deVere’s Campaign to Repeal FATCA and the Center for Freedom and Prosperity calls on Congress to give precedence to FATCA Repeal

Our Campaign to Repeal FATCA, together with the Center for Freedom and Prosperity, headed up a coalition of 21 other groups, amongst which were Americans for Tax Reform and the National Taxpayers Union, calling upon Congress to include FATCA repeal in any tax reform package sent to the White House.

As covered by Wall Street Journal’s Market Watch, Newsmax and Yahoo! News, amongst many others, the letter, sent earlier this week, March 21, was addressed to Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady, and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, focuses on five main points:

1.    FATCA fails in its primary goal to catch wealthy tax cheats;
2.    It ensnares innocent Americans with excessive reporting requirements and draconian penalties for the slightest oversights;
3.    FATCA makes U.S. citizens living and working abroad toxic assets in the eyes of both financial institutions and employers;
4.    The onerous law’s compliance costs far outstrip the revenue it collects; and
5.    It encourages other nations and international organizations to pursue aggressive tax grabs that threaten American businesses and the global economy.

In addition, other coalition members who signed this letter include: American Commitment; Taxpayers Protection Alliance; Competitive Enterprise Institute; Frontiers of Freedom; R Street Institute; 60 Plus Association; The Market Institute; FreedomWorks; Center for Individual Freedom; Sovereign Society Freedom Alliance; Institute for Liberty; Institute for Policy Innovation; The National Tax Limitation Committee; Americans for Limited Government; Citizen Outreach; National Center for Policy Analysis; Campaign for Liberty; Jeffersonian Project; and Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council.

The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act continues to have devastating consequences on the more than 8 million Americans residing overseas, and hauls out money from the global financial system for absolutely no gain.

Although virtually unknown to the majority of Americans, FATCA has been causing chaos and destruction to the global financial system outside America. It requires all foreign financial institutions, including (banks, credit unions, insurance companies, investment and pension funds) to report all information on their U.S. clients to the Internal Revenue Service. Originally flagged up as a way of catching tax evaders who stash cash offshore, in reality, FATCA’s dragnet approach is highly ineffective.

Furthermore, according to the 2016 Republican Platform calls for FATCA’s repeal, it condemns the law’s “warrantless seizure of personal financial information without reasonable suspicion or probable cause” and its threat to the “ability of overseas Americans to lead normal lives.”

Indeed, this is a prime example of the burdensome, onerous regulatory schemes that the President has vowed to eradicate.

As such, I am delighted to see these advocate groups getting involved in appealing to Congress to abolish the Obama-era FATCA. I would like to see citizens in other countries following suit in doing their bit to banish this toxic law to the history books.

Of course, every government in the world has the right to have its laws enforced and any reports of tax evasion should be investigated and punishments imposed. However, FATCA admonishes the innocent and guilty, consumers and taxpayers across the globe. It must be repealed!

Indeed, when the Republican-controlled Congress advances with outlining comprehensive tax reform legislation to present to President Trump, FATCA should be high on the priority list.

It’s about time the Trump administration and the bicameral GOP leadership obliterated this dictatorial, intrusive and costly law once and for all.

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