Center for Freedom and Prosperity
For Immediate Release
Tuesday, March 21, 2017
202-285-0244
www.freedomandprosperity.org
Coalition Letter to Congress: Repeal FATCA
(Washington, D.C., Tuesday, March 21, 2017) A coalition of 23 taxpayer protection and grassroots organizations sent a letter today urging Congressional leadership to include repeal of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) as part of comprehensive tax reform. Co-authored by the Center for Freedom and Prosperity and the Campaign to Repeal FATCA, the letter highlights the path of destruction that FATCA has carved through the international financial sector.
Link to Repeal FATCA letter:
http://freedomandprosperity.org/files/2017-FATCA_repeal_coalition_ltr.pdf
The letter makes 5 key points: 1) FATCA fails in its primary goal to catch wealthy tax cheats; 2) It ensnares innocent Americans with excessive reporting requirements and draconian penalties for the slightest oversights; 3) It makes U.S. citizens living and working abroad toxic assets in the eyes of both financial institutions and employers; 4) Its compliance costs far outstrip the revenue it collects; and 5) It encourages other nations and international organizations to pursue aggressive tax grabs that threaten American businesses and the global economy.
Several signers of the letter and other tax experts offered the following comments on FATCA:
CF&P President Andrew Quinlan commented, “It’s time to turn the page on this failed experiment in global financial surveillance. Congress should acknowledge the overwhelming evidence which shows that low, pro-growth tax rates and a simplified tax code are the proven ways to encourage greater tax compliance. America, and the world, will be better off without FATCA.”
Dan Mitchell, a Cato Institute Senior Fellow, noted, “FATCA arguably is the worst provision in the entire tax code, undermining U.S. competitiveness and setting the stage for foreign attempts to tax activity in the United States.”
Grover Norquist, President of Americans for Tax Reform, said, “FATCA is the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) for Americans overseas–an intrusive, complicated, painful and unfair tax regime designed to be massive overkill in hunting for coins between the cushions. We are finally abolishing AMT–after 48 years–in Trump’s tax reform package. We should put FATCA to sleep at the same time.”
Nigel Green, CEO of deVere Group, said, “Every government has a right to see its laws enforced and tax evasion investigated and prosecuted. That’s not what FATCA does, though. It has punished everybody, innocent as well as guilty, and consumers and taxpayers worldwide. It’s a windfall for the compliance industry and no one else. Repeal FATCA!”
Pete Sepp, President of the National Taxpayers Union, said, “Comprehensive tax reform legislation is critical not only for what it enacts, but also for what it repeals. One item that should be a top priority on the repeal agenda is FATCA, an uneconomic, unadministrable, and unfair law. Our people and businesses abroad are being increasingly harassed by other countries’ ravenous revenue collectors, and FATCA only provides political fodder for foreign tax agencies to lean harder on those Americans. But even without this factor, FATCA would be problematic for our competitive position abroad by freezing U.S. small businesses out of banking and financial resources overseas. FATCA is a failure, and tax reform can put an end to this misery.”
David Williams, President of the Taxpayers Protection Alliance, said, “Repealing FATCA is critical to preserving the financial privacy of U.S. citizens, which we’ve seen eroded by federal agencies like the Internal Revenue Service. The repeal of FATCA will also help to preserve and strengthen the financial freedoms and choices of all Americans.
Brian Garst, Director of Policy and Communications for CF&P, added, “America ought to be ashamed for inflicting FATCA upon the world. The only respectable option now is to repeal FATCA and beg forgiveness.”
Representatives of the following 23 organizations signed the coalition letter:
Center for Freedom and Prosperity; Campaign to Repeal FATCA; Americans for Tax Reform; National Taxpayers Union; American Commitment; Taxpayers Protection Alliance; Competitive Enterprise Institute; Frontiers of Freedom; R Street Institute; 60 Plus Association; The Market Institute; FreedomWorks; Center for Individual Freedom; Sovereign Society Freedom Alliance; Institute for Liberty; Institute for Policy Innovation; The National Tax Limitation Committee; Americans for Limited Government; Citizen Outreach; National Center for Policy Analysis; Campaign for Liberty; Jeffersonian Project; Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council
For additional comments:
Andrew Quinlan can be reached at 202-285-0244, andy@freedomandprosperity.org
Brian Garst, Dir. of Policy and Communications, can be reached at bgarst@freedomandprosperity.org
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