years these money-grabbers would finally learn that 30% of 0 is always 0.
If this becomes law, it will take foreign banks minutes, possibly seconds, to disinvest themselves from the USA.
Disclose your US customers or the Pay Czar will cut your pay. What!? He has no jurisdiction!?
“Well, if anyone knows about tax cheating, it’s Charles Rangel! “ Takes one to KNOW one???? then HE should know.
Have you read 1984. In the book if you are an “enemy” of Big Brother you vanish in the middle of the night and they wipe out all memory and record of you, it is called being VAPORIZED and now that is what Harry Reid wants to do to Republicans in 2010.
Sounds like they are only going after individuals, and not the Globalist Multi-Nat Corporations....if they only plan to collect 8 billion when they start doing this.
Sounds like more George Soros-Free Trade Globalism....go after individual Americans....let Anti-American Multi-Nats alone.
First they want to control the movement of all fiat money, domestically and overseas, because they plan on a serious erosion of the dollar to pay for all the freebies. Any expected capital gains accruing to an American who owns other currency or securities will need to pay taxes on those gains. The other reason is simply to punish anyone who wants to leave the US, especially investors. The next step will be outlaw the ownership of gold. I believe this is the FDR approach if memory serves me.
How in the world did someone like Max Baucus win in Montana??
First he sets up the Senate version of Obamascare, and now he’s working with the shakedown artist Rangel.
On another thread it was mentioned that in California a man sitting in his idling car in a parking stall at starbucks was given a ticket for using his cell phone while “driving”. Last year in Seattle a man got a parking ticket for leaving the lights on in his parked car. The city denied it was pressing Rita to write as many tickets as possible.
I (and a lot of people) was predicting this a couple years back when I heard about Vallejo, CA going bankrupt. As this economy slides, governments will pull out all the stops to squeeze every “legitimate” dollar out of the people that they can. From Traffic light cameras to cigarettes bought out of state, to strictly enforcing speed laws, to anything else they can think of. It is coming and, at some levels, already here.
People do not fully understand how desperate all levels of government are getting in this country. Right now it is due to what they see on the horizon as they are currently experiencing reductions in tax revenue of 25% or more. But when that “horizon” gets closer and arrives, expect all sorts of desperation.
And they have guns.
What’s interesting is that I would guess that probably 3/4 of the big money people who hide their incomes offshore are Democrats.
I’m sure one of the biggest holders of Swiss numbered accounts is Bill Clinton.
Are they planning to use this information selectively? Just hit the Republican donors and hide the information on their own donors? That certainly wouldn’t surprise me.
Much like closing all the Republican car dealerships, which they did quite openly, and apparently paid no political penalty because the media covered for them.
Will somebody smarter on finance than me explain why this is ANY of the government’s business?
“Will somebody smarter on finance than me explain why this is ANY of the government’s business? “
The answer is simple to our Marxist Government Leadership.
Wiki: “According to Marxism, capitalism is a system based on the exploitation of the proletariat by the bourgeoisie”
It’s the Marxist way to crush the bourgeoisie class and create a proletariat utopia.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.