The Long Arm of the IRS

We all hate paying taxes right? Well I think we also hate what goes along with paying our taxes. The preparing and filing part. Whether we do it ourselves or use an accountant - it is a chore. As is having the state looking over our shoulder.

But my case gets even more difficult. You see I am a citizen of both Canada and the United States. While I was born and raised in Canada, I lived in a border town and one day my dad came across the border, met and married my mom and well my parents wanted me to have dual citizenship.

I have never lived in the US. I have never worked or earned income in the US. But under US law, every citizen, no matter where they live or for how long, is obligated to file an annual US tax return. Say what?

No other country in the world that I am aware of - obliges persons with citizenship and residency in another country to file an additional tax return with them.

Failure to file such a return with the IRS can lead to serious tax penalties and even having the US government seize your assets.

I understand that maintaining my US citizenship, of which I am proud, has obligations, but come on guys, can’t you simplify the project so that we could fill out some little simple form online and that completes it.

The intent of the law is to catch terrorists, money launderers and tax cheats. Ok. But the new Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act expected to go into effect in 2014 will require financial institutions OUTSIDE OF THE US to report to the IRS on accounts of US citizens and green card holders.

Ok. Mr. IRS man you want to collect more taxes and you want to catch tax cheats. I understand that. So why can corporations like General Electric make billions in the US and offshore and pay no taxes and people like me, living outside the US, have to give you access to all our personal information. GE, for example, made over 14 billion dollars in 2010, about ½ of which was made in the US - and GE paid ZERO taxes in the US.

In fact the New York Times has reported that only 6.6% of US tax revenues come from corporations.

I think most of us, except General Electric and others like it of course, will agree the US tax system is broken, dysfunctional and unfair. I agree with Herman Cain and others that are advocating throwing out the US tax code and revamping it totally.

You won’t get any money out of me Uncle Sam. And you aren’t getting much out of corporate America. So is it any wonder the US National Debt is going up and up and up with no relief in sight.