Posted on 07/17/2013 12:33:53 PM PDT by Errant
The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, or Fatca, is forcing millions of Americans living abroad to reconsider their U.S. citizenship, a lawyer, Colleen Graffy, writes in the Wall Street Journal.
"The legislation is Fatca, the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act. To appreciate its breathtaking scope along with America's unique "citizen-based" tax practices, imagine this: You were born in California, moved to New York for education or work, fell in love, married and had children. Even though you have faithfully paid taxes in New York and haven't lived in California for 25 years, suppose California law required that you also file your taxes there because you were born there. Though you may never have held a bank account in California, you must report all of your financial holdings to the State of California. Are you a signatory on your spouse's account? Then you must declare his bank accounts too. Your children, now adults, have never been west of the Mississippi but they too must file their taxes in both California and New York and report any bank accounts they or their spouses may have because they are considered Californians by virtue of one parent's birthplace," Graffy explains.
"Extrapolate that example to the six million U.S. citizens living around the globe. Many, if not most, don't know about these requirements. Yet they face fines, penalties and interest for not complying—even if they owe no U.S. taxes, own no U.S. property, have no U.S. bank account and haven't lived there in years—if ever.
(Excerpt) Read more at weeklystandard.com ...
It is so sad to see US Citizenship descend from a prized asset to an oppressive liability.
We also have the reverse here.
My wife, a Canadian, has to report her Canadian savings account as does the bank up there. If not, they BOTH will be boycotted by the Treasury Dept.
Thank you Dodd-Frank.
“The Flag still stands for Freedom, and they can’t take that away....” but they are rapidly working on taking all else away.
My canadian GF was supposed to file for citizenship IF Romney won but that’s now out of the question.
I guess the only thing to do is find a way to fake your own death, steal an identity and go underground.
“Freedom stands for nothing left to lose...” - Joplin
Good thing then; Romney, politically speaking, is Obama.
Can't do that either, the government gets half of everything you owned.
Just to tell the US Fedgov to shove it. Better yet, just hide your assets and ignore them. Not that I’m encouraging anyone to break US laws, just saying what they could do.
Not if you're an expatriate and cash out.
Gangster government. There is no other term for it.
Some foreign banks are actually telling their expatriate American citizen customers that their accounts must be closed. The foreign banks cannot reasonably or economically comply with this US law, and do not wish to risk the penalties.
The simplest answer for them is simply to accept no US citizen customers.
The US is notorious around the world for breathtaking hubris and overreach, and this is yet another example.
If a few thousand do it, they will get you. If a few hundred thousand do it, they might get you. If a few million do it, you're doing something right out of Saul Alinsky - overwhelming the system.
Hey, the current POTUS has been using that principle successfully, why can't it work for everyone?
If I were able to come into a huge windfall of cash, I’d be out of this country in a flash.
The laws were made at a time when most Americans cherished their American citizenship. Along came 0bama - and highly productive people are no longer interested in being Americans.
Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose, ...Pearl
More attractive? Ms. Graffy should 'argue' for herself.
My citizenship means more to me than money. This law is unfair and should be changed. But give up my U.S. citizenship? No way. I'm keeping it - and if someone wants to try to take it from me, they will have to obtain it the same way they can take my guns...
The US has put up the economic equivalent of the “Berlin Wall”.
Didn’t Kris Kristofferson actually write that?
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