“Two weeks ago – July 1, to be exact – an obscure law called the “Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act,” or FATCA, came into effect.
The idea behind FATCA is simple: Demand that other countries enforce America’s imperialistic tax laws. And do so by the confiscation of foreign assets, if necessary.
Effective July 1, interest, dividends, rents, and similar payments leaving the US are subject to a 30% withholding tax. The only way that most foreign banks and other international companies can avoid this tax is to act as unpaid IRS informants. Non-US persons investing in the US are affected, too. If their foreign bank isn’t FATCA-compliant, their US income gets whacked 30%.
How’s that for economic imperialism?”
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