The Burdens of US Citizenship
Why I can not offer paid subscriptions.
This keeps coming up, so I decided to do a primer on the subject. It is similar to the various Covid topics in that while there is much to be learned about it, most do not even know that it exists and are unwilling to trust those who try to inform them of it and certainly will not search beyond the first couple of hits on Google. I refer to FATCA/FBAR and the root of these problems, Citizenship Based Taxation (CBT).
My initial introduction to this unholy trinity was much like a horror movie scene that I either have actually seen or perhaps have conjured up myself. It was like seeing a bubble form in the ceiling. As the bubble grew, faint murmurings could be heard emitting from it. It grew and continued to grow until I was compelled to pop it, where upon a whole other universe reveled itself. I would spend most of the next 10 years learning all I could about this dark universe.
Most, but not all of the past 10 years have been consumed by my obsessive research in to the problems it presents. I stopped keeping current a few years ago as I discovered that just like mask efficiency against viruses, peoples’ minds are made up on the subject and no amount of facts and data will budge most from their misconceptions. This the genesis of my much repeated statement that I have been down this road before but in a different vehicle and I know where it leads.
What follows is mostly from memory. Dates may be off a few years in either direction, but the over all story should bear up to scrutiny.
Ten years ago I was working on renewing my passport through the US Embassy in Tokyo, near where I have lived most of my adult life. This would be the second time I renewed it through this embassy but the 3rd time I used the passport services at this embassy. The first time was to get my initial passport. As a US service member in Japan at this time, I was not required to carry a passport. Under the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) my us navy ID card was sufficient. This may have changed, but I am not sure. My ship was about to deploy and I wanted a passport to cross borders into counties near the ports we may call at during our cruise. This is to show that I have some experience with passport services in general and with the Embassy in Tokyo specifically.
Ten years ago as I was gathering all I needed to renew my passport we had just learned that my wife was pregnant with our first child. But things were different this time around. I will leave all the silliness except the passport application for a possible future post. Here are portions of the application I had to fill out 10 years ago.
There were many statements in it that set off alarm bells. Not only did they differ from earlier applications, many violated US law. Being in the service, I often had to provide personal information written or typed on various documents. Each of these docs included the privacy statement that included a statement that the information provided could not be shared with any other department of the government except for administrative purposes and that it is a violation of US law to do so and specifically prohibited doing so for law enforcement. Not in the statement but understand from boot camp and civics 101 in high school, a warrant based upon probably cause is need for law enforcement to obtain the information in any of the documents I provided personal data for while in the service. While I can not say for certain sure as I did not keep a copy, I believe that the same statement was on both of my previous passport applications. The statements on the last renewal application (Pictured above) that the information would automatically be shared through out the government to see if I was “eligible” for the right to a passport compelled me to pop that bubble on the ceiling.
Part 2. The horrors of the bubble.