It's been three days since our article, FATCA: 'Simple' Premise Gone Terribly Wrong, was published in The Hill. It is, as of noon today (Pacific Time), topping the Most Viewed and Most E-mailed lists and is second on the Most Discussed.
To all the people who read, commented, sent encouraging notes and phone calls, and who passed along the link via Twitter and FB and email, thank you so much. To the sheer pleasure of seeing something we wrote published, we can add the joy of watching the Diaspora in action. It's incredible and I never imagined that I would see such a thing in my lifetime.
To the homelanders who may be reading and wondering what the big deal is, please try to understand how frustrated we are. We have tried just about every avenue to be heard. We have joined organizations like ACA and AARO; we have written (many of us more than once) to our Congressional representatives and to our local lawmakers in our countries of residence; we have sent article after article to the media; we meet every one-line article and discussions about this with comments and letters to the journalists correcting misconceptions and asking that they look into it further; we have set up on our own websites and blogs. Hell, we even went to the OECD and the European Parliament to see what could be done.
I don't know what more we have to do to get heard but I'm hoping that the publication of this article will mean that we will have an easier time convincing other publications to do interviews or accept articles giving OUR side of the story.
Whenever I get too frustrated or think that one sick, unemployed, middle-aged woman in Versailles is a complete fool for thinking that any of this can be changed, I remember the Dalai Lama saying:
“If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping with a mosquito.”
Which is to say that the "weapons of the weak" can be quite formidable indeed. So let's all be mosquitoes and perhaps together we can create the perfect swarm.
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Some very interesting discussions on the article around the Web if you'd like to see more reactions and comments:
Maple Sandbox (Lynne's blog)
American Citizens Abroad FB page
Feel free to pass along any more links you may have come across in the comments section and I will add them to the list.
Update: And here's one that hit my mailbox this morning from Greg in Thailand. He asks, "Is FATCA Doomed?" Really well done and a must read.
Update: And here's one that hit my mailbox this morning from Greg in Thailand. He asks, "Is FATCA Doomed?" Really well done and a must read.
12 comments:
A mosquito keeps you awake all night with its buzzing. It stings. It draws blood. It carries deadly disease.
If that's what one mosquito do, think what a swarm of us can do!
I just received an e-mail from The White House with a link to "Stand with President Obama in support of a better bargain for the middle class."
http://www.whitehouse.gov/a-better-bargain/speak-out?utm_source=email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=email227-text1&utm_campaign=economy
Quote from this web page:
"President Obama’s vision for our economy builds on the cornerstones of what it means to be middle class in America: Job security. A good education for all ages. A home to call your own. Health care when you get sick. A secure retirement even if you’re not rich."
This is exactly what FATCA/FBAR + CBT is making impossible for the 5 to 7 million Americans resident abroad.
Hopefully our buzzing will become so loud that our government can no longer ignore us.
I think along with stellar articles like this one there may soon come a time for a day of action around the world. Perhaps more than one. Getting the word out about that may require ads in papers everywhere.
I want to thank you so much for this article and what an accomplishment! The Hill wrote to of the most ill informed and nastiest articles on FATCA I ever read a year ago. Now look! Very pleased to have had an opportunity to see this happen!
This was an amazing thing to see happen! Thank you so much for getting this done and in "The Hill" no less!
A wonderful article. But much more polite than those boneheads in Washington deserve.
@Atticus I think you're right and if something doesn't move soon then we are going to have to think about demonstrations. I'd say that there are enough of us now with very little to lose (our names are already out there) that it would be feasible.
@Victoria: The article below does not not specifically mention the Simple Premise article. It did, however, take some of the information from our article.
http://www.globalwealthprotection.com/fatca-irs-international-revenue-service/#comment-15763
In fact, the Simple Premise article may be what awakened the author to the “ridiculousness” of FATCA. It seems she has just become aware of the “US person” rule
She reports, as did we, that the King of Thailand, Mayor of London England and Premier of New Brunswick are all “US persons”
She also lists several of the facts included in our article.
I agree with most of what she wrote. However, these statements give me grave cause for concern: “Before all the FATCA nonsense takes full hold in 2015, think about researching some safe-havens. Look at globalizing your assets in various stores of wealth.”
That is exactly what got us into this mess. We have been caught up in the mess of residents in US who are trying to evade taxes. We are not doing that. We pay taxes where we live, work, and earn an income.
I have posted a comment on her blog. It is awaiting moderation.
Steven Mopsick has posted the Simple Premise article on his blog, along with comments on of Victoria's earlier posts here on citizenship.
http://mopsicktaxlaw.blogspot.ca/2013/08/fatca-simple-premise-gone-terribly-wrong.html
Correction to above I meant "TWO" in the second paragraph.
I think days of action are called for. And I've already been watching my calendar for when important U.S. officials are visiting Ottawa. This includes Kerry and Obama. We need to make ourselves visible the old fashioned way too. Protests accomplish visibility. There are so many of us! I'd really like to see it be world wide. Just dreaming for now but, they aren't listening on RBT and the damage done to families with FATCA is just so far out there. Maybe if they could SEE we aren't billionaires in sipping champagne on yachts.
Correction for above second paragraph. I meant "TWO" not "To" good lord.
I really think world wide days of action should be on the plan. There are so many of us! The world needs to see we are not billionaires, sipping champagne on islands.
@Blaze, I read the article with a great deal of amusement. Whole paragraphs seem to have been lifted from The Hill article. Did you get an answer to your comment?
And Stephen's article was really something.
@Atticus, I think we are almost at the point where action like peaceful demonstrations would be possible. If we can't get heard any other way then, hell, that would be the way to go.
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