Starting The Road To Freedom.

The happiest day in my wife's life will be when she receives THIS. She has contributed to Canada for over 10 years since her landing sixteen years ago and has helped to support this family. After she receives her Canadian citizenship, she will no longer have to deal with the self-entitled types back in the country where she was birthed (It's not home anymore) who expect her to pay her "fair-share" while she receives no benefits, no representation...or anything connected with the United States; who lift up their hands in self-entitled greed backed by statute, expecting that she will pay their way when it would take food off our family's table and the clothes off our children's backs.

She has paid her FAIR SHARE to Canada, for 10 years and counting, for the roads that she uses, for the sidewalks that she walks on; for the education that our children (born in Canada) have received, for the health-care that she and our family receives in Canada and all for the love of our family.

And like my father who took out his Canadian citizenship, 50 years to the day that he landed on Canadian soil (because he chose to give his life with work and paying taxes to Canada before receiving his benefits - he did not feel entitled to take out citizenship before retirement - his exact words were, he "owed Canada for providing him and his family a life"); after emigrating from Japan in 1956 and he died a Canadian in 2009. My father would be ashamed if he could see HIS Canada today, the country that he loved because he wanted his beloved daughter-in-law to have the same rights that he did that he worked so hard for. My father was a simple man, he worked hard and provided for his family and in turn he helped my family while I was getting on my feet (that is the love of an Asian father). My father never had the chance to vote as a Canadian yet he paid his taxes to Canada throughout his life. My wife wants to be a Canadian so that she has the full rights of being able to vote in this country that my father was unable to (because he died before he could exercise his right to vote); to exercise the rights and freedoms provided by the Charter of Rights & Freedoms of Canada. My father loved this country, yet our country fails to protect the daughter-in-law that he loved, as much as I love.

I love my country, but my country has betrayed me twice: First when it interned my loyal maternal grandfather's (grandfather, grandmother, uncles and my mother) family in Slocan. Second when it said to my wife and 1M+ other Canadians and permanent residents (those who have moved here with the intention of gaining citizenship in Canada) that they were second-class citizens) and that "Congress had spoken" as if Canada was a lapdog of the United States or even worse, the 51st State of the Union. I still LOVE Canada, with all my heart and soul, but I stand here a jaded man, bitter and angry, that the Liberals and the Progressive Conservatives would relegate my wife and 1M+ others and their Canadian families to the role of second class-citizen.

So to anyone who would dismiss that loyalty, that love of country. who says that she is a second-class Canadian resident, and/or self-entitledly feel that she should give you something or scream fair-share due to the fact that she is of a citizenship (that she cannot shed fast enough) of a country that practices a taxation form that is only matched by that of a 3rd World Banana Republic and supports an administration that has persecuted her because of it: FUCK YOU!!!

To the friends-in-arms (who are going through this crap) like Bubblebustin', Trisha Moon, SwissTechie, Gwenny and Petros who have been instrumental in becoming a support group and network and loyal friends, Thank you; you mean more to me and to my wife than you know.

To my friends from school who actually do understand the situation who knew me before I became this seething ball of rage, thank you for standing by me, for believing that I am still the same person you once knew in school as a caring and understanding guy underneath all this rage at this injustice and that all my rage that I have presented here on this page is mainly because I hate persecution, especially when it is unjust. I will not pay taxes to a government that I derive no benefit from and I should think that my wife feels the same. That is why my wife has no problems paying taxes to Canada because she derives benefits from being a Canadian resident. If you think anything different of me just because I rage at injustice, then as George Carlin once said, "I don't give a fuck, Go Fuck Yourself."

My wife WILL get her Canadian citizenship; she will become a loyal Canadian; she will vote for the next prime minister of Canada but the satisfaction of my beloved wife becoming Canadian will be bittersweet tempered because I know now that Canada is not the shining beacon of fairness and equality that it holds herself out to be.

Degradation of Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness

The Democrats instigated this against 9M+ Americans Abroad then when people started objecting with their feet (renouncing citizenship) these same Democrats raised the renunciation of citizenship fee from $450.00 to $2350.00. How is that not "obstruction of free will" and the statutes of Section 349 of the INA (8 U.S.C. 1481). Note that even if you lose your citizenship by any of these acts - unless you pay them their "protection money" for five years (previous to your loss of nationality even if you've received NOTHING from the US Government for those five years), you are still considered a US citizen in the eyes of the IRS and Department of Treasury? Essentially US citizens are slaves. They may be happy slaves and like Uncle Tom, they may enjoy thinking that they're on the "best plantation" in the world but they're still slaves.

In the Declaration of Independence under Inalienable Rights: The Committee of Five altered Thomas Jefferson's quote of "We hold these truths to be sacred & undeniable; that all men are created equal & independent, that from that equal creation they derive rights inherent & inalienable, among which are the preservation of life, & liberty, & the pursuit of happiness; ..." to "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

The Democrats in violation of the US Declaration of Independence decided that they would restrict US expatriate's Liberty and their pursuit of Happiness" with a restrictive $2350.00 renunciation fee. In that regards, apparently the Democrats feel that the US Declaration of Independence is NOT worth the paper that it is written on. Yet idiots on both sides of the fence (both Democrat and Republican) do not realize the slippery slope that we are going down in doing so. Jingoistic cheers of "If you don't want to be in the greatest country in the world, then get out!" and "pay your fair share"...What Expatriates want is to let go of their US citizenship (renounce) without having to pay exhorbitant fees (it seems as though the US would rather keep them as slaves rather than as free men (and women)) which go into domestic benefits rather than any benefits that expatriates receive (which is absolutely nothing). So why are expatriates paying taxes to a government when they receive absolutely nothing for it? Is that not a degradation of "liberty and the pursuit of happiness": being treated as tax chattel with the benefit of being treated as nothing more than income to the government from which the expat derives nothing and the homelander derives all benefits from whatever the expatriate paid in taxes to the US government? Does ANYONE in their right mind think that type of taxation is fair?

Elizabeth Warren: Hypocrite.

Evidently today, Senator Elizabeth Warren, (D-MA) lambasted the CEO of Wells Fargo in a blistering diatribe.

@SenWarren have you taken a look in your mirror after you lambasted the Wells Fargo CEO. Those same words can apply to your position- #FATCA May I remind you of the letter you sent out to an expat explaining your party's search for the elusive $100B tax cheats.

“I recognize that FATCA implementation has not been perfect(author's note: yet they still go ahead with it), and it troubles me that financial institutions overseas would deny services to Americans out of concern over FATCA compliance. However, according to the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, the U.S. Treasury may be losing more than $100 billion in tax revenues every year as a result of offshore tax havens (author's note: unadulterated, unqualified falsehoods - read as complete and utter bullshit). I believe measures like FATCA clamp down on overseas tax evasion and help make sure that everyone pays their fair share of taxes. (author's note: read that as scam more money out of people who don't derive any benefit from the United States)”

You said to the Wells Fargo CEO: "You squeezed your employees to the breaking point so they would cheat customers and you could drive up the value of your stock and put hundreds of millions of dollars in your own pocket.". Well, You and your Democratic cronies squeezed expats of modest income to the point where they felt that they had no choice but to be extorted into financially breaking penalties or into the arms of the gratified compliance condors who waited to pick over the remnants of any finances that were remaining. I'm sure you won't turn down that fat paycheck of yours or any fat increase in pay if budgeted in next years fiscal budget, will you? Perhaps a look in the mirror will show you your hypocrisy but then again, I'd bet on a civilization-ending meteor striking earth before you came to the conclusion that you were wrong.

"And when it all blew up you kept your job, you kept your multimillion-dollar bonuses and you went on television to blame thousands of $12 an hour employees that were just trying to meet cross-sell quotas that made you rich". - Oh, I'm sure you will continue to blame the expats for the fact that you cannot find the elusive $100B in unpaid taxes that are reputed to be floating somewhere offshore while YOU keep raking in your substantial paycheck for being a non-contributing windbag in a House of windbags.

YOU...ma'am, are just as much a bloodsucker as the Wells Fargo CEO. FATCA is a scam, selling lies to Americans about fake billions of offshore unpaid taxes: You should take your own advice to Stumpf - "This is about accountability. You should resign. You should give back the money that you took while this scam was going on…This just isn't right."

I won’t go into the “fair share” and other bullshit because you know very well that there is no fair share paying taxes to a foreign country from whom you derive nothing. And since this cold is already driving me up a wall, I have no desire to throw up today.

The US is a Hypocrite in Implementing FATCA.

The Stamp Act of 1765; an act of Parliament of Great Britain that imposed a “revenue tax” on the Thirteen Colonies was the spark in the tinder that lit off the Revolutionary War of 1775. Colonists objected to the act that taxed their colonies without representation in Parliament. Petitions were given to Parliament and roundly ignored, prompting an outburst in response to the accusations from Charles Townsend of being ungrateful, “and now will these Americans, children planted by our care, nourished up by our Indulgence until they are grown to a degree of strength and opulence, and protected by our arms, will they grudge to contribute their mite to relieve us from heavy weight of the burden which we lie under?” This provoked a reply from Colonel Isaac Barré which read: “They planted by your care? No! Your oppression planted ‘em in America. They fled from your tyranny to a then uncultivated and unhospitable country where they exposed themselves to almost all the hardships to which human nature is liable, and among others to the cruelties of a savage foe, the most subtle, and I take upon me to say, the most formidable of any people upon the face of God’s earth. …

They nourished by your indulgence? They grew by your neglect of ‘em. As soon as you began to care about ‘em, that care was exercised in sending persons to rule over 'em, in one department and another, who were perhaps the deputies of deputies to some member of this house, sent to spy out their liberty, to misrepresent their actions and to prey upon 'em; men whose behaviour on many occasions has caused the blood of those sons of liberty to recoil within them … .

They protected by your arms? They have nobly taken up arms in your defence, have exerted a valour amidst their constant and laborious industry for the defence of a country whose frontier while drenched in blood, its interior parts have yielded all its little savings to your emolument … The people I believe are as truly loyal as any subjects the king has, but a people jealous of their liberties and who will vindicate them if ever they should be violated; but the subject is too delicate and I will say no more.”

Yet two hundred and thirty five years later, America would invoke their own “stamp act” – named the Hire Act, ratified by Barack Obama and the Democratic Party, which embedded within lay the controversial Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) – a timebomb of epic proportions with severe ramifications for the colonists of today, American expatriates who lived in countries abroad. These Americans abroad were either dual citizens or citizens of one country born to an American abroad carrying a Trojan horse citizenship which existed solely to decimate their “foreign” bank accounts considered local to those “Americans” who lived in those countries and worked there.

Under the guise of rooting out tax-cheats (while vilifying hard-working Americans abroad) with their own version of Charles Townsend’s venomous, scurrilous accusations of “look at what we have done for you, we protect you under our nuclear umbrella…and you have the benefits (which no one can actually quantify) of being an American…so pay your fair share”, they set about to scrape up every single rotten cent of “taxation without representation” as their English fore-rulers did before them. In fact, the United States of America is embarking on the same road as their English forebears did 235 years prior. In fact a popular slogan in pre-Revolutionary War Boston was the phrase coined by James Otis: “taxation without representation is tyranny” later shortened to “No Taxation Without Representation”. In fact the very essence of the Revolutionary War was rebellion against citizenship taxation.

Americans Abroad of modern times have taken up that cry. Because one after the other, our spineless governments have capitulated under threats of 30% penalties/sanctions (U.S. payors making payments to non-compliant foreign financial institutions are required to "deduct and withhold from such payment a tax equal to 30 percent of the amount of such payment".) levied against their financial institutions. These are tactics comparable to La Familia protectionist rackets. This financial levy has caused the rest of the world to institute laws to permit the otherwise illegal act of defying their own Banking Privacy Acts. In fact Canada rewrote its own Banking Privacy Law to make it legal for FATCA to stick their tentacles into the Canadian banking system.

FATCA is economic warfare. Allowing a foreign country to siphon revenue from a nation’s revenue stream is capitulation to economic warfare. Oran's Dictionary of the Law (1983) defines treason as "...[a]...citizen's actions to help a foreign government overthrow, make war against, or seriously injure the [parent nation]. So any national leader who signed the United States Internal Revenue Service’s Inter-Governmental Agreement (henceforth referred to as IGA) is now defined as a traitor to their country and subject to prosecution under each nation’s treason statutes.

Citizenship taxation is only practiced by two countries. The first being the third world country of Eritrea; the second being the United States of America. The second nation hypocritically vilified the first for its practice of levying 2% taxes against their expatriates.

The United States is a hypocrite when it comes to citizenship taxation. Its inception was based on protest against citizenship taxation (taxation without representation) – its reasons for making war against Great Britain; the US’s progenitor. Yet it subjects its own citizens abroad (in the same situation as the 13 Colonies) to the same kind of taxation as it fled from two hundred and thirty five years ago. It must be said that Isaac Barré’s words ring true today as it did then: “They nourished by your indulgence? They grew by your neglect of ‘em. As soon as you began to care about ‘em, that care was exercised in sending persons to rule over 'em, in one department and another, who were perhaps the deputies of deputies to some member of this house, sent to spy out their liberty, to misrepresent their actions and to prey upon 'em; men whose behaviour on many occasions has caused the blood of those sons of liberty to recoil within them …”

We, who have toiled to create our own fortune, paying taxes to the land within which we reside, to the foreign nations in which we toil, have been preyed upon by the Internal Revenue Service, for our meagre wealth; while those lying within the borders of our native land scream hypocritically for our heads and our wealth.

Samuel Adams stated: "For if our Trade may be taxed why not our Lands? Why not the Produce of our Lands & every thing we possess or make use of? This we apprehend annihilates our Charter Right to govern & tax ourselves – It strikes our British Privileges, which as we have never forfeited them, we hold in common with our Fellow Subjects who are Natives of Britain: If Taxes are laid upon us in any shape without our having a legal Representation where they are laid, are we not reduced from the Character of free Subjects to the miserable State of tributary Slaves."

Samuel Adams charges that we are tributary slaves with the implementation of taxation without representation. The representation being where expats currently live; yet no matter how expats are allowed to vote in the states from which they originated, they are never represented. The politicians represent those who reside within the state and curry the bonus votes of expats from those states whilst ignoring them. So no, there is no representation in any sense of the word.

And if there is no representation, there should be no tax or there should be open rebellion.

My family has chosen the latter: We choose to pay taxes to no-one except the leaders of the land in which we reside in and deem to be protected by. As a Canadian born citizen of Canada married to an American Abroad, I should have expected protection for my wife and my accidental American citizen progeny who were born here in Canada. Yet our treasonous leaders in government capitulated and threw one million plus dual citizens of Canada with US ties under the bus. And the United States has exhibited supreme hypocrisy in initiating the same kind of taxation for which they vilified Great Britain for two hundred and thirty five years previous.

If Youse Gonna Move Here, Youse Better Pass This Test, Eh?

Youse need to be able to speak Canadian, eh.

Jack Lew accuses EU of "Reaching into US Tax Base"

Apple Penalty is Tax Overreach: Claims Jack Lew, Dept. of Treasury. How ironic... 9.8M Americans agree...that tax overreach is bad. Too bad Jack Lew can't see where it's coming from.

The Rabble Wants Blood - Expat Blood.

We're All Still Slaves On The Plantation.

And subject to the whims of the plantation owner (POTUS) unless you have your emancipation (your CLN).

Don't Tread On Me.

Petros' Article "Citizenship Taxation Is a Human Rights Abuse" in IBS Should Be A Must Read For All Brockers.

Citizenship-based taxation is a human rights abuse, and the United States is a serial human rights abuser

Read it and learn.

"Advice For Americans in Canada" from Terry McBride, CFP, MTI, CLU at Raymond James Ltd.

Advice For Americans in Canada from Terry McBride CFP, MTI, CLU

Highly qualified, I'm sure.

Steer clear of Canadian mutual funds, ETFs and REITs, which are PFICs. The instructions for reporting PFICs are insanely complex.: His words.

MFs, banks lobby for extension of 31 August FATCA deadline

Looks like India's financial institutions are in a panic to sell-out their dual-citizens.

MFs, banks lobby for extension of 31 August FATCA deadline

The extension sought is backed by the rationale that massive investments face the risk of being temporarily locked-out until account-holders adhere with the FATCA rules.

Evidently the financial institutions are now in a panic and they're wanting the US to hold off their August 31, 2016 FATCA Deadline.

An Token Effort By The Canadian Civil Liberties Association (But Silence Ever Since).

Letter To Dept. of Finance PDF Document

The CCLA's token effort in 2012.

Even though Blaze and Outraged Canadian have pestered the living shit out of the CCLA, the CCLA's response has been nothing but tepid. Does not bode well at all in this situation.

Attn: Mr. Richard Brunt: YOU do NOT Speak For Me!

With the Obama-led signing into legislation of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, targeting American expatriates and accidental citizens abroad, the Obama administration has unleashed hell on earth for millions of American expats around the world. Renunciations of United States Citizenship are increasing every quarter. And all because of one simple reason: He expects those who have to pay for those who don't due to slacking off.

Evidently Mr. Richard Brunt of Victoria thinks that "Obama is the best person in the entire world. Why not have him be our Prime Minister?" I presume he's completely out of his mind.

Having those who have money pay for those who aren't willing to work will result in the haves feeling put-upon by the masses. Hell even those dual-citizen expatriates who are making $20,000 an year before taxes are being asked to provide for those who don't want to work and sit around on welfare in the United States. "Pay my way for me, Pay for my kids, pay for my health-care!" Why do you think American expatriates are angry and renouncing their citizenships in droves. Nobody wants to pay for a slacker.










It's people like this that gives expatriates a bad impression. When they're making $20K-$65K working their butts off and then having to pay taxes in the home country that they're living in, they don't want to hear this kind of shit. Why should we have to pay for someone who is too damned lazy to get their asses off welfare and get a job? Even a McJob would help her situation more than sitting on her ass demanding that... "Someone's gotta pay for me and my 15 kids." No...nobody has to do a damned thing for you. Angel Adams.


(Photo by David Shankbone - CCby3.0)-for commentary only


The Tyee - Photograph

Obama and the Democrats have painted expatriates as unpatriotic 1% tax cheaters feeding off the frenzy of the Occupy Wall Street Movements that spawned similar Occupy movements all over the world - headed by professional slackers who don't have a job and have developed a portfolio of professional protesting while maligning hard-working individuals who are just trying to make ends meet.

If one wants to meet a cross-section of the expatriate community that these professional slacking scumbags want to malign as rich one-percenter tax cheats; take a look at the following: Dual Canadian-American Citizens: We Are Not Tax Cheats. These hard-working expatriates aren't tax cheats, but you professional Occupy Wall Street and Occupy Vancouver slackers...ARE.
We Are Not A Myth in answer to Robert Stack stating: Some claim that Americans living abroad will give up their U.S. citizenship because of liabilities and burdens created by FATCA.

His answer: "FATCA provisions impose no new obligations on U.S. citizens living abroad. Instead, FATCA’s withholding obligations fall on institutions making payments to FFIs, and the due diligence and reporting requirements fall on the FFIs themselves."

U.S. taxpayers, including U.S. citizens living abroad, are required to comply with U.S. tax laws​. Individuals that have used offshore accounts to evade tax obligations may rightly fear that FATCA will identify their illicit activities. Yet a decision to renounce U.S. citizenship would not relieve these individuals of prior U.S. tax obligations, and might well create additional U.S. tax obligations for certain citizens and long-term residents who give up citizenship or residency.

Yet the IRS penalizes taxpayers with draconian penalties upwards of $100,000 for failure to file a form. Some have been assessed in excess of $450,000 on personal savings for retirement from working for 45 years at a job paying at best $16/hr. Do they really think that a regular working joe is using their off-shore accounts for illicit activities? Let's be honest here. This is nothing but a money-grab.

And our Progressive Conservative government rolled over and decided to let US statutes take precedence over Canadian Law in Canada by instituting an intergovernmental agreement (IGA) between Canada and the United States to let the IRS take precedence over the CRA.

And that is why most of us Canadians who have some indicia of US ties whether by accident of birth or by marriage to a US citizen are pissed off as hell at the United States, at Obama, and at Stephen Harper.

Canada Had The First Thanksgiving Ever; so SUCK IT, USA!

The history of Thanksgiving in Canada can be traced back to the 1578 voyage of Martin Frobisher from England in search of the Northwest Passage. His third voyage, to the Frobisher Bay area of Baffin Island in the present Canadian Territory of Nunavut, set out with the intention of starting a small settlement. His fleet of 15 ships was outfitted with men, materials, and provisions. However, the loss of one of his ships through contact with ice along with much of the building material was to prevent him from doing so. The expedition was plagued by ice and freak storms which at times had scattered the fleet and on meeting together again at their anchorage in Frobisher Bay, "... Mayster Wolfall, [ Robert Wolfall ] a learned man, appointed by her Majesties Councell to be their minister and preacher, made unto them a godly sermon, exhorting them especially to be thankefull to God for their strange and miraculous deliverance in those so dangerous places ...". They celebrated Communion and "The celebration of divine mystery was the first sign, scale, and confirmation of Christ's name, death and passion ever known in all these quarters." ~ "The Three Voyages of Martin Frobisher: in search of a passage to Cathai and India by the northwest AD 1576-1578", Cambridge University Press

So this was 1578...a full 43 years before the Septic Yanks celebrated their first Thanksgiving. Even better, the Canadians celebrated their Thanksgiving without taking from the Indians - they provided their own food, rather than eating what the Indians brought to the table. This act by the Pilgrims in America cements Americans as moochers throughout history.

Now, in place of thanksgiving for relief from potential disaster like Martin Frobisher - we celebrate like the Americans: Turkey, stuffing and fill your gut up until you practically are comatose from over-eating then watch a game on TV. How far we've fallen to the reprobates south of the border.

Anyhow, my wife now celebrates the Canadian Thanksgiving as opposed to the feast of excess and buffoonery down south of the 49th Parallel. And proudly waves a maple-leaf which she will be exchanging her blue passport to a maple leaf one as soon as she gets her Canadian citizenship. Thank God for Canada.

Thank God for Canadian Thanksgiving. Thank goodness we had Martin Frobisher who knew what he was truly thankful for: his life and the life of his crew and the act of preservation of their lives was what he raised his hands in supplication for in relief that his men were saved. Unlike the Seppos who think that Thanksgiving is a time to feed their already obese cakeholes in thanks of the plentiful harvest - Thanksgiving is truly a celebration of gratitude up here in Canada for our lives in this harsh climate - Especially North of 60 degrees latitude.

Yeah! 'Murrica...FUCK YOU!

I used to be a big U.S. apologist. I had bought into their war on terror and the fact that George W. Bush was going after the "bad guys" and that Canada should help. Well, this viewpoint has changed considerably since my family came under attack from FATCA. I will forgive most anything, but I will not forgive an all-out attack on my family be it physical or financial. Therein lies the reasoning for my switch from being a US apologist to an outright US enemy.

When the United States instituted FATCA, they waged economic warfare on my family. My wife is the big earner in the family and unfortunately, unwittingly, she is the Trojan horse that allows the US to scrutinize our financial dealings. My photography only makes enough to get by if that. I have a bad back from falling down a set of stairs thanks to my mother not maintaining them. So, I do what I can under the physical limitations of my back. I do not collect welfare, I depend on my photography to carry me through.

Our children hold US indicia through her, whether they've opted to go American or not; which they haven't. We haven't even informed the US consulate of their birth and have no intention of doing so. And my oldest son has the intention of renouncing his US citizenship when he reaches the age of 18 which is in 7 years. Which means Uncle Sam has their claws in the majority of my family.

Peter W. Dunn of The Isaac Brock Society said it most succinctly and accurately that Canadians being taxed by Uncle Sam is a human rights crime. His quote: "Many Homelanders are a special breed of bigot who believe that you live abroad so that you can shirk your responsibility to pay for their Social Security, their Food Stamps, their welfare, and their wars across the globe" is exactly it. Homelanders keep hollering about "paying your fair share". What is fair share when you aren't represented in government? What is fair share when you cannot partake of the benefits (welfare, medicaid, unemployment insurance...etc) allowed to all Homelanders? What is fair share when we do not use their infrastructure? Should we have to pay the way of illegal aliens as well as career welfare recipients? Is it because the United States wishes to tax their expatriate indicia just for the simple fact that they carry a blue passport with an American Eagle on the face? Because a tax rate of 29% and fines of over 300% for not filing a stupid piece of paper is quite a steep rate for a little booklet and frankly not worth it in my books.

As of this year alone, the US renunciation rate has gone up 222% in the last quarter of 2013 and Americans are starting to get a bit concerned, but they still have the mindset of "don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out" or "Murrica, Fuck Yeah!". There is a note of exceptionalism and superiority with every "homelander" remark that they make about having to "defend the world" (when in actual fact, they stick their noses in everyone else's business even when they aren't supposed to) and "time for those who ride on America's coattails to pay up".

It's not a matter of US exceptionalism any longer. The rest of the world with the exception of a two bit banana republic called Eritrea, taxes their citizens based on residency and not citizenship. Even Russia, a hold out, folded their citizenship taxation when the Iron Curtain fell in 1991. So the United States, a nation 17 trillion dollars in debt holds company with a two bit dictatorship in Africa while the rest of the world tries to tax their citizenry fairly.

But rest assured my diatribe does not single out the US alone. My enmity is for all those nations who capitulated and signed a pact with the devil himself, Uncle Sam. All the nations who willingly threw their citizens under the bus just because they held US citizenship (1/2 of a dual citizenship) are contemptible. Canada recently on February 5, 2014 signed an FATCA IGA and threw 1+ million (5 million or more if you count all those affected) US indicated individuals (Canadian citizens or those who are permanent residents and are seeking Canadian citizenship) under the bus. The Stephen Harper government did an end-run around the Privacy Act and made the banks reportable to the CRA (which has now become an arm of the IRS). Harper and his Tory cronies decided to sell-out Canada's sovereignty and tried to make Canada a territory of the United States. To this Canadian, the Tories are traitors to Canada and should be imprisoned for life. In fact, I doubt with the exception of Murray Rankin, Elizabeth May, Alex Atamenenko and Linda Duncan there is a politician in Canada that will stand up to and reject FATCA. What the world needs now is a nation with the backbone to stand up to the United States - a nation that is willing to tell the United States where to go and have the might to back it up.

All malicious empires have their Achilles heel. It's just a matter of finding where the United States' Achilles Heel is. This attack on innocent expatriates of every nationality just because of US indicia should not be tolerated by any nation.

Anti-American and Damned Proud of It!

Anti-American and Damned Proud of It.

I'm tired of hearing American apologists saying that "we are so lucky that the United States is our friend". Yeah, well, what friend extorts 30% out of Canada's banks and then tries to mask that as going after tax cheats?. What "friend" goes into Afghanistan and Iraq as a masquerade for going after non-existent weapons of mass destruction then conducts a regime change in Iraq? What "friend" enacts extra-territorial laws against other countries in the world not respecting the fact that other countries have privacy laws? What "friend" is an enemy of most other countries in the world.

Canada on February 5th, 2014 surrendered their sovereignty to the United States in the American's attempts to find "tax cheats" which are laughing uproariously at the fact that the IRS has diverted attention from them to expatriates in foreign countries tarring them as "not pulling their weight". In fact frankly, why should they? Expats pay taxes in their own country of residence usually at rates higher than in the United States. They also get no benefits from the country of their birth. There is no consulate protection. All of the rhetoric coming from US government financial entities is unadulterated bullshit. Expats are considered resident in Washington DC? Well, where are the rent receipts and tax forms utilized to determine residency? What the United States is doing is creating phantom citizens to pad their tax base. The United States is a tax-and punish society.

...which is incredibly hypocritical of them as the formation of their country was formed on seceding from Great Britain under protest for "unfair taxation" and now they have become the epitome of "unfair taxation".

 

Now the United States is telling Russia that they are impeding on Ukraine's sovereign right to govern themselves. Well, they're the world's biggest hypocrite in enacting financial laws that are extraterritorial (and usually unenforceable outside of the good ol' US of A), but because of America's military might and nuclear weapons - the unspoken threat, those laws were rammed through at the barrel of a gun. And they're considering sending in the USS George Washington battle group to make their point about Russia being an abusive power. What the United States is doing is making steps to starting a war that they cannot win. At what point will Russia resort to using nuclear weapons? At what point will the United States retaliate with the same? Then we'll all have other things to worry about than FATCA going through.

The US is nobody's friend. And the United States' behavior as of recent is like a rabid dog. And rabid dogs need to be put down with due prejudice. Time to start digging your bomb shelters.

"A CLN is Your Proof of Purchase" BULLSHIT!

From Philip Hodgen: 

Your CLN Is Your Proof of Purchase
 
Think of it this way. Pretend you go to a store and buy a camera. You hand over the money and the cashier puts the camera in a bag and you walk out. The camera is yours.
 
Now pretend that you buy the camera, but the cashier puts a receipt in the shopping bag, along with the camera.
 
Does the receipt make a difference as to whether you, standing on the sidewalk, are the owner of the camera? No. It is merely a proof of purchase, so that if needed in the future (e.g., you want to return the camera and get a refund), you can prove to someone else that you are the owner.
 
A Certificate of Loss of Nationality is like that receipt. It is an acknowledgment from the U.S. government that you stopped being a U.S. citizen, just like the receipt from the camera store is an acknowledgment that you bought a camera.
 
Plainly put, getting the Certificate of Loss of Nationality doesn’t make you a noncitizen. Not getting the Certificate of Loss of Nationality does not mean you remain a citizen.
Standing in front of the Consular official and swearing the oath makes you a noncitizen.
However, what the State Department thinks (you are relinquished your nationality) and what the IRS thinks (we’re not sure whether you are an “expatriate” or not) is where we get confusion.

You know, Phil ol’ boy, this is the first time that I’ve ever heard of a “un-servicing” having to be paid for. I guess it’s really true that the United States thinks that US citizens are all slaves. I guess we have to pay for an acknowledgement that the United States decided that they are kind enough to let us go quietly rather than a flaming AGM-65 Maverick up the wazoo. But in this case if you’re comparing the loss of nationality to the purchase of a camera… you are absolutely nuts.

In the first case, all I’m left with is a receipt in my hand and no product other than a kick in the ass and a “see you later, traitor”. Not much for customer service, are they?

In your comparison: let’s see if I go to The Camera Store in Calgary, AB for example and say to Chris or Evelyn, “Hey, I wanna buy a Nikon D5 (y’know. The latest and greatest), I have product in my hand, a brand-new Nikon D5 which I can take to shoot landscapes, hockey (Canada’s greatest sport) and all that. And on top of that, I get a cheery smile from Chris and Evelyn and a “thank you for your business.” I think I prefer that customer service over the US Department of Immigration which hasn’t done shit for me except take my wife’s hard-earned money.

With the CLN, that’s all I get…and nothing else. If I was getting some benefits, Medicare, US infrastructure and education for all that tax-money that we are supposed to pay out to the United States, I’d be more apt to agree with you that the CLN was actually a receipt for “services rendered”. But my wife got her post-secondary education in Canada – Canadian taxpayers helped pay for her education.

But we have to pay the United States for what? Wastrels who spend their time getting knocked up and then exclaiming that “Someone done need to pay for my kids.”? And entitled scumbags that want free money for doing nothing?

You know what; I’d rather not pay them a dime if supporting those in the States who want to do nothing is what my wife’s expat taxes have to do. So fuck your CLN and fuck your people who want others to pay for them.

And fuck your comparison of obtaining a CLN/receipt to a legal transaction of services/product rendered for cash paid. Because a CLN is nothing but highway robbery; essentially a comparison should be made for an acknowledgement of slave-ownership and the $2350 is the emancipation fee.

But unlike most of my “born-in-Canada” friends like me…who would have no connection to this sort of problem unless they married an American (I did and thus was hooked into the FATCA mess – I’m trying to extricate my spouse who still unlike me has no idea of just how vitriolic the land of her birth can be)… who continue unawares of the injustices of the donkey of a nation south of the border against those who would seek to leave.

I have lost absolute faith in the humanity of those of my countrymen who just say “shut up and pay the taxes”…or “lose your citizenship”. This coming from Canadians who don’t seem to get the problem that presents itself of my wife having to pay for taxes for services that she doesn’t receive and that would, in an instant of Canada revoking services, revolt on paying taxes – what hypocrisy!
On top of that she is expected by both Canadian government to pay taxes to a country (in whom she is a landed immigrant/permanent resident) who treats her like she doesn’t matter, that the Charter of Rights and Freedoms isn’t worth the paper that it is written on. Well, we use services here and our children go to school here in Canada so pay we will.

I WILL NOT pay a country whose services my wife does not receive. I will not pay for someone else to receive those benefits that my wife is supposedly “on the hook” for. In otherwords, the United States who has sent a bill to every single expatriate living outside of the United States.

The country that she lives in is Canada and she will only pay for the services that she receives from Canada where she works in. She will not pay the United States to allow someone ELSE to NOT work and collect welfare. She does not drive on US roads, She does not use the United States education system. She has paid into Canadian taxes and has made use of the Canadian education system of post-secondary education. So I won’t let her pay a single penny into the United States tax system and they can FUCKING WELL GO TO HELL!

Yeah, I should really save my energy, but nothing pisses me off more than the United States 99% leeching off of countless expat families who are making middle-class wages to minimum wage. What pisses me off even more is that those 99% think that they’re ENTITLED to those families’ money in return for nothing from the United States Government.

My question to them is: WHO THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?!!!

An Innocent Bank Error? FATCA & Ramifications

Today, an interesting article from Forbes.com came across my screen as I was doing my usual surfing. Bank Error In Your Favor. This struck me for a moment, "Hey, I wouldn't mind having someone inject $50,000.00 in my bank account. However when one looks at it, it's not the happy rosy situation for Americans abroad who are afflicted by FATCA and its reporting requirements. Even a simple mistake can have catastrophic repercussions.

FATCA requires people to report their bank accounts to the Department of Treasury if at any point during any calendar year, the account goes over $10,000.00. So take for example the hypothetical dual border baby who came up to Canada, made a life for herself or himself in Canada, grew up married, had kids, the whole nine yards, all while thinking she was a card carrying citizen of Canada, not knowing that she had the plague that was United States Citizenship like a noose around her neck? So while those of you who are 100% fully Canadian would cheer uproariously to find $50,000 in your bank account; the unknown dual is having a heart-attack, because her operating account just got punched up over ten thousand, all through a simple "bank error".

What happens to her? Well, for one, the IRS pitbulls get a sniff at her. "Oh...you got money over $10,000 in your account, they say. Doesn't matter. Your account was over the limit for 2-3 days. It was technically YOUR money for that time, so you owe Uncle Sam. the taxes on it...as well, since you failed to report it, we're going to ding you with $100,000.00 fine for failure to report it on an FBAR. Considering the fact that it is wilful since you knew that money was there, took steps to figure out where it came from, we'll just classify it as willful, won't we?"

So poor Ms. "I Didn't Know I Was American" gets to undergo FATCA(T) scrutiny just because the bank made a stupid error. Seems rather unfair doesn't it? Unfortunately the IRS and US Department of Treasury doesn't think so.

Will this happen to someone? I'm absolutely sure of it. And when the ramifications of that simple "mistake" on the part of the bank comes out, the American expat ends up losing damned near all their finances thanks to a mistake made on the part of the bank. In that sort of instance, I think the bank should be held liable for the damage done to the person's finances. But unfortunately the courts may not see it that way.

I'll Fly My Canadian Flag Whenever The Hell I Want To!!!

With Canada being battered by this FATCA legislation which has been implemented by the United States and aided and abetted by the Obama-apologist Harper Progressive Conservative government whose focus appears to be turning Canada American, I've become rabidly Canadian. This year will be the first year that I intend to put up a Canadian flag; replete with angled flag pole bracket from Lowe's Canada. I looked for one at Rona (a completely Canadian hardware store) and infuriatingly, a Canadian store isn't patriotic enough to carry flagpole brackets and Canadian flags so that patriotic Canadians can actually fly OUR FLAG on Canada Day. As a child I didn't realize how good Canada was to me, having been born and raised here all of my life...viewing our elephantine neighbour to the south with rose-colored glasses. As I have aged, married and raised a family here in the glorious and free home and native land that I have grown to respect, love and cherish, I feel more and more patriotic and am proud to be a Canadian; born and bred and realized just how much this country means to me.

Thank you, @pmharper for signing in Bill C288. Red Ensign beside my Canadian flag protesting your sell out of Canada. pic.twitter.com/9zqluI6AeF

— Wildlife Photog (@WildlifeFotog70) March 4, 2015

I am sick and tired of the Canadians who are so bloody apathetic that they would care less about their country that they would allow Harper to continue his sell-out of Canada to American interests. My grandparents, uncles and mother were imprisoned during WWII in the Japanese-Canadian internment camps in the interior of Canada under the Red Ensign of Canada (flying the Red Ensign brings my family memories that it would rather forget), but Harper has made it such a deal that I WILL FLY the RED ENSIGN alongside the Canadian flag as a symbolic protest against the United States and what its apologist Stephen Harper is trying to do to MY Canada.

Another thing that royally makes my blood boil is when I see articles like this: Is Flying A Canadian Flag On Your House Too American? Are they f***ing kidding me? Are they reducing my love of my country to being as jingoistic as an American? I love my country and I don't think many of my compatriots love it enough if they either disdain the flag or the ideals for which Canada's flag stands for, because they really are ignoring Canada's ideals when they ignore what Stephen Harper is doing to this country.

Other articles question why there aren't more people flying the Canadian flag: >Why Don't More Canadians Fly The Flag? The homeowner's association in Belle-River, Ontario should be ashamed of themselves. If the Homeowner's Association is so anti-Canadian that they won't allow for Freedom of Expression enshrined under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, then I'll be happy to drive them to the damned airport and they can each go back to where they bloody well came from.

Perhaps we should take a page from the Americans when it comes to our flag and state that anyone who flies a foreign flag on Canadian soil had damned well better couple it with an equally large Canadian flag. I don't care what country they come from - I don't give two sour owl shits about your creed, culture or religion, but when you are on Canadian soil, there'd better be a Canadian flag beside your country of origin's rag or else, be prepared to explain yourself to a pissed-off Canadian. And that also goes for you jingoistic Americans too. Fly the Stars and Bars at your leisure, but if you live on Canadian soil, there'd damned well better be a Canadian Maple Leaf flag along-side it. Just this morning when I was going to drop my daughter off to daycare I saw some Yankee yokel with a US Flag emblazoned in the back window of his truck flaunting his American-ness along the streets of Surrey. No Canadian flag to be seen in his truck with BC plates. That was like a red flag to a bull. My only thought was: "You Yankee DUMBSHIT!!! You come up here to live in this country, earn a living in this great country of ours, partake of our free healthcare and our hospitality and you have the fucking guts to flaunt your American flag in my face with no nod to the country who took you in? You sorry-ass sonofabitch!!!"

Bill C288 protects my right to fly a CANADIAN flag anywhere at anytime on Canadian soil and I will take that as my God-given right and as my country's anthem says: "God keep our Land; Glorious and Free". Too many people have forgotten the phrase that goes along with it. "Oh, Canada, We stand on Guard for thee..." and I'll be damned if I let Stephen Harper do any more to sell-out this great country of ours.

This post has become the first post of a new Canadian Patriot blog