[Home] [Headlines] [Latest Articles] [Latest Comments] [Post] [Sign-in] [Mail] [Setup] [Help]
Status: Not Logged In; Sign In
|
Dead Constitution See other Dead Constitution Articles Title: The Treasury Secretary and His Newly Deputized G-Men The Devil is always in the details; consequences hide in the tiny, tucked away. The fine print and particulars are of great interest and import; they may not seem so at first but soon they grow like unchecked weeds, entangling all they can reach. It’s certainly no different when it comes to Congressional legislation and those bills destined to become state or federal law. Dormant provisions take refuge in stealth until they are too entwined to eradicate. Additionally, it seems more times than not these covert clauses slide into a bill with little if any debate or even understanding from our elected officials. Our politicians continually enact rules they’ve not read in full nor taken the time to comprehend in detail or consequence. Notwithstanding the unfamiliarity with their own work, accidental or otherwise, you and I are still held accountable for adherence to those rules. Apparently, ignorance is a defense in the writing and passing of our laws, though no shelter for you and I should we run foul of them. Congress also has another unique talent; crafting tasty titles, attaching motivational headings atop bills that often times stray inexorably far from their surnames. In the ultimate shell game, the Capitol Hill Gang hopes to both persuade and distract us with verbose legalese. Under the official title of Hiring Incentives To Restore Employment Act, H.R. 2847, this bill was enacted by President Obama on 18 March, 2010. The street name for this new legislation is the patriotic sounding Jobs for Main Street Act. Jobs for Main Street? No more help for Wall Street? Sure thing; it’s well time Main Street caught some slack. I’m in! Who wouldn’t vote for that bill? Wait a minute. Hold the vote. One particular aspect of this “new lifeline” to us regular folks is in Title V–Offset Provisions: Foreign Account Tax Compliance. Though its main intent is to curb tax evasion, to track offshore accounts and the movement of citizen’s wealth between foreign accounts and countries, there are two sections that should make headlines, reported on by any journalist worth his or her credentials or camera time. In addition to the current banking regulations already enforced as a part of the Patriot Act, the SARS or Suspicious Activity Reports, “Know Your Customer” initiatives and “Structured Withdrawal Notifications” presently reported to the government by banks and financial institutions, in the new law, your personal bank is charged with both tax collection and enforcement of the rules of Secretary of the Treasury, Tim Geithner. Your bank now works, not for you, but for the federal government. “In the case of any withholdable payment (your money) to a foreign financial institution,” the new law states “the withholding agent (your bank) with respect to such payment shall deduct and withhold from such payment a tax equal to 30 percent of the amount of such payment.” You want to legally wire money overseas? Your bank subtracts 30% instantly, even if you have already paid your taxes on those dollars. You are presumed guilty of tax evasion without adjudication; no presumption of innocence here. Now, should the banking institution fail to collect a 30% (tax) on the total amount you wire or otherwise transfer out of the country, they are held responsible and liable by Washington for the full amount. Additionally your bank is legally indemnified, protected from subtracting that amount from your account in error. If your bank makes a mistake and debits your account, it will be your responsibility to personally recollect your misappropriated funds from the government. The banks are between a rock and a soft place. It’s easy to see what they will do. A second red flag is found in an obscure portion that makes it a law requiring you to report all foreign assets, whether or not you have already paid taxes on those assets. The Treasury Department now requires you to claim those assets on your tax forms. Nice. What will be next? Reporting your firearms? Your gold supplies? Your diamonds? Reporting additional information in clear violation of your privacy concerns? Regardless of your position on the legality or morality of “off shore” accounts, does it trouble you to know that the Treasury Department, under the full discretion and sometimes mercurial mindset of its Secretary, is now aggressively teaming with banks to watch, track and in some cases tax your money and your assets? Tim Geithner has a new set of G-Men. What next? More importantly, will you be next? The slippery slope begins when we permit the government to find new and creative ways of tracking its citizens, of deputizing and incentivising public companies to act as de-facto governmental enforcement arms. True, this time it’s a revenue issue, supposedly. This time one could argue that this targets and taxes the “rich.” But who will the target of tomorrow be? Who will they move against next time? Who will be added to Big Brothers list of deputized informants and enforcers? What devil will raise its head in the future? In the short term, there is still time to act. The law, though signed, does not take hold until December, 31 2012. Hopefully, as more Americans and the Congressmen and Congresswomen that passed this law, learn of it dangerous precedents, we can begin to undo not only its pending damage but the implied permission we grant our government to act this way by remaining silent and ignorant when they do so.
Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 1.
#1. To: DeaconBenjamin (#0)
deleted
There are no replies to Comment # 1. End Trace Mode for Comment # 1.
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest |
||
|
[Home]
[Headlines]
[Latest Articles]
[Latest Comments]
[Post]
[Sign-in]
[Mail]
[Setup]
[Help]
|
||