Republicans Overseas (RO) is a political organization, created in 2013, for Americans who are living outside the United States. RO, is recognized by the Republican National Committee (RNC) as other affiliated groups such as College Republicans, although it has no connection to the former Republicans Abroad the many chapters around the world have migrated from Republicans Abroad to Republicans Overseas. RO operates in the majority of countries around the world where there are large number of United States citizens resident. Much like political action committees and Super Pacs, it is a 527 political organization that operates as a corporation with specific interests. In this case, Republicans Overseas maintains a specific focus on repealing the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) as well as representing Republicans overseas.
Video Republicans Overseas
Mission
Outside of repealing FATCA, RO's stated mission on its Facebook page is "To inspire and facilitate the 8.7 million Americans living abroad to engage in the U.S. democratic political process through elections, briefings and policy advocacy."
Maps Republicans Overseas
History
Republicans Overseas was established on September 18, 2013 as a 527 political organization.
Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act
Repealing FATCA is the leading priority for Republicans Overseas. Supporting this focus, the RNC, during their January 2014 RNC Winter meeting, passed a resolution to repeal FATCA with overwhelming support. Additionally, in August 2014, the RNC unanimously passed a resolution supporting Residence Based Taxation, and another resolution Opposing OECD's Global FACTA Common Reporting Standards in January 2015.
RO views FATCA as violating fundamental constitutional rights of overseas U.S. citizens. The law was passed by a Democrat controlled Congress in 2010, lacking a single House Republican vote, and only 11 Senate Republican votes. The United States being the only country that taxes its citizens living abroad indefinitely, many Americans are now denied banking privileges throughout the world because foreign financial institutions cannot justify enduring increased compliance costs due to new regulations, and refuse to be proxy agents for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). FATCA has faced considerable criticism, including from Democrats Abroad, the official expatriate wing of the Democratic Party. A lawsuit fighting against FATCA, Crawford v. U.S. Department of Treasury, with eight counts of constitutional violations, was filed on July 14, 2015 by Republican Overseas Action (ROA), a 501(C)(4) organization of RO. The lawsuit currently has ten plaintiffs, including ex-2016 presidential candidate Senator Rand Paul. Democrats Abroad condemned ROA's FATCA lawsuit, specifically Senator Paul and James Bopp, Jr., the lawsuit's lead attorney. The RNC released a statement supporting RO and this legal undertaking. On April 26, 2017 the House Oversight SubCommittee on Government Operations held a hearing to review the unintended consequences of FATCA, which included testimony from Senator Rand Paul, James Bopp, Jr., Mark Crawford, Daniel Kuettel, Elise Bean and video testimony from Donna-Lane Nelson.
Although Republicans Overseas, as an organization, focuses primarily on the repeal of FATCA, some of its members, including chairman Bruce Ash and vice-chairman Solomon Yue, serve on the rules committee of the Republican National Committee (RNC). In that capacity Ash and Yue have advocated positions that go beyond the primary mission of Republicans Overseas, for example advocating for the candidacy of presidential candidate Donald Trump. Ash, in particular, is not only the chairman of Republicans Overseas, but also the chairman of the rules committee of the RNC.
Chapters
UK - Republicans Overseas UK is the largest international chapter of Republicans Overseas. The UK Republicans Overseas also has sub-chapters in Scotland and Oxford, England. The current Chair of Republicans Overseas UK is Sarah Elliott.
France - Republicans Overseas France (ROF) is the second largest international chapter of Republicans Overseas. ROF operates concurrently as Republicans Abroad France and is present throughout the French speaking world. The current Chair of Republicans Overseas France is Dr. Marc Porter.
Germany - Republicans Overseas Germany (ROG) is another international chapter of Republicans Overseas. Along with Republicans Overseas Switzerland, the chapter operates within the German speaking world. The current President of the chapter is Thomas Leiser.
See also
External links
References
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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