OK, this is the first I have heard of this and excuse me of my lack of experience, but I am only 24. I do agree that if you give the government an inch, they will try to take a mile and this act could be laying the groundwork for the government to take more control. But from what I understand of this bill right here, it is designed to stop tax cheats like mafia bosses, gamblers, drug dealers and other money launderers. If you have properly paid your taxes, the government shouldn’t be able to stop you from investing abroad. Not only would that be un-Constitutional, but it would be a Protectionist move that should be illegal under the WTO.
With that said, I don’t like the idea of withholding 30% just in case someone is a tax cheat. That seems to me like they are treating someone like they are guilty without any reason to be suspicious.
I like the idea of greater transparency. If someone is deemed a tax cheat after making a foreign investment, that is when the government should pursue them. Then again, with banks in places like Switzerland being willing holders of illegitimate funds in secret accounts, that may not be an effective policy.
>it is designed to stop tax cheats like mafia bosses, gamblers, drug dealers and other money launderers.
That is exactly the claim put forth for making it illegal for a felon to possess a firearm. {Or even ammunition.}
It flies in the face of all prior [American] jurisprudence, wherein if one has served their sentence they are free and have all rights & privileges restored.
>If you have properly paid your taxes, the government shouldn’t be able to stop you from investing abroad.
Oy vey! The tax code is at LEAST 40,000 PAGES long; and then there’s modifiers like this law laying around. If they want to find that you haven’t “properly paid” your taxes then they will.