New U.S. 2014 Tax Regime is "Devastating," Experts Say

The New American ^ | 30 December 2013 | Alex Newman

[VitacoreVision]

A new IRS tax regime in 2014 will be devastating for the U.S. economy, and for millions of Americans working abroad, especially those in the middle class.

New U.S. Tax Regime is "Devastating," Experts Say

The New American
30 December 2013

Already facing “pariah” status worldwide due to onerous IRS requirements, millions of Americans living and working abroad are preparing to deal with a deluge of even bigger problems in 2014, when a byzantine new tax regime starts going into effect. Known as the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, or FATCA, the deeply controversial and incredibly complex scheme is supposedly aimed at preventing tax evasion and gathering extra funds for the federal government. In reality, it will prove to be devastating, experts say — especially for middle-class Americans overseas and the U.S. economy.

Opposition to the draconian scheme, however, is mounting quickly even before FATCA has been fully implemented. Among the growing chorus of critics: the business community, bankers, Americans abroad, some members of Congress, investors, and even the Republican National Committee. More than a few trade associations and voluntary organizations are now either urging lawmakers to repeal FATCA entirely, or at least calling on the Obama administration to delay implementation and enforcement until the fiasco can be sorted out.

Around the world, outrage about the scheme is mounting as well, with foreign governments and financial institutions pointing out that the new tax regime essentially makes them unpaid agents of the IRS. About a dozen national governments have inked unconstitutional "agreements" with the Obama administration so far, laying the foundation for a global tax-information sharing regime. International bureaucrats working fiendishly for planetary taxation are celebrating, along with some attorneys and accountants hoping to profit, but serious concerns about the pseudo-treaties are growing.
...

Full Story:
http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/congress/item/17273-new-u-s-tax-regime-is-devastating-experts-say


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[ApplegateRanch]

FATCA

Lazy bureaucrats could even come up with a "T" to finish the acronym? And we pay them to do this type of half-assed job?

Another reason to fire them all!

[ApplegateRanch]

“couldn’t”; not “could”. We need an “edit” feature.

[Dapper 26]

and we have to suffer two terms with the SOB!!!

[upchuck]

Is that a pic of Helicopter Ben? I hope so!

[SWAMPSNIPER]

I believe “regimen” is the word they were looking for.

[VitacoreVision]

Repeal FATCA
http://www.repealfatca.com/


RepealFatca.com is a website dedicated to getting rid of the worst law most Americans have never heard of.

[laplata]

ping

[upchuck]

This is Cloward-Piven at it’s very, very best. An absolute masterstroke.

[Greysard]

Citing other experts, Conklin also said the tax laws affecting Americans abroad are “so unbelievably complicated” that even with the best professional assistance, nobody can ever be sure that their IRS filings are correct.

In California a year ago they even went so far as to change the law retrospectively. This made hundreds of thousands of tax returns for last 6 years incorrect - and then they had audacity to charge penalties for all those years!

Fortunately that did not work, and the law was changed. Legislators and the local taxman (FTB) stepped on toes of people who had direct access to the government and who made themselves heard. Who, however, will speak for US citizens who live and work abroad?

Besides, is it even worth the effort to tax foreign income? Let alone the morality of it (the USA has nothing to do with that income; and it is already taxed where it is earned.) A wealthy expat (like a CEO) can always make arrangements to avoid taxes. For example, one could set up a shadowy entity, on a single sheet of paper in a filing cabinet in some lawyer's office, that owns your $10M home that you live in. IRS will never trace down who owns what share of what privately held corporation, in a foreign country.

[funfan]

“A wealthy expat (like a CEO) can always make arrangements to avoid taxes. For example, one could set up a shadowy entity, on a single sheet of paper in a filing cabinet in some lawyer’s office, that owns your $10M home that you live in. IRS will never trace down who owns what share of what privately held corporation, in a foreign country. “

Or you could be a friend of Obama and pay no tax.

[2ndDivisionVet]

Anyone can set up a trust, it’s the work of an hour or two of a lawyer’s time.

[oblomov]

Why is a private corporation constructed for the purpose of tax avoidance necessarily a “shadowy entity”?

Journalists work for peanuts, so they reflexively regard middle and high income people as being avaricious and borderine criminal...

[skinkinthegrass]

well..you certainly don't expect, our supposed friends in "the Establishment"
Congress to help, they're definitely part of the problem.
"retire" each & everyone of those b@$t@$d's who voted
"yes/(false) no" vote that "resulting" in it's passage.

[Jack Hammer]

Nikolai Lenin never had it this good in the former Soviet Union.

The United States has fallen a long way, and we’re nowhere near the bottom yet - Obama has plenty more time.

[MeneMeneTekelUpharsin]

Bump for reference.

[Truth29]

This is part of the effort to create a Berlin Wall that makes it more and more difficult for Americans to relocate out of the reach of the ever hungry monster that is the US government.

[Skepolitic]

What really makes the 2014 tax code weird is the marginal tax rate at 400% of poverty line. That’s where the ObamaCare subsidies get cut off.

For a self-employed 60-year-old couple, the marginal tax rate on $1 earned over the 400% hurdle is about 740,000%.

Seven hundred forty thousand percent.

Earn $1 over the hurdle, and pay $7400 in additional income taxes. Some people are going to be very surprised in first quarter 2015.

[SunkenCiv]

Known as the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, or FATCA, the deeply controversial and incredibly complex scheme is supposedly aimed at preventing tax evasion and gathering extra funds for the federal government... Opposition to the draconian scheme, however, is mounting quickly even before FATCA has been fully implemented... More than a few trade associations and voluntary organizations are now either urging lawmakers to repeal FATCA entirely, or at least calling on the Obama administration to delay implementation and enforcement until the fiasco can be sorted out. Around the world, outrage about the scheme is mounting as well, with foreign governments and financial institutions pointing out that the new tax regime essentially makes them unpaid agents of the IRS.

Oh, sure, just delay implementation, that's legal. Thanks VitacoreVision.