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Rand Paul, the Kentucky senator and 2016 Republican presidential hopeful, is leading an effort to repeal a tax law prized by President Obama but despised by millions of Americas who live and work outside the United States.

Mr. Paul formally introduced legislation this month in the Senate to reverse the main requirements of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, saying the law has wrongly deprived American ex-patriots of access to banking services, violated their privacy and forced many to renounce their citizenship.

Not only is FATCA dangerous with respect to the privacy protections owed to every American home or abroad it has threatened the livelihood of millions of Americans working or living overseas, Mr. Paul said.

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One of those is Roger G. Johnson, a U.S. Army major in the first Iraq War who says the law forced him to face agonizing personal and financial decisions just so he could continue working in the Czech Republic with his wife.

I once got trapped in an enemy minefield with no good choices getting hit with FATCA felt a bit like that, said Mr. Johnson, who had to choose between renouncing my U.S. citizenship or face onerous tax penalties.

Speaking from a home he maintains in Fresno, California, he added, I am a proud American who served his country in uniform during wartime as well as in peacetime. I was born an American and never considered that any circumstance could arise which could cause me to consider renouncing my U.S. citizenship.

FATCA has forced him to go through the expensive and arduous process of transferring his property to his wifes name.

His situation was like many of the 7.6 million Americans who live abroad and are affected by FACTA.

The law was passed by a Democratic Congress and signed by Mr. Obama in 2010 with the stated goal of preventing Americans living overseas from cheating on their taxes. But the law has had far-reaching consequences beyond that.

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Rand Paul pushes repeal of Obama tax law despised by Americans living abroad