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Americans living in Atlantic Canada expect higher voter turnout
'We have heard from people who haven’t voted in years,' says party organizer
· CBC News · Posted: Oct 18, 2020 11:12 AM AT
Some U.S. citizens abroad can vote online, while others must send their ballots by mail. (Logan Cyrus/AFP/Getty Images)
When U.S. election results tick in, Atlantic Canada could have an impact.
Both Democrats and Republicans are pushing Americans and dual U.S. citizens living abroad to cast ballots in the presidential contest on Nov. 3.
Organizers in the Maritimes expect a high concentration of residents with citizenship to vote by mail and online for the first time, which they say could make a difference in highly contested battleground states.
Democrats Abroad has been making calls and mailing postcards to potential U.S. voters in Atlantic Canada. It has an estimated 1,100 registered members in the region.
Riley Nielson started the Atlantic chapter after moving to Halifax about a year and a half ago from Florida — a battleground state this year.
"There is such interest in this election, I think we're definitely going to see a huge influx of voters in Canada alone," they said.
Nielson is a dual citizen born in Halifax who uses the pronouns they and them. They said a large concentration of American citizens in the Maritimes are casting ballots in swing states that could make a difference.
"We have heard from people who haven't voted in years and one person who never voted before in his life and registered to vote for the first time," Nielsen said.
'This election is absolutely critical'
Rebecca Burns is originally from Charlotte, N.C., and moved to British Columbia with her Canadian husband seven years ago.
Burns voted from Fredericton, where she now lives and works as a nurse. She said she's met many Canadians who obtained dual citizenship through a parent and are less inclined to vote.
"I think that people
recognize that this election is absolutely critical and I'm hoping that
number will really increase this year," she said.
Rebecca Burns, a U.S. citizen, voted abroad for Democratic candidate Joe Biden. She currently lives in Fredericton where she works as a nurse. (Submitted by Rebecca Burns)
Michelle Sinville is a landed immigrant originally from New Hampshire, but now lives in Dartmouth, N.S.
Sinville, who works as a pharmaceutical industry consultant, voted by email in Rhode Island, her last state of residence. She has helped other U.S. citizens who decided to vote from abroad for the first time after feeling "it was important to engage."
"I think that sentiment is going to be really common throughout other overseas voters," she said.
Michelle Sinville voted in Rhode Island by email from Dartmouth, N.S. (Submitted by Michelle Sinville)
Republican presence smaller
Mark Feigenbaum, a dual citizen who grew up in California, has been the chair of Republicans Overseas Canada since 2000.
"I would expect that it'll be a high turnout as it is across the entire United States," he said.
The organization does not have a local presence in the Atlantic provinces, but it has been working to inform people about their right to vote and help them navigate the process.
Feigenbaum, a Toronto cross-border tax lawyer, thinks the Maritimes might have a large concentration of U.S. citizens.
Mark Feigenbaum is a Toronto lawyer and the chair of the Canadian chapter of ‘Republicans Overseas.’ He votes in California. (Nick Purdon/CBC)
But he said it's impossible to know just how many people vote from Canada since ballots are cast in individual states.
"There's a whole bunch of different requirements in different counties and different states, and I think some of that has to relate to why the number might be lower than you think," he said.
Low turnout abroad
There's about 620,000 Americans living in Canada that are eligible to vote in the presidential election.
But it's difficult to pinpoint just how many are located in the Atlantic Provinces. While Statistics Canada found more than 17,700 residents in the region were born in the U.S., that figure leaves out many Canadian-born dual citizens.
New Brunswick is home to the most American-born residents in the region, with about 7,600 reported in the most recent census.
Turnout for voters abroad in Canada is traditionally low. A survey by the U.S. Federal Voting Assistance Program found only about five per cent of eligible voters cast ballots in 2016.
Members of the Atlantic Provinces chapter of Democrats Abroad watch the results of the party's global presidential primary. (Submitted by Riley Nielson)
Democrats Abroad attributes that to lack of awareness among dual citizens, especially those who moved across the border at a young age. Voters abroad might also be worried about taxes, said Nielson.
"A lot of people are concerned because they haven't paid their taxes, though there's no case of the IRS ever going after an expat for voting," they said.
In most states, citizens who were born abroad and never lived in the U.S. are still eligible to vote by absentee at the address where a parent lived.
U.S. expats remain eligible to vote in elections regardless of how long they have lived in Canada or elsewhere abroad.
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Lana MacLeod
We do have a leader who is trying to destroy the country just like they have.
Larry Falk
Per capita we are a world leader in amount of taxes sheltered off shore.
REPUBLICANS OVERSEAS
8687 East Vía de Ventura
Scottsdale, AZ 85258
+1 (503) 931-1756
Solomon.Yue@republicansoverseas.com
September 1, 2020 HAND-DELIVERED
Mark R. Meadows Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20500
RE: Executive Order Tax Regulatory Relief for Overseas Americans
Dear Mark:
At the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio, representatives of Republicans Overseas discussed with you the plight of more than 9 million Americans living overseas who are being harmed by the consequences of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) implemented during the Obama-Biden Administration. This statute has caused immeasurable harm to loyal American citizens residing abroad, as you learned during the landmark hearings that you organized as Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Government Operations in April 2017. Today, overseas Americans are not only seeing their lives embittered by FATCA, but as an unintended result of the President’s Tax Cut and Jobs Act of 2017, they find themselves subject to new taxes and an even more onerous set of compliance obligations.
President Trump recently signed a series of Executive Orders designed to alleviate the burdens imposed by the payroll tax and other federal regulations administered by the Treasury Department and the IRS. Republicans Overseas applauds the President’s initiatives given the Democrats’ intransigence and political opportunism.
We propose that the President sign Executive Orders to relieve the suffering of overseas Americans in a manner that is fully in line with your America First agenda and with the RNC 2016 Platform. The implementation in 2010 of FATCA has made it impossible for many overseas Americans to live a normal life. This has resulted in a 2400% increase in citizenship renunciations in the first half of 2020 as compared to 2008. One of the President’s second-term agenda items is to “End Bureaucratic Government Bullying of U.S. Citizens and Small Businesses”. This executive order would indeed end the regulatory tyranny currently being imposed on overseas Americans.
The President could issue Executive Orders in 2020 to investigate and end punitive regulations levied on overseas American citizens and businesses. Specifically, these Orders would:
a. Exempt overseas American small businesses from having to comply with the Transition Tax and GILTI tax. While these taxes were aimed at incentivizing large corporations to repatriate profits accumulated overseas, the TCJA 2017 inadvertently applied these new taxes and regulations to small privately owned businesses causing them to incur huge compliance costs. Exempting small businesses meeting specific criteria (outlined in a draft executive order in Appendix A) would remove a harmful burden from overseas American entrepreneurs.
b. Create a Commission on Americans Overseas to investigate the burdens caused by citizenship-based taxation and onerous regulation. America is one of only two nations that taxes its citizens based on citizenship (the other being Eritrea). This double taxation makes overseas Americans and overseas American businesses much less competitive than their foreign counterparts. Overseas American entrepreneurs face double business taxation due to their citizenship from which corporations are exempt. In 2018, Representative George Holding (R – NC) introduced bill H.R. 7358 – Tax Fairness For Americans Abroad Act. This bill utilized existing tax law but re-classified tax-compliant overseas Americans as non-resident foreigners for the duration of their overseas stay. Income earned overseas was exempt from US taxation, while income earned in the US was taxed at the usual rates.
FATCA (Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act) has cost businesses hundreds of billions of dollars in compliance fees while also costing everyday overseas Americans access to basic financial services and retirement plans. Enforcing FATCA requires the implementation of intergovernmental agreements with countries to collect financial data from overseas American citizens and transfer it to the IRS. The legislation essentially makes foreign governments extensions of the IRS, even when they are hostile nations such as China or Venezuela. Moreover, as Senator Rand Paul has testified at your 2017 hearings, FATCA is a blatant infringement of the privacy rights of millions of Americans abroad and at home. The IRS has spent more than $380 million from 2010 through 2018 in preparing to enforce FATCA but has not recovered any money. Traditional IRS methods for locating tax cheats are more efficient and effective and do not infringe on American citizens’ rights to privacy and due process.
Overseas Americans yearn to be freed from the burdens of double taxation and excessive regulation. Suspending FATCA and exempting small businesses from the Transition and GILTI regulations would definitely be putting Americans First.
We can provide further documentation and evidence as required, and we have included specific proposals with regards to the regulations in appendices.
We greatly appreciate your consideration of these issues and hope that you will be able to lift the burden off the shoulders of nine million overseas Americans.
Sincerely.
Solomon Yue
CEO & VP Republicans Overseas
John Richardson Republicans Overseas Chair – Canada
Marc Zell Republicans Overseas VP and General Counsel
Republicans Overseas Chair - Israel
Randy Yaloz Republicans Overseas Chair – France
Sarah Elliott Republicans Overseas Chair – United Kingdom
Kevin Crowley Republicans Overseas Chair - Switzerland
Alan Seigrist Republicans Overseas Chair – Hong Kong
Mark Crawford Republicans Overseas Chair - Albania
Roger Johnson Republicans Overseas Chair – Czech Republic
Kerry Reddington Republicans Overseas Chair - Germany
Jonathan Constantine Republicans Overseas Chair – Greece
Ed Flaherty Former Republicans Overseas Legal Counsel- Switzerland
Nancy Galan Republicans Overseas Chair - Italy
Lance Gatlin Republicans Overseas Chair – Japan
Larry Rubin Republicans Overseas Chair – Mexico
David Meredith Republicans Overseas Chair - Qatar
Tina Datta Republicans Overseas Chair – Singapore
Katie Hagstrom Republicans Overseas Chair - Sweden
Tony Rodriguez Republicans Overseas Chair – Thailand
Joe Beydoun Republicans Overseas Chair – United Arab Emirates
Vincent Kobler Republicans Overseas Chair - Vietnam
APPENDIX A – DRAFT EXECUTIVE ORDER
DRAFT EXECUTIVE ORDER ON PROMOTING THE AMERICAN ECONOMY ABROAD AND GRANTING RELIEF TO OVERSEAS AMERICANS.
SUBJECT: Promoting the American Economy Overseas
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered as follows:
Section 1. Policy. An estimated 9,000,000 patriotic Americans residing overseas are invaluable cultural and economic ambassadors for the United States. For too long, the value of Americans overseas has not been duly recognized or utilized. Indeed, for decades, Americans overseas have suffered from wave after wave of federal laws and regulations that have disrupted their basic financial and banking lives, creating endless and needless obstacles for their daily existence. Our goal must be to leverage this great asset for the benefit of our country. To that end, today I direct the Secretary of the Treasury and the Small Business Administration to carry out the following actions. Section 2. Transition Tax and GILTI. The Secretary of the Treasury is hereby directed to use his authority pursuant to 26 U.S.C. §965(o), 26 U.S.C. §7805(a) and 5 U.S.C. §604 to exempt small businesses, as defined in the Small Business Act, from the Transition Tax (IRC 965) and GILTI (IRC 951A), effective retroactively December 22, 2017. Section 3. Commission on Americans Overseas (“Commission”). The Secretary of the Treasury is hereby directed to establish a bipartisan Commission to examine the difficulties faced by Americans overseas with regard to the Internal Revenue Code and Foreign Accounting Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). The Commission consist of nine (9) members and shall include no less than two (2) members selected from the community of Americans overseas. The Commission shall carefully balance the legitimate goals of the U.S. Government, on the one hand, with unnecessary harm that many Americans overseas may be suffering as a result of these laws and regulations. The Commission shall publicly report its findings, together with concrete recommendations as to how laws, rules and regulations can be enforced to achieve their legitimate goals without causing undue harm to Americans overseas. Sec. 4. Export of American Goods and Services. The export of American goods and services abroad is of vital importance to the U.S. economy. American small business owners abroad can and should be utilized to promote US-based experts. Accordingly, both the Secretary of the Treasury and Small Business Administration shall convene an advisory working group together with select American business representatives in the U.S. and abroad to consider and implement cost-effective streamlined tools that can increase American exports.
This Executive Order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers or employees.
APPENDIX B – ENDING CITIZENSHIP-BASED TAXATION THROUGH TREASURY REGULATIONS
Treasury has the authority to exempt Americans abroad from taxation on their non-U.S. income.
The basis for taxation of US expats is Section 1 of the 1913 Internal Revenue Code (“IRC”) which imposes taxation on every “individual”.
Treasury can through regulation under Section 1 of the IRC “exclude” certain classes of people from the definition of “individual”.
The word “individual” is extremely broad.
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/26/1
Treasury in its regulations for Section 1 restricts the definition of “individual” to “citizen or resident”. Specifically, the regulation reads in part:
https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/26/1.1-1 (1) Section 1 of the Code imposes an income tax on the income of every individual who is a citizen or resident of the United States
Notably U.S. “nationals” are excluded from this definition. By excluding “nationals”, Treasury has demonstrated a willingness to define “individual” in a way that excludes certain kinds of “individuals” from U.S. worldwide taxation. It is submitted that Treasury has the power to exclude Americans abroad, who meet the residence requirements for the Section 911 Foreign Earned Income exclusion, from worldwide taxation.
Our suspicion is that at the time this regulation was enacted that, for all practical purposes:
1. Citizen was equivalent to resident; and
2. The word “resident” was included to ensure that noncitizens who had a sufficient connection to the United States were treated for tax purposes as citizen/residents. To put it another way: The original intent of the regulation may have envisioned “residence-based taxation”.
Therefore, to end citizenship-based taxation, "individual" in Section 1 of the 1913 Internal Revenue Code shall be defined by the IRS as a legal resident of the United States, and therefore, only individuals who are legally resident in the US shall be subject to taxation under the IRC. This potential change would not impact on taxation of income generated in the US by non-resident citizens or aliens.
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