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Comment by jamisteven | Hacker News Reader

Probably some docs pertaining to Haiti's debt to Venezuela in that bank, not sure why the US would intervene but cant help but think this wouldnt be related, almost seems obvious.

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The US always has some hand in Caribbean affairs. It's just part of the realities of being a small island country next to a world superpower.

All courtesy of the Monroe Doctrine. The US thinks it should control the entire hemisphere.

Also interesting for American citizens living and working overseas: if you work overseas, even for a completely foreign entity with zero US operations, you are expected to pay Uncle Sam taxes on that income. Only Liberia and the US engage in this shenanigans. It makes it hard to get ahead if you want to work overseas for awhile.

Expatriates can take advantage of the foreign earned income exclusion up to about $105K. For US citizens with higher foreign incomes it's totally fair to require them to pay some income taxes. They still benefit from being citizens even when they're not physically present in the country. And if they don't like it they can just pay a small fee to renounce their citizenship.

My wife if a US citizen and we are living abroad right now. Not sure what benefits you are talking about that warrants paying a tax while abroad.

Being able to vote. Consular services. The American military keeping the peace worldwide. You can quibble over the value of these services, but there are logical reasons why countries may want to tax overseas citizens who retain citizenship.

These may be true, but yet other countries don't do this.

I once worked with an American guy who served 5 years in the French Foreign Legion. This poor guy played hell when he returned to the US after an almost 5.5 year absence. The Legion gave him a new name during his service and French citizenship upon completion of his tour, and when he returned to the US, he said they treated him like a pariah. The IRS audited him, yet did not assess him any levies. It was a nightmare for him that took over 6 months to sort out--with help from a tax attorney.

Consular services in many countries are a joke, even for citizens, with bored bureaucrats taking out their frustrations on people who frequently have no other recourse. The state department is nothing like what is depicted in movies and on TV.

As one example, in most cases, overseas citizens are still eligible to receive social security benefits.

which are... none? I don't mean to be cynical sorry, but social benefits are US citizen subject that warrant such high taxes while living abroad?

We live in NL and definitely don't get/need any benefits from the US.

I disagree with having to effectively pay twice. I've lived overseas for a total of 8 years and the tax rules suck. I'm back in the US now, but when I did work overseas, taxes were fairly complex. My UK family and friends didn't pay taxes to the crown when they worked here. My South African friends don't pay to SA and they work here. It's really not fair if you think about it. People from other countries still enjoy the benefits of their respective citizenships while in other places, yet don't suffer the indignity of the double dip.

Mostly the problem is a) you still need to file taxes, which is complicated even further by being overseas, and b) the US imposes substantial reporting requirements on any foreign bank which serviees its citizens, which leads to a lot of banks simply refusing service to them. When people are willing to spend $2000 (it may be small to those making over $105k, but most people renouncing their US citizenship after moving overseas are not making that much) and give up their citizenship over something which is basically just paperwork, it's got to be pretty bad.

> And if they don't like it they can just pay a small fee to renounce their citizenship.

"Because I don't want to pay US taxes" is one of the few reasons your application to renounce your citizenship can be denied.

You would need to lie on a federal form, which for some people is not a "small fee".

But this can catch accidental dual citizens eg Boris Jonson got a separate tax demand from the IRS when he was selling his mums house and presumably after HMRC had had its death duties.

Unlike every other country on planet earth, which doesn’t tax non-residents yet still manages to support their citizens?

It’s a money-grab, pure and simple.

interesting, so I assume if I google "venezuela and haiti bilateral deals" we can get "[1] Both leaders [POV and POH] also reaffirmed their governments’ commitment to the PetroCaribe program, an initiative created by former President Hugo Chavez Frias which sees Venezuela export oil to Haiti and other Caribbean and Central American nations at 40 percent of the market cost, with the remainder payable via 25-year low interest loans." https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/13522 (didn't OSINT the source)

Like this one?

Wowzers. Yep, and there it is.

I see the connection, but I guess I'm missing something. Why would the US want those documents?

This seems to be relevant background: https://www.thenation.com/article/wikileaks-haiti-petrocarib...

That was a great read. I was looking for more recent background regarding Qatar's involvement. What befuddled me is why the US needs to be involved with Haiti selling its debt to Qatar? Is that out of comfort, necessity, or something else? I can see the US playing the role of a broker. However, the powers-that-be in Haiti must want to stay aligned with Venezuela instead of the US/Qatar if they do not want to sell the debt to Qatar.

"What befuddled me is why the US needs to be involved with Haiti selling its debt to Qatar?" Lookup Russia's interest in Cuba in previous years, and the US interest in that. The US would be interested in thr Haiti/Qatar link for the same reasons, which is basically proximity.

I am aware of the Russia/Cuba/US love triangle. It's only recently that the US has become part of the equation. I imagine Russia is helping Qatar with its construction for the upcoming World Cup. Just did some preliminary googling and it seems Qatar now owns a major percentage of Rosneft (energy co.), along with purchasing arms from Russia. All that being said, the situation of US foreign relations is truly sad.

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