Obama's "Secret" Tax - Give Me a Break...

Ever since the people elected Barak Obama to office in 2008 we have been subjected to a mind numbing array of “doomsday” scenarios which all have one thing in common; they are Obama’s fault. If a bird falls from a tree, Obama did it. He’s the new Satan, the latest devil, the 21^st Century Boogieman.

And now he is set to collapse the American economy on July 1^st with the advent of the new requirements of FACTA, a component of H.R. 2847, the “Hire Incentives to Restore Employment” Act which was passed in 2010 and takes effect this July 1^st. FACTA stands for “Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act”, which is the portion of the bill that has so many people frightened.

Wait! Did I say it “has so many people frightened?” Personally I don’t know of a single one. As a matter of fact, I hadn’t even heard about this until I saw a posting online which said that on July 1^st, 2014 Americans will be facing a financial collapse of everything we know.

The American way of life will be rolled back 40 years. Buildings will go dark and sit empty; planes will be grounded; financial institutions will shutter their doors, and ordinary citizens will starve in the streets in the midst of martial law which will prohibit them from being in the streets in the first place. There will not even be a place to die! Give me a break…

FACTA will only affect you if you have an offshore bank account with millions of dollars in it on which you are not paying taxes. Mitt Romney is terrified, but Robert Williams is fine. As a matter of fact, this law is way overdue. Maybe that’s what they mean about the biggest change in 40 years. Imagine, rich people paying taxes just like the rest of us! The very idea smacks of socialism at best; and downright fair at its worse. Think of it; FACTA will require the rich to have a 1099 issued for their savings. And they’re pissed about the government intrusion.

Now, these are the same people who want you to jump through hoops of fire in order to vote. No problem with all of the paperwork they want to foist on the poor, making it harder for them to vote; but an extra 1099 will break the entire system.

For the record; I am for Voter ID. I think you should have to show who you are when you go to vote. I don’t think that it is an undue burden, just as I don’t think the 1099 requirement for FACTA is undue. That’s called consistent thinking. The reasoning behind the opposition to FACTA is not the result of consistent thought at all. And the people who are trying to scare you know that.

The other big lie being bandied about is that this law violates our own constitution. Nothing could be further from the truth. The collection of information on the 1099 is not inconsistent with the information required of all taxpayers. Once again the specter of misinformation rears its ugly head.

The same people who are opposed to this requirement are the same folks who tell you that you should be comfortable with the NSA gathering all of your personal information. Why are they so comfortable with that, yet so discomfited by the requirements of FACTA? Simple answer; it’s going to cost them a couple of bucks.

Note: The photo at the top is of Moroccan actor Mehdi Ouazzani, who played the Devil in the film “The Bible”. Conservatives were all abuzz with this photo about a year ago. I suspect that people who have too much money sitting in foreign accounts also have too much time on their hands.