(From the ACA News Report 2004-2)
During the week of May 3 to 6, 2004, American Citizens Abroad participated
in the third annual Overseas American Week (OAW) in Washington DC. The
week was a productive and positive event. Together with our associate organizations;
Association of Americans Resident Overseas (AARO), American Business Council
of Gulf Countries (ABCGC), Alliance of American Organizations (ALLAMO)
and, Federation of American Women's Clubs Overseas (FAWCO), ACA delegates
were able to meet with key people in our nation's capital to present and
discuss our issues and help to bring them to the forefront of the Washington
agenda.
One of the most positive developments of the week was the new collaboration
with the Heritage Foundation, American Enterprise Institute and, the Center
for Freedom and Prosperity on the issue of taxation. The Heritage Foundation
sponsored a luncheon in the Rayburn House Office Building that was open
for Congressional Staffers to come and learn about the negative effects
of citizenship-based taxation on Americans living overseas. Speakers for
the event were ACA's very own Roger Conklin and John Serrato along with
Dan Mitchell of the Heritage Foundation and Veronique de Rugy of the American
Enterprise Institute. Their interest in working with ACA on this issue
is of great significance since all three organizations are well-funded
and are permanent voices in Washington.
Another highlight of the week was the meeting in the Old Executive Building
with Presidential White House Staffers. These individual advisors to the
President are among the highest-level government officials that ACA has
meet with during any OAW. There was a genuine interest and open receptiveness
to the idea of territorial-based taxation on the behalf of this group.
As with the prior two Overseas American Weeks, the objective of our
meetings was to clearly and concisely raise our concerns and outline our
position on the key issues facing the community of American citizens living,
working or retired abroad. This year's attention was focused on issue of
taxation, citizenship rights, voting, census, and representation in Washington.
During the week meetings were arranged to take our message to key and
influential people in Washington. Our representatives met with a number
of high-ranking individuals representing the House, Senate, the State department,
Treasury, the Defence Department (for issues on overseas voting which the
DOD manages) and finally the White House.
Those of us living overseas continue to face a steep uphill battle to
convince Congress and the White House of the importance of its overseas
community and the need to change and enact legislation that provides those
of us living outside the boundaries of the US with the same rights and
benefits taken for granted by those living within the boundaries of the
United States.
Our biggest challenge remains changing the perception of those who enact
legislation that Americans living overseas have left the U.S. just to avoid
paying taxes, or worse yet, are not patriotic and no longer want to contribute
to the economic well being of the nation. Quite the contrary, our most
important message to all of those we met in Washington was to emphasize
that U.S. citizens livings abroad continue to remain extremely patriotic
and that their contributions overseas can bring direct economic benefit
to the U.S.
Our voices are also spread across the entire 435 Congressional districts
which makes it very difficult, if not near impossible, to catch the attention
of any one senator or congressman to help introduce legislation. In fact,
legislation which would help overseas Americans in most cases is passed
because it is being driven by issues in the U.S. The importance of a direct
representative in Washington, addressing the issues and concerns of overseas
Americans remains a key objective for our group.
It was encouraging to see that our previous meetings in Washington had
left many of our contacts this year with an awareness of our issues. Our
communications efforts, from that standpoint, have started to take root.
Taxation is one of the most important issues facing us, a majority of
our time and resources were spent on lobbying for change to the current
worldwide tax policy with staff members in the House and Senate. Everyone
we spoke with this year was familiar with our issues based on our previous
visits, this was very encouraging. At the same time those in Washington
were very straight forward with their advice and with their reading of
the Washington tax-policy tea leaves. We were told that, for the moment,
no changes to Section 911, the current income exclusion and foreign tax
credits would be introduced. It is clear that in the current political
climate, especially with the continued search for additional revenue, without
a strong and consistent voice raising our concerns legislation like Section
911 could be reduced or taken away completely. Unfortunately, this is low
hanging fruit for a number of legislators and we must remain vigilant and
immediately drive a communication campaign if any revenue generating legislation
should be introduced that would limit or eliminate both the current exclusion
and current foreign tax credits. There was clear feedback that our previous
efforts to raise the awareness of this issue and its negative effects on
overseas Americans did have an impact.
Those we met with in Washington also made clear that any changes to
U.S. tax policy, especially moving towards a 'territorial-based tax system'
which would not tax American citizens who are residents in foreign countries,
will not be even considered until there is some signal from the White House.
This seems unlikely until after the November presidential elections.
Work continues on testing a process to execute a census of Americans overseas. As you know, a full census of American living overseas has never been attempted. It is a monumental undertaking and, as such, the first step was to conduct a 'test' to help understand the challenges and iron out the issues for a full census. It was decided to test the process in Mexico, France and Kuwait. Much work has been done and a lot has been learned. Results have been mixed. The biggest challenge remains the logistics of distributing the census forms, informing residents in the test countries, and ultimately convincing potential respondents of the importance of participating. Given the successful completion of this test and a green light, the full census of Americans overseas would occur in conjunction with the U.S. census in 2010. See related article in this issue on page 7.
The outcome of such a census will have a clear and tangible impact on
many of questions regarding US citizens abroad. A more accurate picture
of the number of U.S. citizens living abroad is a vital basis for understanding
our power base. At present, the current picture of the overseas American
population is built on estimates from registration statistics compiled
by the United States Consular Service. Present estimates put the overseas
community at around four million people, which if compared to current State
populations would make the overseas American population equivalent in size
to Kentucky, the 25th largest U.S. state. If the official census understates
the actual number of Americans overseas in could have a negative effect
on our lobbying and communication efforts.
In order to more efficiently redress grievances of overseas Americans,
new laws need to be enacted. In order to enact new laws, someone in Congress
with an interest in our issues and concerns must introduce relevant bills
and fight for them. Herein lies the key issue for the overseas American
community: we have no dedicated representation in Congress today.
The issues the overseas America community faces are peculiar to our
overseas resident status. In order to implement solutions we need to speak
with one voice and have the ability to propose relevant legislation. All
of the issues that we raised during our recent week in Washington, in the
end, will require legislation to be proposed and enacted on in order to
change current laws. At the same time, in order to preserve some of the
hard fought gains it is important that we keep track of legislation being
proposed to ensure that it does reduce or eliminate provisions already
beneficial to overseas Americans. To make this happen it is imperative
that we have a voice in Washington that is dedicated to our issues.
Every American living overseas can still vote in U.S. elections and
therefore, just as any American living in the U.S., is represented by their
home state Senators and the Congress person from their home congressional
district. As a result of this "voting based representation", our collective
level of influence as a community is very low since out members are spread
throughout the 435 congressional districts around the country. Issues facing
overseas Americans are not at the top of the agenda for any one of out
Congress persons or Senators.
During our discussions and meetings this week in Washington the need
for a permanent, dedicated representation for the overseas American community
became even more evident. A Congressional delegate, whose focus would be
on representing U.S. citizens abroad, would be a major step in the right
direction. This delegate would have the same rights, privileges and benefits
already enjoyed by Delegates currently serving in Congress representing
the residents of Guam, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Puerto Rico
and Washington D.C. Guam, for example, with a population of only 148,000
(4% the size of the overseas Americans community) has its own Delegate
and a congressional staff of eight persons. The Delegate for Guam sits
on House Committees, can introduce legislation, can vote in sub-committee
and full committee meetings, and enjoys almost all of the other privileges
of any other Member of Congress, except for the right to vote on final
passage of legislation. Contrary to what many believe, having a Delegate
such as this would still not nullify any overseas American's right to vote
in Federal or State elections.
Many countries already have such models of representation in place,
France, Italy and Portugal to name a few. One of our key objectives remains
to find a sponsor who will re-introduce this already drafted bill during
the current session of Congress.
We met with three important Washington-based Think Tanks: the Heritage
Foundation, the American Enterprise Institute and the Center for American
Progress. All three groups have expressed an interest in our issues, and
more importantly, a desire to work with us on educating and lobbying Congress
for changes.
On Tuesday, May 4, in conjunction with the Heritage Foundation and the
American Enterprise Institute, a luncheon seminar was sponsored on Capitol
Hill for all Senate and House Staffers, addressing the economic impact
of our government's current worldwide tax policy. During this seminar congressional-staff
members were exposed, many for the first time, to the negative effect of
our current tax policies on American citizens and American corporations
working in foreign countries. Roger Conklin and John Serrato spoke about
their experiences and Veronique de Rugy, from the American Enterprise Institute,
spoke about the economic ramifications for corporations.
These groups are advocating a shift from worldwide tax policy to a territorial
tax policy. This would put the United States on tax policy consistent will
all other countries and more importantly, eliminate a major cost impediment
for American citizens working outside of the territorial United States.
We were invited to the White House to discuss a number of our current
concerns with members of President Bush's policy-adviser team. The meeting,
which took place in the Old Executive Building, was a unique and powerful
opportunity to put a number of points, especially issues around taxation,
on the table and get a sense of the direction being taken by the White
House. Much of the discussion revolved around the economic impact of the
current taxation policy. It was clear that this was a very important 'first
contact'. Comments from the White House advisors indicated that there was
a strong interest to understand our concerns and a coalescing understanding
among the Bush economic team that taxing U.S. citizens while working overseas
is working against the long-term economic interest of the United States.
Overall, the week demonstrated the importance of continuing an open,
consistent and frequent communication with key individuals in Washington.
Our task now is to maintain the contacts we have made. ACA will be implementing
a task force team responsible for maintaining contacts and pursuing our
issues and agenda on an ongoing basis with those sympathetic to our cause
in Washington.
It is clear that the overseas Americans' messages are being received
and that we are starting to provide Washington with a more complete context
of the issues facing overseas Americans. We must do all we can to continue
to keep our messages visible, not only to those in Washington but to those
in the media as well. We have made great progress in getting articles written
and published in Washington journals (BNA) and in the International Herald
Tribune that bring to light the issues concerning our group. ACA will continue
to cultivate our Washington and media contacts to make sure ours messages
remain top of mind with the public and with our government.
We have found valuable partners to help get our message heard, in particular
with the various think tank groups in Washington who have a permanent presence
in Washington. ACA will continue to work closely with the Heritage Foundation,
The American Enterprise Institute and the Center for American Progress,
providing them with feedback and data from our overseas community and its
importance to the overall economic growth and future of the United States.
These groups have clearly understood the importance of the American citizen
working, living and making contacts overseas and, they have the ability
to help us get our message to key contacts in government and the White
House.
ACA is an all volunteer organization, as such, we would like to thank all those who gave their time during OAW to travel to Washington and participate in the meetings and events at their own expense. ACA will continue to work hard on advancing our agenda in Washington and with the public. ACA's strength is in its members as such, any help that you can give us to raise issues and sustain interest in our issues is invaluable to us and very much appreciated. Let us know what you can do to help.