DYSPEPSIA GENERATION

We have seen the future, and it sucks.

Time to Repeal FATCA

27th April 2017

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FATCA, which was passed in 2010 by a Democratic Congress and enacted by President Barack Obama, requires law-abiding Americans with legitimate bank accounts outside the country and foreigners working in the United States to turn over information about their overseas holdings of more than $50,000.

Under new treaties with the United States, some 100,000 foreign financial institutions in more than 100 countries must report to the Treasury on an account of any so-called “U.S. person”—a U.S. citizen or someone with a green card or U.S. work permit—with $50,000 or more in it, or they risk being hit with a 30 percent withholding tax on their U.S. earnings.

Not surprisingly, FATCA compliance costs are large. Various reports by the Chamber of Commerce, foreign governments and banks show that as of 2016, compliance costs were anywhere between $200 billion and $1 trillion.

As a result, overseas banks are refusing to deal with Americans. And who can blame them?

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