How the U.S. pulled off the great Canadian privacy giveaway

For the first time in Canadian history, our federal government is preparing to provide a foreign government with sensitive personal financial information about hundreds of thousands of Canadians. It is doing so to stave off threatened economic sanctions, and is getting nothing in return.

Ok Canadian member how do you like those apple
Pretty bad when your own government will sell you out WE GOT TO VOTE THIS KISS A$$ OUT
July 1, 2014. The proposed law, which is part of Bill C-31 before Parliament, will override Canadian privacy laws so that our tax authorities can transfer the account information to the IRS.

And for the US member

The sad saga began with a U.S. attempt to root out offshore tax evasion through the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), enacted by Congress in 2010. Under FATCA, all non-U.S. financial institutions, including Canadian banks, are to dig through their bank records for evidence of accounts owned by U.S. expatriates and others with ties to the United States. Once this evidence is uncovered, the banks are to send the account information directly to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) so it can go after the alleged tax cheats.

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a reply to: Trillium

I have mixed feelings about this. I dislike anything the government does to invade a person's privacy, but at the same time I can't stand wealthy tax dodgers, so if they are hiding up here I think they should be rooted out. Not a fan of the strong arm tactics the U.S is using either. Personally, I think we should tell the U.S to stfu, and find a way to handle it ourselves. If we can find a legal and noninvasive way to root out U.S tax evaders ourselves, then we can talk extradition with the U.S afterwards.

a reply to: DeadSeraph

YA Got to be a better way of doing this without a hole sale out of our privacy

a reply to: Trillium

I absolutely despise it. The U.S. over steps it bounds all over the place and someone needs to to give them the much needed fist to the face. It seems almost inhuman to help U.S. and hopefully Canada just shrugs this one off despite the strong relations. We don't need no stinking IRS b.s. what so ever!

a reply to: Trillium

Sanctions.... hahahahaha, an interesting word to provoke an emotional response. Mine was laughter.

This is all a ruse, it's retarded and a stepping stone towards further legislation to destroy more freedoms and more privacy in Canada. The Bank of Canada is controlled by Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and the IMF, the FED in the US is the same. Are we meant to believe that all these assclowns DON'T share information on their depositors? I mean seriously, how naive do they think we are? I may have been born at night, but it sure as hell wasn't last night.

Bill C36 (originally Bill C6 before harper peroged parliament) has the provisions to provide the US government (or any foreign or domestic government, state institution, division or state corporation) with ALL of canadian's personal and private information, including but not limited to medical, financial, records held by CSIS or the police, etc.. Bill C36 was passed I think 2 years ago and this is surfacing just now in the MSM? Like the US, we don't have journalists, we have trained monkeys.

All these politicians are traitors, charge them, try them and if found guilty, use a green solution. Shake, rinse and repeat ;-)

Cheers - Dave

a reply to: Trillium

Vote, yes, vote!

Will you pick,
A. Badguy #1
B. Badguy #2
or...
3. Badguy #3
???
Yes, do vote...

I wonder if the US govt has even stopped for a second and thought, maybe if we didn't put so many laws in place and taxes in place that make it to where people want to leave, maybe we wouldn't have to be doing this nonsensical work. Wonder how much they are spending to get this done versus how much they are receiving once they find all these nasty expats....what a ridiculous thing to do.

If they would focus more on trying to save money themselves, maybe not spend it on frivolous government bailouts, then maybe, just maybe we would not need to tax people sooooo much and spend money on witch hunts like this.

So backwards.....

a reply to: Trillium I'm curious, seeing the tax rates are generally lower in the U.S. Than in Canada-I'm not sure about capital gains or corporate tax rates- is there some Quid Pro Quo that hasn't been mentioned here?

Canada and the U.S. have long since had "co-operation" on social security/social insurance between the two nations and actually combine the two and split the payment based on some formula that I'm unaware of.

Any cash transfer between the two nations over 10K is also reported between the two.

So your so-called "privacy invasion" is old news.

Previous to the patriot act in the U.S., It was illegal for the U.S. gov't to spy on it's own citizens. Similar laws exist in Canada and the U.K. All three got around it by having the U.S. spy on Canadian citizens- not illegal- and vice versa, also not "illegal". They would then share that info with the other country thereby circumventing "domestic law. This went on for (decades?).

Just more U.S. bashing in this thread.

By the way Revenue Canada is even worse than the I.R.S.. At least the I.R.S. needs a court order to raid one's bank account, not so in Canada....

originally posted by: g146541
a reply to: Trillium

Vote, yes, vote!

Will you pick,
A. Badguy #1
B. Badguy #2
or...
3. Badguy #3
???
Yes, do vote...

Maybe vote for dirt bag # 4
or dirt bag # 5

Got to try and keep them guessing LOL

a reply to: Trillium
You are mad!
Dirt bag #4 was not even born in Canada!!
And 5 is just there to destabilize the rest!
Hence why they missed my list.

Politics would be a real neat show to watch if it were not real.
Otherwise it just bothers me that we practice insanity every time doing the same thing and expecting different results.
You know what would keep the crooks straight, a good hanging now and then for doing things they prosecute is for...
"They" should be held to a higher standard.

(Edit)
Why should they be held to a higher standard?
Because the rules I make in my own home are NEVER broken for a reason, I made them because they seemed very legit.

originally posted by: nwtrucker
a reply to: Trillium I'm curious, seeing the tax rates are generally lower in the U.S. Than in Canada-I'm not sure about capital gains or corporate tax rates- is there some Quid Pro Quo that hasn't been mentioned here?

Canada and the U.S. have long since had "co-operation" on social security/social insurance between the two nations and actually combine the two and split the payment based on some formula that I'm unaware of.

Any cash transfer between the two nations over 10K is also reported between the two.

So your so-called "privacy invasion" is old news.

Previous to the patriot act in the U.S., It was illegal for the U.S. gov't to spy on it's own citizens. Similar laws exist in Canada and the U.K. All three got around it by having the U.S. spy on Canadian citizens- not illegal- and vice versa, also not "illegal". They would then share that info with the other country thereby circumventing "domestic law. This went on for (decades?).

Just more U.S. bashing in this thread.

By the way Revenue Canada is even worse than the I.R.S.. At least the I.R.S. needs a court order to raid one's bank account, not so in Canada....

Read up on the law, the taxpayers bill of rights and the UN treaty on the abolition of slavery and then go to the CRA and hand them an invoice for your time for tax compliance. Then when they deny your invoice, file a form 193 and when they discount that, hit them with an FOIA request on yourself (costs $5) and then take them to the BOC for arbitration. Nobody is going to get change unless they fight this crap and we do it collectively.

Cheers - Dave

I'm Canadian.. and I work in a small credit union quite close to the border. Believe me when I say that the whole FATCA thing is and is going to be a big deal. The amount of reporting requirements for us are going to go through the roof and we're not just talking about wealthy tax dodgers, pretty much anyone who has US citizenship or US dual citizenship who holds or signs on an account in Canada for any reason will be reported on, business and personal.

This could prove to be a pretty big concern for anyone with dual citizenship because even if they have never lived or worked in the US, they could easily be nailed for back taxes if they've never filed for US taxes just because they are still considered, by the US government at least, as being a US citizen.

For those just thinking we should just flip em the bird and say pffft to the sanctions threat.. think of the impact that would happen if the US started seizing all or a portion of every wire transfer sent to someone in Canada that was sent in US dollars? The good majority of USD wire transfers sent to Canada get routed through a US financial institution intermediary. That's just one small thing among many that they could easily do and most likely would. The US gov. isn't exactly reluctant to play the sanctions card if they're not getting their way.

a reply to: Sonder

Personally, I think we should just "flip-them-off" followed by a "sorry-we-had-to-flip-you-off-but-your-leaders-are-idots-like-ours" and by the way, we're repealing NAFTA, the TAP and the TPP, so go pound sand! Sanctions, LOL, we just stop sending them electricity, natural gas, propane, oil, diamonds, gold, iron, food or anything else they need. It works both ways you know. A good start would be to boot Monsatan the hell out of here!

On the upside, you're complaining about extra work that will probably bring you overtime or give more Canadians jobs? Wow, "and the sheep look up."

Cheers - Dave

a reply to: bobs_uruncle
Yea that's a good point, we probably do have more weight behind our own sanctions card when it comes down to it though I would be surprised if or Govt. actually went down that road. As has already been proven, especially by this.. there really is little difference between our respective governments and their agendas anymore.

And I'm not complaining about the amount of extra work, far from it. More just bemoaning the rapid decent we find ourselves in, plunging ever deeper into a full on Orwellian, dystopian society (if we're not completely there already, and I'm not entirely convinced that we're not)

a reply to: Trillium

one thing that really bothers me about this is " all non-U.S. financial institutions, including Canadian banks, are to dig through their bank records for evidence of accounts owned by U.S. expatriates and others with ties to the United States.

if someone is not working and/or living in the US why should they pay taxes there? they should be paying tax to the country they are living/working in. for example why should an American that has been working and living in Canada, who is covered for medical through the province they are working in, who are protected by Canadian fire and police departments etc. be paying tax to the US? they should be paying tax to the Canadian government who supply all of this. just as a Canadian working and living in the US should be paying taxes to the American government for the same. the same holds true for any and every other country. if you are making an income you should be paying taxes to the country you are actually in, not the country you might not have even stepped foot in for years.

and what exactly do they mean by "ties to the United States"? does that mean people who have family in the US, people who have visited the US, or even people working for a US company like say Wal-Mart? seems a little ambiguous and far reaching to me.

originally posted by: Sonder
a reply to: bobs_uruncle
Yea that's a good point, we probably do have more weight behind our own sanctions card when it comes down to it though I would be surprised if or Govt. actually went down that road. As has already been proven, especially by this.. there really is little difference between our respective governments and their agendas anymore.

And I'm not complaining about the amount of extra work, far from it. More just bemoaning the rapid decent we find ourselves in, plunging ever deeper into a full on Orwellian, dystopian society (if we're not completely there already, and I'm not entirely convinced that we're not)

Yeah, we have a lot playing cards left in our hand ;-)

I'd like to be able to say that "harpy" did one thing right, but he didn't create the resources, they were already here. Harpy is having a NAFTA fire sale however, after destroying our manufacturing base and allowing hundreds of thousands of jobs to be shipped offshore, but it's part of the plan. Harpy has done nothing but further the agenda that leads to Canada's dissolution, he's a traitor.

Want to really piss-off the US, hold back ALL fresh water exports (it's actually illegal to sell bulk water internationally from Canada). The US would start a war with Canada over water, probably WW3, because Canada, being a socialist colony would suddenly have the aid of all other socialist/communist* countries and colonies. Plus, we supply Asia/China, Europe and Russia with natural resources. In addition, an agreement between Russia and Canada on northern resource sharing would put Obummer's head in a spin.

Economic planning using military strategy is where it's at ;-)

Cheers - Dave

* Note: Please remember that socialism is the little sister of the evil twins, Marxism and Leninism and that all three are the spawn of their polygamous parents, Communism, Fascism and Totalitarianism. Also that when a Democracy fails, as it always does, it results generally in a power vacuum that is filled by a dictator, just to give a little more fascism and totalitarianism. Personally, I think Canada and the US are already controlled by the Fascisti using mussolini's ideas on Corporatism.


a reply to: generik

An excellent point, but it seems the IRS thinks that they deserve a cut for doing nothing. What is really silly is that the taxes in Canada, in total, are more double the taxes in the US. So why should any ex-pat from the US pay a premium to work in Canada just because the IRS says so? The ex-pat isn't receiving services as you said, so they would really be paying for nothing other than the right to vote in a rigged election where their vote means nothing anyway.

Cheers - Dave