By Andy Sundberg
One thing overseas Americans seem to have systematically overlooked so far, in our efforts to try to bring about changes in the current US tax legislation, is the fact that many in Washington may have their most fundamental core beliefs about taxation not based upon reason at all but elsewhere, and possibly most powerfully in the various versions of Holy Scriptures.
We have traditionally built our appeals almost entirely on the basis of facts, common sense, secular history, and so on. Perhaps we have been fundamentally deluding ourselves in terms of how the process really works today, and what the most powerful neuron motivations really are in the benighted City Upon a Hill.
If we want to have an effective impact on future deliberations in the Congress, and in the Executive Branch, too, we might be well advised to spend some time now trying to build up the metaphysical dimensions of our arguments in favor of what we think would be greater equity in the way we are being treated, and especially as justified by appropriate divine commitments.
If you Google the question: “taxation in the Bible”, as I did this morning, within 6 seconds you will have the option of viewing more than 6 million responses! Wow! Obviously a lot of folks have already been there and done that.
Three of the articles that popped up among the very first on this enormous list are below, as well as a website that has a lot of additional chatter about taxation in the Bible, provocative questions about taxing only “foreigners” and why the role of Jesus in tax issues might have contributed to his crucifixion!
So if we want to be properly prepared from now on when we meet key leaders on the Hill, we should try to get up to speed on their possible meta-fiscal sensitivities and vulnerabilities too. Yes, yes, I know that this is a very sensitive issue. But that doesn’t mean we should simply ignore it.
Here in this summary table is an overall breakdown of religious affiliations of the current members of the 112th Congress.
Now, over to you. Please share your thoughts on this new dimension of our common endeavors.
Could paying attention to this additional dimension of an already immensely complex and highly emotional issue possibly contribute productively to a quicker and more efficient game-changing resolution once and for all?
What Google gave me:
What does the Bible say about paying taxes? by Mary Fairchild, About.com
The Bible speaks on taxation (tribute) by Pastor Art Kohl, Faith Bible Baptist Church, 2002
Taxation, liberty and the Bible – Biblical tax and the various tithes by Martin G Selbrede, The Covenant News, 25 January 2009 . Martin G. Selbrede is the Vice President of the Chalcedon Foundation.
If you want to have some more fun, go to this website and read what this analyst has to say: What is taxed, which starts off with Who would Jesus tax? Data mining the Bible.
Ed. note: Andy Sundberg, founder of American Citizens Abroad and a fellow of the Overseas American Academy, occasionally contributes to this guest blog.
by Matthew Stevenson
republished from NewGeography.com, with permission
(Video, President Obama’s announcement at the White House)
General Stanley McChrystal may be the first commanding general in the history of warfare to be relieved of his command because he groaned over the receipt of an email from an ambassador, or because one of his aides whispered to a Rolling Stone reporter that the president had looked “intimidated” in a meeting with the military brass.
In terms of carrying out strategy, it has been stated that the president had no military complaints about the heavy metal general, who was walking the impossibly thin red line between a general war in Afghanistan and a campaign waged only with assassinations and drone missiles.
Just a month before his firing, McChrystal successfully packaged a tour of the White House and Capitol Hill for President Hamid Karzai. In earlier media campaigns—notably when the president flew into Kabul in the dead of night to lecture a pajama-clad Karzi over corruption—the Afghan president was deemed unworthy of an American war effort.
However briefly, McChrystal had succeeded in integrating the Afghan government into the order of battle. So why was he sacked for humming a few bars of Satisfaction in the presence of a rock reporter?
No doubt McChrystal had his enemies within the bureaucracy, including the ubiquitous ambassador Richard Holbrooke, and the U.S. ambassador in Kabul, former general Karl W. Eikenberry. Along with these two add in a legion of jealous Army politicos, all of whom would love to wear combat fatigues to a presidential photo-op.
In relieving General McChrystal, perhaps as part of a search for his mojo, President Obama joins a long line of presidents who never figured out how to command their commanders. Here’s a brief summary of some of the more complicated relationships between American presidents and their field generals:
President Lincoln Often praised for his habits of command in the Civil War, he nevertheless promoted, endorsed, and endured the incompetence of such generals as McClellan, Meade, Burnside, Pope, and Rosecrans before winning the war with Grant and Sherman, both of whom would horrify a Senate confirmation hearing, let alone the editors of Rolling Stone.
Grant was a drunk who killed thousands at Shiloh and Spotsylvania, and Sherman once celebrated the drowning of a boatload of reporters, pointing out that maybe their “heavy thoughts” had taken them to the bottom. He also burned Atlanta. Both understood how to win modern wars.
by Andy Sundberg
Andy Sundberg is a committee member of American Citizens Abroad (ACA), which is based in Geneva, Switzerland
Background: “US, Switzerland ‘initial’ revised double taxation agreement”, 19 June 2009, GenevaLunch
There is, alas, much more to this story than what has appeared in print so far.
When ACA first learned about these negotiations, a few weeks ago, we asked the U.S. Embassy staff in Bern to help us arrange a meeting with the U.S. Delegation from Washington that would be coming to negotiate with the Swiss Government in Bern. All of their attempts were rebuffed.
We then asked members of the U.S. Embassy staff in Bern to please transmit our written requests to the team. What we hoped to see happen was for this revised agreement with Switzerland to include provisions that were already contained in some other recently revised double taxation agreements with other countries. We had learned that such provisions were supposed to become standard components of all future double taxation treaty revisions.
by Andy Sundberg
Andy Sundberg is a long-term US resident overseas and founder and director of several overseas American organizations
Given the preeminent role that the United States plays, and wants to keep playing, in world trade, what we do and how we try to do it can have enormous consequences for all of us.
But in a world in which raw materials and manufactured components are moving across borders at a record pace, and worldwide sourcing is becoming increasingly ubiquitous, what does the concept of “Buy American” really mean anymore? Paradoxically, it might just make “Selling American” much more difficult.
Imagine also, for a moment, that the U.S. Government actually started to see the wisdom of regularly talking to private sector overseas Americans too, to try to get a better feel for what is actually happening on the ground all over the world. This is not the realm of diplomats but of the practical day to day life of tough and creative decision-makers in myriad markets scattered all across our planet.
Sounds utopian today, doesn’t it, but who knows, maybe we as a nation might finally grow up and open our eyes and ears to learn some useful lessons from this freely available source of priceless knowledge and hard earned experience.
Such is the common wisdom and practice of a growing number of other countries who have already integrated their diasporas into their strategic planning and national promotion.
The following stories in the Financial Times address some of these themes. They have enormous implications not only for folks back home but also for U.S. citizens living and working abroad.
- “Obama Urged To Curb Buy American Measures,” FT, 25 May 2009
- “Initiative backfires for US companies,” FT, 25 May 2009
- “US free trade promises must be honoured,” FT, 19 May 2009
- “Not so free trade,” FT, 24 March 2009
by Andy Sundberg
Andy Sundberg is a long-term US resident overseas and founder and director of several overseas American organizations
If you read the speech that President Barack Obama addressed to the Congress (Ed. note: video at the end of this post) yesterday, it will take a bit of an effort to try to find any mention of Americans who live and work abroad. But there are some and I have highlighted a couple of these for you.
Okay, okay, we are only about 4 million, or just a bit over 1% of the total U.S. population, so we should exercise our long familiar self-restraint and humility in any such quest. And, of course we also have to accept the sad fact that we have long been ignored or even suspected of perfidy for having chosen to live away from our home country. But, at least from our own perspective, many of us actually do believe that we fill a rather unique and very positive role in our nation’s and the entire world’s economy, so our curiosity as to where we might fit into the latest initiatives of our new government are certainly legitimate.
I ended my last blog entry with astonishment at the happiness level of the people of Bhutan as measured by Adrian White at
the University of Leicester in the UK. Bhutan shares the 4th happiest country in the world position with Brunei, Canada, Ireland and Luxembourg. Bhutanese live 20 to 25 years less, earn a fraction of the yearly wealth and have half the literacy rate of these countries. This defies Professor White’s theory that happiness is the result of abundant health, wealth and education.
So why are Bhutanese so
happy?
Professor White suggests that Bhutan’s strong national identity, their beautiful scenery and intact culture explains their
high level of happiness.
Bhutan’s national identity is fiercely protected by the government, which is famous for
it’s Gross National Happiness policy.
Bhutan strictly enforces annual
limits to the number of tourists who can visit. In 2007, about 21,000 tourists
entered the Kingdom and the government sees little reason to increase this
number. The stated reason for this, according to a tourist website is to “avoid the negative impacts of
tourism on the culture and the environment.” Tourists need to be on a guided
tour for the duration of their visit.
The tiny kingdom, about the size of Switzerland is surrounded by the beautiful Himalayan mountains which both isolates and protects it from the outside world and makes travel difficult at best. Television and
internet was only allowed throughout the country starting in 1999 and is government controlled. Television program are allowed based on what increases a person’s happiness. The government recently decided that watching MTV and World Wide Wrestling do not make people happier so they were taken off the air.
Buddhism has been the dominant religion in Bhutan since the 7th century. The Bhutan Tourism Corporation Ltd.
website states that Buddhism “has inculcated deeply the value that all forms of
sentient life, not just human life, are precious and sacred.” This statement
conflicts drastically with the government’s expulsion of over 100,000
Nepali-speaking Lhotshampas in the early 1990’s. The Lhotshampas practice the
Hindu religion. The 1988 census revealed that the Nepali’s constituted 45% of
the population in Bhutan,
threatening to become the majority. The Lhotshampas have been exiled in Nepal and
confined into seven refugee camps for the past 15 years. A detailed history of
their situation is found on the UNHCR site.
Hindus are not the only devalued religious group in Bhutan. Bhutan4Christ is a website
which details the struggles that Christians have experienced in Bhutan.
Yesterday the BBC reported that the first group of
Bhutanese refugees were being resettled in the US and New Zealand.
Perhaps they will find freedom to practice the religion of their choice in
these countries.
After 15 years in a refugee camp, perhaps they will finally find
happiness.