Taxation Without Constitution

4 Things to Buy Before Congress Passes the Sales-Tax Law

"Last week, Congress cleared the way for a May vote on the Marketplace Fairness Act, which requires online retailers to collect sales tax on all purchases. Under current law, states can only require online sellers to collect sales tax if they have a physical presence in that state. E-books are exempt. Marketwatch says these 4 things should be bought before the bill becomes law: 1. Electronics; 2. Jewelry; 3. Designer clothes and accessories; 4. Furniture and fixtures." Continue reading →

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G-20 Pushes for Global Measures to End Tax Evasion

"The Group of 20 countries called on Friday for a coordinated effort to stop international tax evasion, urging governments to systematically share bank data. Finance ministers and central bankers of the G-20, meeting in Washington, said in a communiqué that automatic exchange of tax-relevant bank information should be adopted as the global standard. The automatic exchange of tax data, an approach the United States has pushed, would represent a major change from the current procedures, in which countries are expected to provide such information only on request." Continue reading →

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How the Taxman Cleared the Dance Floor

"Clubs that provided strictly instrumental music to which no one danced were exempt from the cabaret tax. It is no coincidence that in the back half of the 1940s a new and undanceable jazz performed primarily by small instrumental groups—bebop—emerged as the music of the moment. How differently might bebop have been expressed if it had been allowed to develop organically instead of in an atmosphere where dancing was discouraged by the taxman? The cabaret tax was finally eliminated in 1965. By then, the Swing Era ballrooms and other 'terperies' were long gone, and public dancing was done in front of stages where young men wielded electric guitars." Continue reading →

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Americans fall out of favour with Swiss banks

"Already battle-scarred from the hard lessons of recent years, Swiss banks are taking a very cautious approach when it comes to the introduction of FATCA. The US law requires banks around the world to report information on American account holders to Uncle Sam. There are also concerns that FATCA’s collateral damage could extend beyond the home front into the business world. If an American owns more than 10 percent of a company, it is reportable to the IRS. The worry is that this rule may make it harder for US entrepreneurs to find business and banking partners, shutting them out of attractive investment opportunities." Continue reading →

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Homelanders propose more tax hikes on U.S. Persons abroad

"February saw a massive number of legislative attacks on American emigrants and their children by ignorant or malign (un)Representatives which are only now coming to light as the Government Printing Office finishes typesetting and publishing the hundreds of pages of proposed laws. We’ve already discussed the various recent bipartisan attempts to repeal the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion, but another frequent theme is increasing the tax and compliance burdens on so-called 'Controlled Foreign Corporation owners' and 'outsourcers', including people who have lived outside the U.S. all their lives but got the inherited genetic disease of U.S. citizenship from their parents." Continue reading →

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Obamacare tax on unearned income cannot be offset by foreign tax credits

"I am getting more and more confirmation from unrelated sources that the Obama 3.8% tax on unearned income cannot be offset by the Foreign Tax Credits of U.S. citizens abroad. To put it simply: U.S. citizens abroad, who via taxation in their country of residence, pay for health care in their country of residence, are now required to pay for health care for U.S. residents. Oh well: I guess that’s consistent with the definition of citizenship that Obama gave in his State of the Union address. U.S. citizens abroad must accept their obligations to those remaining inside the U.S." Continue reading →

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US Congressmen Reintroduce Online Sales Tax Bill

"A bipartisan group of 53 Democrat and Republican lawmakers have re-introduced a bill – the Marketplace Fairness Act of 2013 – in both the United States Senate and House of Representatives, which would require online retailers to collect sales tax for state and local governments, even though they lack a physical presence in the state. State and local governments are said to view the taxes they cannot collect on most online sales as lost revenue. It is estimated that the 'loophole' costs state and local governments an estimated USD23bn in lost tax revenue each year, with California alone facing around USD1.9bn in uncollected sales taxes." Continue reading →

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U.S. Judge: Fifth Amendment Doesn’t Apply To Foreign Bank Accounts

"In a victory for the government, Pauley said individuals can’t assert a constitutional right against self-incrimination and refuse to disclose bank records to a U.S grand jury. The records sought include the name in which each account is maintained, number of others tied to the account, the address of the bank, and the maximum value of each such account. More than 38,000 Americans avoided prosecution by entering an IRS amnesty program in which they paid back taxes and penalties while disclosing the banks and bankers who helped them hide offshore accounts." Continue reading →

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Free Movement for U.S. Goods But Not for U.S. Citizens?

"The big headline in U.S. international commerce is a new proposed free trade deal between the U.S. and the evil socialist European states. I don’t understand though how America cannot see that its desire for more free trade is inconsistent with FATCA. Why should U.S. goods be able to move freely around the world while U.S. persons and their capital are forbidden to leave the homeland? And if they should have the temerity to leave anyway then they are punished for doing so. More importantly is it possible for U.S. goods to move around the world if U.S. persons aren’t allowed to accompany them?" Continue reading →

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Surprise, Surprise, Obamacare Includes a Massive Sales Tax on Your Healthcare Insurance

"As Carlyle Group founder and war profiteer David Rubinstein once told me about some legislation, 'The devil is in the details.' Maybe this is what Nancy Pelosi meant, when she said that Obamacare needs to be passed so that we can find out what is in it." Continue reading →

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