NY-26 Voters invited to join DemsAbroad meeting with Rep Higgins staff to discuss Residency Based Taxation [RSVP Required]

Dear NY-26 Voter --

Democrats Abroad Canada is reaching out to our members who vote in New York Congressional District 26 served by House Representative Brian Higgins of Buffalo / Niagara Falls. 

DemsAbroad has a meeting scheduled with Rep. Higgins’ staff in Buffalo on Friday, January 24 at 1:30 PM.  We invite you to join us by RSVP'ing to this event. For transportation coordination and the Congressman's office protocol, an RSVP is required. We will be coordinating from a meet up point at the Aldershot Go station for those who would like to carpool. 

Our delegation plans to tell the Congressman our tax stories about the discrimination, unfairness and burdensome demands that the present Citizen Based Taxation (CBT) system has on us Americans who live abroad. 

We are seeking Rep. Higgins support for reforms to the current system of Citizenship Based Taxation (CBT) by an adoption of Residency Based Taxation (RBT) system. If you live outside the region or are otherwise unable to join us, we invite you to send a letter of support for RBT to the Congressman's Buffalo office. Ask Rep. Higgins for his support for Congressional hearings on RBT before the House Ways and Means Committee of which he is a member. A sample letter is below this message for your use.

“Americans abroad face a range of laws and regulations that discriminate against us for living outside the U.S.  U.S. tax laws are foremost among them, causing us serious personal and financial harm, jeopardizing our ability to arrange even ordinary banking services, threatening to crush our small to medium-sized businesses and obstructing our ability to save for the future,” reports the Democrats Abroad Taxation Task Force. 

By enacting a switch to Resident Based Taxation (RBT) Congress would sweep away the vast majority of the problems we face.  Click here to download our policy paper “Making the Case for a Switch to Residency Based Taxation.”    The attached policy paper was prepared for our use in reaching out to Rep. Higgins and other members of Congress.

Yours for taxation reform in 2020,

Kenneth Sherman
Democrat Abroad, member to Democratic National Committee

Steven Nardi
Democrats Abroad Canada, Chair

Sample letter to send Congressman

Congressman Brian Higgins
726 Exchange Street
Suite 601
Buffalo, New York 14210

Date:

 

Dear Representative Higgins

I vote absentee in your District.  I live in Canada and like other Americans living abroad I am required to file taxes both in the US and in Canada.  There are 6.5 million Americans like me, living outside the United States, suffering serious personal and financial harm because we are subjected to taxation both in the US, even if I have no US income, and Canada where we live.

Filing from abroad is more complex and is very costly, even for ordinary earners like me. Tax code provisions as recently passed lacked consideration for their impact on overseas filers. One example is the recent “transition taxes” in the 2017 Tax Act that is forcing many American small business owners abroad to close their companies.

There are many issue of discriminating taxation from which Americans abroad need relief. We want the US to switch from our current system of Citizenship Based Taxation (CBT) to Residency Based Taxation (RBT).  If the US had a system of Residency Based Taxation (RBT), like nearly every other nation, then I’d still be required to report my US-based income if I had any, but not the income I make and pay taxes on in Canada.

A bill to enact Residency Based Taxation (RBT) is in development stage in the Ways and Means Committee.  Democrats Abroad is calling for hearings on RBT taxation before this Committee of which you are a senior member.  I urge you to support RBT legislation when it is introduced.  It will provide much needed relief to Americans living abroad.

I am also asking for your support to HR 4362, the Overseas Americans Financial Access Act.  It would exempt Americans living abroad from disclosures on their financial accounts in their countries of residence – accounts from which they pay bills and save for the future.  I encourage you to contact Rep Carolyn Maloney to become a co-sponsor of this important legislation. I am glad to hear that you are also a member of the Americans Abroad Caucus. 

Thank you very much for your service to the voters of your district, including us who live abroad.

Sincerely,

[Your name and address]

WHEN

Friday, January 24, 2020 at 01:30 PM Eastern Time (US & Canada) Time

WHERE

Congressman Brian Higgins Buffalo Constituency Office
726 Exchange St
Suite 601
Buffalo, NY 14210
United States
Google map and directions

CONTACT

Ken Sherman
[email protected]