In post #2 above, Peter Fearon (peterma) offered two links. Here is a short copy-and-paste from his second link (Why expat Americans are giving up their passports). I bolded one sentence for emphasis —
‘Deterring abuses’
Fatca (its original acronym was rumoured to be “Fatcat”) was made into law at the height of US public concern that the wealthy were avoiding paying tax owed to the federal government by hiding their money in offshore bank accounts.
[B]“The overall purpose of the law is to detect, deter and discourage offshore tax abuses through increased transparency, enhanced reporting and strong sanctions,” said a spokeswoman for Congressman Charles Rangel - one of those who introduced Fatca.[/B]
“The US Treasury worked tirelessly to address many of these problems, and most have been resolved. If there are still problems with the law, then I believe Congress should hold hearings to see how it can be improved.”
[B]The fact that Charles Rangel was one of the co-authors of FATCA is ironic beyond belief.
FATCA severely punishes ordinary citizens for doing some of the same things that Rangel himself had been doing for years — using dodgy offshore tax shelters, and failing to report offshore income and pay taxes on that income.
And, Rangel’s graft and corruption went beyond offshore tax evasion. With Rangel, graft and corruption were just the way he did business.[/B]
According to the Wikipedia ARTICLE titled [I]Charles Rangel[/I] —
In late 2008 and again in September 2009, the government watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington named Rangel one of the 15 most corrupt members of Congress.
Here are extensive excerpts from that Wikipedia article —
Beginning in 2008, Rangel faced a series of allegations of ethics violations and failures to comply with tax laws. The House Ethics Committee focused on whether Rangel improperly rented multiple rent-stabilized New York apartments, improperly used his office in raising money for the Rangel Center at the City College of New York, and failed to disclose rental income from his villa in the Dominican Republic. In March 2010, Rangel stepped aside as Ways and Means Chair. In November 2010, the Ethics Committee found Rangel guilty of 11 counts of violating House ethics rules, and on December 2, 2010, the full House approved a sanction of censure against him. Rangel has since faced two strong primary challenges in a now primarily Hispanic district but has prevailed. He has stated that his current term will be his last.
[B]2008–2010: Ethics issues and censure[/B]
[U]Letterhead use and Rangel Center fundraising[/U]
In July 2008, The Washington Post reported that Rangel was soliciting donations to the Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Service at City College of New York from corporations with business interests before his Ways and Means Committee, and was doing so using Congressional letterhead. Such companies and individuals included AIG, Donald Trump, and Nabors Industries, and by this time Rangel’s efforts had helped raise $12 million of the $30 million goal for the center.
[U]Renting Harlem apartments at below-market rates[/U]
The New York Times reported in July 2008 that Rangel rents four apartments at below-market rates in the Lenox Terrace complex in Harlem. It reported that Rangel paid $3,894 monthly for all four apartments in 2007. In contrast, the landlord’s going rate for similar apartments in the building was as high as $8,125 monthly.
[U]House parking garage[/U]
A September 2008 New York Post article reported that Rangel had been using a House parking garage as free storage space for his Mercedes-Benz for years, in apparent violation of Congressional rules.
[U]Taxes on Dominican villa rental income[/U]
Rangel was accused of failing to report income from his rental of a beachside villa he owns in Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic. A three-bedroom, three-bath unit, it has rented out for as much as $1,100 per night in the busiest tourist season.
[U]Defense of tax shelter[/U]
In November 2008, following reports by The New York Times, Republican Congressmen asked the House Ethics Committee to look into Rangel’s defense of a tax shelter approved by his Ways and Means Committee. One of the four companies that benefited from the loophole was Nabors Industries, which opened headquarters in Bermuda as a foreign corporation. Under the loophole, Nabors receives tens of millions of dollars in tax breaks. In 2004, Rangel had led opposition to the tax breaks. Nabors donated $1 million in 2006, and $100,000 later, to the City College of New York school named after Rangel.
[U]Unreported assets and income[/U]
On September 15, 2008, it was disclosed that: a) Rangel had omitted from his financial reports details regarding his sale of a Washington, DC home; b) discrepancies existed in the values he listed for a property he owns in Sunny Isles, Florida (varying from $50,000 to $500,000); and c) inconsistencies appeared in his investment fund reporting.
[U]Caribbean trips[/U]
In May 2009, the non-profit National Legal and Policy Center filed an ethics complaint against Rangel and other members of Congress for trips, taken in 2007 and 2008 to Caribbean islands. The trips had been sponsored by Carib News Foundation, a New York non-profit funded by corporations with interests before Congress and the Ways and Means Committee. This, combined with the duration of the trips, seemed to violate House rules. The Ethics Committee agreed the following month to investigate the matter.
Pelosi said she would not take any action against Rangel pending further committee findings…
[U]Stepping aside as House Ways and Means Chair[/U]
After a February 2010 House Ethics Committee report criticizing him for taking sponsored Caribbean trips, the White House backed off its prior support of Rangel somewhat, and within days 14 Democratic members of Congress publicly called on Rangel to step aside as Ways and Means chair.
[U]House ethics committee charges[/U]
On July 22, 2010, a bipartisan, four-member investigative subcommittee of the House Ethics Committee indicated it had “substantial reason to believe” that Rangel had violated a range of ethics rules relating to the other charges. The matter was referred to another, newly created, special subcommittee to rule on the findings.
Rangel negotiated with the Ethics Committee. But participants in the talks characterized him as unwilling to admit wrongdoing in connection with several of the charges, and anxious about preserving his legacy. No settlement was reached.
On July 29, 2010, Rangel was charged by the committee with 13 counts of violating House rules and federal laws.
[U]House ethics trial and censure[/U]
On November 15, 2010, Rangel’s formal ethics trial began. He walked out of the hearing at the start, saying that he was unable to afford representation after having paid his previous lawyers over $2 million, and arguing unsuccessfully that the proceeding should be delayed until he could arrange for a legal defense fund.
The following day, Rangel was found guilty on 11 of the 12 charges against him by the adjudicatory subcommittee of the House Ethics Committee (2 of the original 13 charges having been combined).
Here is a short excerpt from the Wikipedia ARTICLE titled [I]Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act,[/I] giving a bit more detail on the passage of FATCA (I have bolded a couple of sentences) —
Senator Levin (D-MI) has stated that the U.S. Treasury loses as much as 100 billion USD annually to “offshore tax non-compliance” without stating the source of the data. (Another source stated 40-70 billion USD without citing the source). Accurate figures on unreported income have not been supported. On March 4, 2009 the IRS Commissioner Charles Shulman testified before the Subcommittee that there is no credible estimate of lost tax revenue from offshore tax abuse.
Supplementing the reporting regimes already in place was stated by Senator Max Baucus (D-MT) to be a means of acquiring more financial data and raising government revenue. After committee deliberation, [B]Sen. Max Baucus and Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY) introduced the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act of 2009 to Congress on October 27, 2009.[/B] It was later added to an appropriations bill as an amendment, sponsored by Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV), which also renamed the bill the HIRE Act. The bill was signed into law by President Obama on March 18, 2010.
[B]A legal challenge against the constitutionality of FATCA, its IGA’s, and FBAR reporting requirements was filed in a federal district court in Ohio on July 14, 2015 (see below). The case is Crawford v. U.S. Department of Treasury. Arguments for an injunction against the FATCA Intergovernmental agreements were held on Sept 4, 2015.[/B]
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Most Americans have utter contempt for the Ruling Class in this country, because of corrupt politicians like Charles Rangel — who try to control every aspect of [I]our[/I] lives, while putting [I]themselves[/I] above the law.
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The total overthrow of the
Ruling Class
is long overdue.
.