statism

Cities Crackdown on Private Transport

"The Dallas City Council was scheduled to vote on a substantial city code rewrite that will redefine everything from who can dispatch a car to who can drive a limo to the cost of a limousine's off-the-lot sticker price (has to be more than $45,000). The rewrite will 'require limousine service to be prearranged at least 30 minutes before the service is provided.' The addendum item says 'the use of computer applications and other technologies by some providers of limousine service has distorted certain distinctions between limousines and taxicabs, and that it's high time the city 'establish those distinctions to help the public understand the differences between those types of passenger transportation services.'" Continue reading →

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Non-American spouse of American abroad narrowly avoids becoming a U.S. person

"In February 2013, an IRS examiner combing over the couple’s return wanted to know whether the wife’s act of submitting a 'married filing jointly' Form 1040 had accidentally turned the husband into a U.S. person, even if they had not explicitly made a § 6013(g) election for a nonresident alien spouse to be treated as a resident alien for tax purposes. Such treatment would saddle him with an obligation to file Form 3520 on what the IRS hilariously calls 'foreign trusts' and what the husband probably thinks of as 'my local & fully-tax-compliant retirement account' — and since the would-be joint return apparently didn’t include any 3520s for him, the couple would have been subject to penalties." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNon-American spouse of American abroad narrowly avoids becoming a U.S. person

Swiss banks face hefty fines under US tax deal

"The deal offers individual Swiss banks the opportunity to avoid US prosecution if they agree to pay 'substantial fines', disclose all of their cross-border activities, provide details on the accounts of US citizens, and give information on the sources and destinations of transferred funds in relation to secret American accounts. Each bank will set its own non-prosecution agreement or deferred-prosecution agreement with the US authorities under those terms. The fines will be assessed at 20-50 percent of the aggregate value of any undeclared accounts held by Americans, depending on the time they accounts were open — before 2009 or since then." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSwiss banks face hefty fines under US tax deal

British PM concedes vote on military action should await UN report

"David Cameron was forced to delay plans for immediate military strikes on Syria last night after being warned he faced losing a Commons vote. MPs will vote tonight on a hastily prepared motion which still supports the principle of military action. However, it will not now be carried out until ‘every effort’ has been made to secure a UN agreement, and even then, direct British involvement would require a second Commons vote. The decision to wait for a second vote is a humiliating setback for Mr Cameron who had privately promised Barack Obama that Britain would stand shoulder to shoulder with the United States." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBritish PM concedes vote on military action should await UN report

White House faces high bar on Syria after Bush Administration’s Iraq lies

"The White House will likely argue that since its proposed action in Syria will be 'limited' it does not require Congress to wield its constitutionally granted power to authorize a declaration of war. But the more time that passes before US military action, the more restive the domestic political scene becomes. A growing number of lawmakers have concerns and polls show Americans wary of another foreign entanglement. Democratic Senator Chris Murphy meanwhile said on MSNBC that cruise missile attacks may make people 'feel better, but it may not actually make the Syrian people safer or advance US national security interests.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWhite House faces high bar on Syria after Bush Administration’s Iraq lies

U.S. spying still under shadow of Iraq intelligence failures

"In the run-up to the invasion of Iraq 10 years ago, the CIA and other intelligence services confidently asserted that Saddam Hussein’s regime had stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction. But it turned out the intelligence community was 'dead wrong in almost all of its pre-war judgments about Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction,' according to an official inquiry, the Silberman-Robb report. The spy services failed to collect solid information, botched their analysis and reached conclusions based on flawed assumptions instead of evidence, making it 'one of the most public — and most damaging — intelligence failures in recent American history,' the 2005 report said." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingU.S. spying still under shadow of Iraq intelligence failures

Leaked documents show massive expansion of CIA budget

"The CIA has mushroomed into the largest US spy agency with a nearly $15 billion budget as it expands intelligence, cyber sabotage and overseas covert operations, secret leaked documents showed Thursday. It shows a dramatic resurgence of the Central Intelligence Agency, once thought to be on the decline after it acknowledged intelligence failures prior to the attacks of September 11, 2001 and the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. It now is the dominant colossus within the national intelligence community, expanding its workforce by more than 25 percent from a decade ago, to 21,575 this year." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingLeaked documents show massive expansion of CIA budget

Washington Post: U.S. $53 billion ‘Black budget’ details leaked by Snowden

"U.S. spy agencies have built an intelligence-gathering colossus since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, but remain unable to provide critical information to the president on a range of national security threats, according to the government’s top-secret budget. The $52.6 billion 'black budget' for fiscal 2013, obtained by The Washington Post from former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden, maps a bureaucratic and operational landscape that has never been subject to public scrutiny. The Post is withholding some information after consultation with U.S. officials who expressed concerns about the risk to intelligence sources and methods." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWashington Post: U.S. $53 billion ‘Black budget’ details leaked by Snowden

Arrests in Vanuatu over dubious citizenship approvals

"Among those arrested are a former chairman of the Citizenship Commission and former MP, Jack Eric, and a former secretary of the Commission, Eloi Leye. Chief Inspector, George Toomey, has declined to give details but says those investigated include politicians, leaders and public servants. He says the suspects have been selling Vanuatu citizenship at a low price and ignored the law that requires ten years’ residence for a foreigner to become a citizen. Sources close to the citizenship office and police say it has became a tradition that a month before general elections, politicians collect applications forms from the citizenship office in order to receive sponsorship for their political campaign." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingArrests in Vanuatu over dubious citizenship approvals

South Korea Toughens Up Rules On Overseas Accounts

"In a bid to reduce the incidence of tax evasion, the National Tax Service (NTS) is to impose heavier fines on those South Korean residents who are found to hold substantial unexplained financial accounts in overseas jurisdictions. Beginning next year, South Koreans with overseas financial accounts worth more than KRW1bn (USD896,000) will be obligated to report the assets, and to explain the sources of the funds. Failure to do so will result in a 10 percent fine, which will be even greater if the source is found to be the result of tax evasion. The NTS's plans are included within the Government's new proposals to raise additional tax revenue for its welfare programs by improving tax compliance." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSouth Korea Toughens Up Rules On Overseas Accounts