Among the many
recent revelations about American surveillance operations was the fact that,
according to Der Spiegel, the U.S. intelligence apparatus “not only
conducted online surveillance of European citizens, but also appears to have
specifically targeted buildings housing European Union institutions,” Few, if
any, of those commenting of late on such affairs mentioned that numerous
nations across the globe actually acknowledged the U.S. government’s
anti-privacy offensive months before by accepting its Foreign Account Tax
Compliance Act (FATCA).
The FATCA
legislation attempts to combat bank privacy on many levels and for many reasons
including the American state’s desire for more effective tax collecting.
According to U.S. tax law, every American taxpayer is obligated to fill out tax
forms and pay taxes for their income attained not only on U.S. soil but
overseas as well. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) does not distinguish where
the taxpayer lives, since U.S. taxation is based on either residency or
citizenship.
Therefore
America remains one of the two states worldwide that tax their non-residing
citizens. The other is Eritrea, a country not known for an exemplary human
rights record.
It is
therefore no wonder offshore tax evasion is a substantial problem for the
federal government. Senator Carl Levin, chairman of the Permanent Subcommittee
on Investigations in Senate, revealed in a statement that tax-dodging schemes
cost the…..To Read More…..
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