FATCA affects almost 1 million Canadians who have American indica

[riverbendviewgal]

Last edited Sat Jan 11, 2014, 11:49 PM - Edit history (1)

http://hir.harvard.edu/blog/jessica-dorfmann/the-cost-of-united-states-citizenship-abroad

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The Cost of United States Citizenship Abroad

United States in the World Americas
By Jessica Dorfmann | December 3, 2013 | 7:34 PM

Citizenship in the United States affords many benefits - most notably the right to live, work, and vote in a global powerhouse nation. But, in recent years, Americans have been relinquishing their citizenship in record numbers – total annual renunciations have jumped more than ten-fold since 2006. For United States citizens living abroad, the hidden costs of their citizenship are high and the advantages relatively few. The United States is the only country in the world to still practice citizenship-based taxation regardless of residence. And this archaic policy is not only unjustified, but is frustrating and alienating expatriates across the globe.
What does “citizenship-based taxation” mean in practice? Every year, on top of their domestic taxes, United States citizens residing abroad must report virtually all of their foreign financial accounts, income, and assets to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). In general, citizens pay the difference between their domestic taxes and what they would have been taxed in the US – so, if a citizen’s domestic taxes are higher than what they would owe in the US, they pay no additional taxes. However, an exemption from additional taxes is not an exemption from the inconvenience, penalties, and hidden costs that come with filing US taxes abroad. The policy is designed in part to discourage wealthy United States citizens from establishing offshore bank accounts or leaving the country in order to avoid paying US taxes. But the vast majority of expatriates are not living abroad to duck taxation – they have simply moved away for work, education, or family reasons and have not returned. Many non-resident citizens have inherited United States citizenship by birth, but have never actually resided there– they’ve received no services from the US government, yet must file American taxes every year or face severe penalties.
This brings us to the first problem with the United States’ taxing of non-residents – there are no philosophical grounds for it. Taxation is typically rationalized for two reasons: either the state is providing the taxpayer with services, or the taxpayer’s revenue is being generated within the borders of the taxing country. The United States government would argue that their policy prevents wealth generated within the United States from being whisked away into tax-free foreign bank accounts, but this argument neglects to acknowledge the masses of expatriates who have earned their income elsewhere, but are still on the hook to the IRS. As mentioned before, there is a large population of foreign-born Americans who have never received anything from the United States government besides an eagle-embossed passport (that they had to fork out about $165 USD for). Why should these men and women be held hostage to the IRS by an accident of birth?



http://hir.harvard.edu/blog/jessica-dorfmann/the-cost-of-united-states-citizenship-abroad

The above is just an excerpt. Click on link to read the rest.

[riverbendviewgal]

1. 104 views

DU is very narrow minded these days....and no empathy.....I been here a long time.

I hated W Bush, cheered for Obama and you guys don't give a shit for anyone else .

[CHIMO]

2. Who Is

On first?

[laundry_queen]

3. can't argue with that.

and I've been here a long time too. Things have changed here.

sorry you aren't getting more replies on these threads...it's all very important information.

[riverbendviewgal]

4. thank you

I appreciate your reply. FATCA is the NSA of banking . The US will have access to the whole world's banking and soon it will be happening right in the homeland.
Whatever happened to sovereignty?

[laundry_queen]

5. I know right?

Between the NSA and environmental disasters and Harper and FATCA I totally have outrage fatigue. I wonder what the tipping point will be? Is there one?

[riverbendviewgal]

6. don't know

TPP? Too much government done in secret.

[blkmusclmachine]

7. ,

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