The Senate Finance Committee just released the comments (1400 submissions) sent by the public including myself on tax reform.

As expected, there are lots of comments about CBT and FATCA.

The actual number of files was slightly different, 449 for individual and 316 for international (plus 5 broken links in international).  I used an Adobe tool to search all PDF files in a folder and count the number of files that contained the keywords citizenship, FATCA or FBAR.
Results:
Individual 172/449 = 38%
International 175/316 = 55%
Those are impressive percentages I’d say and beneath them lie many persuasive testimonies with thoughtful suggestions for reform. I think that having more than 50% of the submissions ought raise awareness. At Ways and Means, they pretty much ignored an overwhelming quantity of submissions. It will take them a much greater effort to ignore these which surpass the 50% mark.

http://www.finance.senate.gov/newsroom/chairman/release/?id=3b14e94b-69f9-41e2-9fd3-7d191971b7ee

There are two sorts of unanimity:
1) All submissions from companies deal with corporate taxation, not surprisingly. I didn’t find a single one which mentioned the taxation of US expat employees of those companies.
2) Every submission from individuals is more or less in agreement regarding elimination of FATCA, and are only divided on taxation as to whether CBT should be repealed, or whether a multi-year residency test should apply to exempting bonafide non-US residents from taxes.
Some dealt with specific issues, such as taxation of Australian annuities.
I didn’t see any (so far) which advocate tightening the noose further.
I think anyone seriously looking through these (Senators’ aides, etc.) could read all the international tax submissions in a single day, and would not be able to use the excuse beloved of governments to dismiss public opinion: “There were too many divergent views to form a consensus.” There definitely is a consensus.
Still, I’m not holding my breath. The other excuse beloved of governments is (translated into this case): “There are 8 million US citizens living abroad and only 347 submissions. Therefore, 7,999,653 Americans are happy with the current tax laws.”

I also skimmed through the Dems Abroad submissions. This group, apparently speaking for the DNC, does not appear to have any opinion on citizenship taxation. Incredible.
1)There is not a single instance of mentioning CBT.
2)There is not a single instance of mentioning RBT.
3) DA does not support a repeal of FATCA; requests it be applied to Homelanders and non-compliant Americans abroad.
4) DA suggests only those who file 8938 with tax return be accepted into Safe Harbour (program)
5) DA mentions collaboration with AARO, FAWCO and ACA; a united front?
For contrast, you might want to go then to the Republicans Overseas submission. You will find this statement:
“II. The United States should repeal Citizen Based Taxation (CBT) and tax worldwide income of only those citizens resident within the United States.”
If I am right in this then Democrats Abroad is in direct opposition to the survival of every U.S. person outside the United States (and that’s putting it very nicely).
As a former American abroad, I find it both puzzling as well as cause for concern that a prominent expat organization would consider that changes to FATCA are the only recommendations for large-scale tax reform. With all the financial inequities that plague expats, to request only that FATCA be altered is truly bewildering. (As if FATCA is the only way to sift out the real tax evaders). FATCA is about a lot more than tax evasion. The privacy concerns, the effects on the economies of nations other than the U.S; negative effects on the U.S.’s economy etc. Do people really NOT question the action/economic sanction inflicted by the US government against every other nation on earth?   Really? I wonder how many people will fail to investigate for themselves, thinking that DA surely will have the best “reading” of the situation.
To not even mention CBT/RBT is mind-boggling. It is not FATCA that is the real the anti-saving feature faced by expats.
 I presume most nations have somewhat similar incentives for tax-deferred savings and so on. If the US is taking away those advantages because of CBT, how is Safe Harbour going to be of any help? How will Safe Harbour help young adults set up their financial plans for their future? Is it ok for the US to tax our capital gains on the sale of our primary residences (no foreign tax credit there) when we have not received the same deduction for mortgages/interest that Homelanders receive? “Foreign” mutual funds? “Foreign” pensions? I noticed that the survey indicated that 57% of the respondents were over 55 years of age. And that 50% of the respondents had savings/investments of less than $50,000. Given that many countries expats live in have a much higher rate of tax/standard of living, I do not understand. How they will afford to retire?



Btw. someone points out the one true benefit of FATCA! From Kyle D. Hegarty’s submission:
“The bright side is that when I get an unsolicited sales call from firms wanting to manage my money, all I have to do is tell them I’m an American. It’s all it takes to end the call.”