Offshore Re-education Camp: Lesson 7

August 6, 2013

By: Paul Seymour, Director of Client Services

WARNING: THINKING MAN’S CONTENT TO FOLLOW.  THE DHS  MANDATES THAT WE WARN US CITIZENS AGAINST READING SUCH MATERIAL UNDER PENALTY OF A $250,000 FINE, UP TO 5 YEARS IN PRISON, OR BOTH.  ALL OTHERS CAN PARTAKE AS THEY PLEASE.

I was recently asked to start doing a periodic radio broadcast on Radio Free Latin America (RFLA), called Offshore Re-education Camp.  It’s being piped in to the USSA from a secret location south of the border via short wave radio signals.  The aim of RFLA is to offer a ray of hope to our poor countryman still trapped behind the curtain with apparently, no way out.

The show, hosted by Paul Seymour, Director of Client Services at Global Wealth Protection, will provide the truth about offshore entities and bank accounts to those peoples who are continuously bombarded with the party line, and have no access to the truth outside of RFLA.

For those of you who are unable to catch the live broadcasts, we’ll be periodically printing a transcript of the show here at GWP. 

Lead-in tune in case you missed it:  Texas version of the Beatles tune to reflect that the problem has moved across the pond.  If you drive a car, I’ll tax the street, if you try to sit, I’ll tax your seat. If you get too cold I’ll tax the heat, if you take a walk, I’ll tax your feet. Now my advice for those who die, declare the pennies on your eyes, ‘Cause I’m the taxman, and you’re working for no one but me. Written in 1966 when there was a top marginal tax rate of 95% in England.  Obviously followed by the predictable brain drain and capital flight.  John Lennon, for example, took his intellect and millions to the jungles of New York where the violent American culture resulted in his execution.

Today is mid-term review time as I’ve considered Kelly’s admonishment for not repeating my teachings enough.  That combined with the fact that a couple of clients, and even a foreign bank, have displayed some confusion on FATCA, along with other clients showing appreciation and requesting more of the same.  Therefore I’ll try to make a nice, neat summary of both the current tax laws affecting those who want personal privacy over their own finances, as well as what FATCA is trying to do to those same “tax dodgers”.  “Them” being the sorry scoundrels who dare believe they have a right to the most basic personal privacy, and to protect their assets from frivolous lawsuits and governmental confiscation without due process.

It’s no real surprise that people are confused.  When reading both, the existing US “laws” and the even more idiotic proposed ones, one instantly notices the sheer lack of common sense, and makes the assumption that either the author has made some errors, or that they must not be financially adept enough to understand.  Unfortunately, what you’ve been reading is true, and you did understand correctly.  The absolute lack of common sense, basic ethics, morality, etc., is just a reflection of the fact that US “laws” no longer have anything to do with common sense nor decency.  Rather, they have everything to do with increasing the power of bureaucrats and the large corporate shareholders who pay them, and all at the expense of your personal freedoms.  I’m surprised that Monticello’s dome at the Thomas Jefferson Memorial hasn’t cracked open like an egg considering its proximity to these unscrupulous whores who are doing just as he predicted they would over 200 years ago.

First of all, let me reiterate that FATCA was slipped through Congress by being buried in a huge bill misnamed as the HIRE Act.  It’s common knowledge that US Congressmen don’t actually take the time to read the legislation that they’re voting on, so no big surprise that it was enacted over three years ago on March 18, 2010.  It has since been rightfully challenged by those who have actually read both the Act, and the US Constitution, and take their oath to protect it seriously.   

As we’ve reported here in previous articles, 3 months ago in May, Senator Rand Paul introduced a bill to repeal FATCA citing many basic flaws such as:

• “FATCA requires the financial institutions of foreign countries to register directly with the IRS, and to provide financial information on the accounts of U.S. citizens – regardless of whether or not these U.S. citizens are suspected of tax evasion.”

Sounds to me like an NSA-style overreach, in which yet another group of public servants somehow believes they have the authority to consider 100% of those they serve to be guilty until proven innocent, and illegally invade everyone’s privacy.

• “A failure to comply with these requirements subjects that foreign financial institution (FFI) to a 30% withholding of U.S.-derived revenues. This has had the practical effect of forcing FFIs to relinquish any association with American customers, and to avoid direct investment in the United States. It goes without saying that overseas investment in the U.S. is an important engine of our economic growth and prosperity. FATCA endangers an estimated $25 trillion in foreign capital currently invested in the U.S.” 

As we’ve pointed out previously as well, this even affects people who’ve just had the misfortune of their mothers traveling in the US when they were born.  Therefore they were then branded for life as US citizens, thereby enslaving them to a lifetime of servitude.  The fact that they may only have spent their first 2 weeks of life behind the curtain is irrelevant to buffoons such as Charles Schumer, Diane Feinstein, and their ilk.  That’s an extreme case, but why should it also affect a guy like me who just wants “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”, specifically, to live in a free country, and has therefore voted with his feet?

• Senator Rand continues–“Perhaps even more troubling, the implementation of FATCA has allowed the Treasury Department to make independent decisions with respect to the sovereignty of foreign nations and the privacy of United States citizens.”

This touches on the very basic Constitutional principle of separation of powers in which each of the three branches would have defined authority to check the powers of the other branches. This philosophy heavily influenced the writing of the United States Constitution, according to which the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial branches of the United States government are kept distinct in order to prevent abuse of power. This United States Constitutional separation of powers is associated with a system of checks and balances.  So which of these 3 branches does Treasury and the IRS represent?   Ooops.  None of them.  Therefore the sheer audacity of these unelected public servants running around the world unilaterally taking it upon themselves to negotiate treaties with sovereign governments is not only illegal, but also a frightening display of unconstitutional behavior in order to increase their own power.  The similarly frightening number of so called “executive orders” issued by both the Smirking Chimp and the Obammesiah are equally evasive of the Constitution and this separation of powers concept.  Possibly also even more frightening, but unfortunately beyond the scope of this article.

• “In order to implement this law, Treasury has initiated intergovernmental agreements (IGAs), citing the intent to engage in reciprocal information sharing with other nations. The Treasury Department, without the consent and authority of Congress, will force U.S. financial institutions to provide the bank account information of private customers to foreign nations. Such a requirement not only diminishes U.S. privacy protections, but also imposes billions of dollars in compliance costs here at home, which will be passed onto customers and the American public.” 

Regarding IGA’s, Treasury and the IRS have engaged in a real propaganda campaign to try and convince the world that they’ve successfully gotten a few countries on board and it’s all a done deal.  While it’s true that the lapdog Brits and Danes have signed an IGA, and that the Swiss were strong-armed into one as part of the no-prosecute agreement (as they no longer accept US clients, there will be nothing to report), the fact is that the agreements are unconstitutional, and therefore they will not be ratified by Congress, and therefore legally don’t exist.  Unfortunately for Treasury, the Founding Fathers surmised that such scumbags would eventually emerge, and that’s why the checks and balances exist in the system.

Shortly after Rand Paul’s heroic stand, Rep. Bill Posey of Florida, wrote a letter to Treasury Secretary Jack Lew questioning regulations that would require U.S. banks and credit unions to collect and report information on nonresident aliens, urging him to cease enforcement of the Foreign Accounting Tax Compliance Act, or FATCA, and stop negotiating intergovernmental agreements with other countries for FATCA enforcement.  Posey requested, “Further delay in FATCA enforcement, and a moratorium on negotiating and signing additional IGAs is in order,” pending “substantial modification or, more likely, outright repeal.”  Note that a group of Texas and Florida banks and credit unions have filed suit against Treasury and the IRS as well.  Thus, a week or so later, Treasury released a comical statement further delaying FATCA enforcement, “due to overwhelming interest from countries around the world”.  Truthfully, the whole concept is choking to death on its own blatant pork barrel corruption.

Some more FATCA related news, this time from the great white north.  It was very nice to see Canada take a very hard line with the government of Eritrea, and its attempts to impose a “diaspora” tax on Eritrean citizens now living in Canada.   Unfortunately, while they send the Eritrean consul packing and threaten to shut down the consulate, they allow U.S. Ambassador David Jacobsen to stay put in Ottawa with nary a word of protest over America’s “diaspora” tax.

There are only two countries in the world that levy income tax based on citizenship rather than residence; one is Eritrea and the other is the United States. But while Canada fulminates and threatens diplomatic reprisals against Eritrea, it says nothing about the U.S.   By the way, the Eritrean diaspora is 2%, while Uncle Sam is stealing 50% of the overseas bank balances of US citizens, then imposing “penalties”, in addition to a $250,000 fine, and then finally tossing US citizens in the can.  Eritrea is obviously the more civilized of the two nations, one might conclude.  Recall the $21.6 million stolen from the Swiss account of a 79 year old lady in Florida.  The $21.6 million represented half of her wealth, and was just for starters.  There were also “penalties” charged in addition, and this dangerous character was then placed on probation.  Meanwhile, the IRS criminals responsible for abusing their offices for political purposes and to intimidate US citizens for Constitutionally protected political dissent remain free, as I predicted they would a few months ago.

However, with regards to the illegal negotiations being carried out by Treasury up in Canada, there seems to be a major obstacle in addition to Posey’s moratorium, notably Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms.  This silly, old-fashioned document apparently prohibits, in Section 15.1, discrimination based on several criteria, including “national or ethnic origin.” Canadian Constitutional expert Peter Hogg has pointed this out in a five-page letter to the Finance Department, which is coordinating the IGA negotiations with the US.

Hogg said, “In my opinion, the procedures mandated by the Model IGA are discriminatory in a way that would not withstand Charter scrutiny.  These procedures effectively treat individuals differently, and adversely, based on an immutable personal characteristic, specifically citizenship. If Parliament were to enact legislation authorizing and permitting this type of differential and adverse treatment, the legislation would contravene the equality protections in section 15 of the Charter.”

There are about one million people in Canada — the vast majority Canadian citizens — who have connections to the U.S. in one way or another. Some are “accidental” Americans — born in Canada to parents who are (or were) U.S. citizens; Americans who left the U.S. decades ago and thought they automatically renounced their U.S. citizenship when they became Canadians; and border babies — people born to Canadian parents in the U.S. who came home as infants.

Add to these insurmountable difficulties, just up there in Canada, the fact that China has zero incentive to sign on to the madness.  It’s been very astutely pointed out that if Treasury can’t somehow bully 100% of nations around the world to, in some cases like Canada, break their own laws and/or snub their noses at 1,000’s of years of cultural tradition of respecting personal privacy, then there would be created a type of arbitrage for those countries with the stones to tell Uncle Sam to bugger off.

One of those countries will apparently be Germany, the economic backbone of the EU.  I have a close friend living in Germany who has reported to me that 100’s, if not 1,000’s of Germans have offered to let Snowden stay in their homes.  Too bad the Amerikan sheeple don’t support their own heroes.  In addition, the German government has stated that unless the US government implements a so-called DATCA (Domestic Account Tax Compliance Act) ratting out all German account holders to the German government, that they have no interest in becoming unpaid IRS agents.  That shows you what happens when a country sees up close just what sacrifices and loss of life are required to defeat a fascist regime.  They seem to have a distaste for the new Amerikan version of it, and just aren’t interested to play along.  Meanwhile their economy, backed by such a principled citizenry, is steaming along nicely.

Again, I can’t seem to say all I want to succinctly enough, and need to wrap up by sharing a little sad, but true story.  This will display just how much confusion there is out there about this the proposed and dying legislation.  Recently, I was asked by a bank in Belize to provide a FATCA compliance form in order to set up an account for a very good client.  To make matters worse, the client isn’t even a US citizen.  I was dumbfounded.  Shocked, even.  A small private bank in a country which prides itself on respect for personal privacy, is trying to comply currently, with an unilaterally imposed, and therefore illegal IRS directive.  The fact that it hasn’t been implemented yet due to its unconstitutionality, economic absurdity, and probable illegality all aside.  I therefore felt obliged to inform bank management that there has been a bill introduced to Congress to repeal FATCA, and a moratorium placed upon Treasury’s continued illegal unilateral negotiation of IGA’s due to unconstitutionality.  I further informed them that most likely, FATCA will never be implemented.   Obviously, that accompanied a statement to the effect that I was no longer interested to do any business with such an institution.

Luckily, Uncle Sam’s arrogance-bred stupidity has given those with a sense of justice and principle the platform we’ve needed to continue the momentum of repealing FATCA, with some further reforms.  Specifically, by getting the US in line with the rest of the world, by basing taxation on residency, rather than citizenship.  This would have the added benefit of nullifying the current ridiculous requirements for US citizens living abroad to inform the Fatherland of where they have their hard-earned after-tax pesos, yuan, francs etc.  Assuming they’re smart enough to shift their wealth not only out of harm’s way in the US, but also out of the soon to be radically devalued dollar.

I think it’s impossible to look at the current situation in the US and conclude that there’s anything less than blatant tyranny in Washington, and I’d even go so far (and have many times) as to call it fascism.  Here you can see the Oxford Dictionary definition of fascism:

“an authoritarian and nationalistic right-wing system of government and social organization.”

• (in general use) extreme right-wing, authoritarian, or intolerant views or practices:

The term Fascism was first used to describe the totalitarian right-wing nationalist regime of Mussolini in Italy (1922–43); the regimes of the Nazis in Germany and Franco in Spain were also Fascist. Fascism tends to include a belief in the supremacy of one national or ethnic group, a contempt for democracy, an insistence on obedience to a powerful leader, and a strong demagogic approach.”  Despite the appearances of separation of powers, etc, I think we’ve adequately displayed the current realities of both the executive branch, and unelected public servants bypassing those checks and balances in order to illegally increase their own power.  I’ll let you decide if the above definition describes the current USSA or not.

What’s the solution?  Here you go:

1.  It takes a long time, and is very costly, to become the citizen of a free country.  You should start that process yesterday, if not sooner.  Contact us for referral to an expert.
2.  Fortunately, moving assets offshore to a privacy-respecting jurisdiction is neither time-consuming, nor costly.  Hence Uncle Sam’s attempts to brainwash the masses into believing that it’s somehow unpatriotic to protect yourself, and your family, from their tyrannical power grabs, and the frivolous lawsuits which exist due to their complicity.  For a 1-time fee of $2,400, including a bank account in the name of an offshore LLC, I can very legally make that happen for you.  In fact, I can even assure your legal compliance.
3.  You’ll need to reinvent yourself to pull this off.  That’s not necessarily a bad thing.  After taking the first two steps noted above, in a free country which makes cultural sense to you, you’ll be embarking on a new adventure that you won’t regret.  The feeling of freedom is exhilarating to those of you who’ve been trapped so long behind the curtain that you no longer know what real freedom feels like.

Hasta la próxima muchachos, y mucha suerte.

Paul is an escaped Big 4 CPA (financial statement auditor), and Corporate Controller/CFO who found a natural home in the offshore industry with Bobby Casey and the gang at GWP.   Contact him today to learn more about the realities of economical offshore asset protection. 

An offshore company and bank account can be established for as little as $1,797, including my advice and assistance throughout both processes, and in both privacy-respecting jurisdictions, apostils required to open bank accounts, and courier charges to send original documents to you.  There’s never any need to visit the jurisdictions personally, although they’re very nice places, and I recommend a visit.  With our established agency agreements, we can do everything via e-mail.  We maintain long-term relationships with our clients, and remain available for consultation on an ongoing basis.