Record Number Of Americans Renouncing Citizenship
The motivation appears to be avoiding taxes.
There are 776 names on the Treasury Department list published Friday for the third quarter of 2014.
That’s the third highest quarterly figure ever, according to Andrew Mitchel, an international tax lawyer in Centerbrook, Conn., who tracks the data. The total number of published renouncers so far in 2014 is 2,353, putting this year on pace to exceed last year’s record total of 2,999, adds Mr. Mitchel…
Experts say that the growing number of renunciations by U.S. citizens and permanent residents is linked to a five-year enforcement campaign against U.S. taxpayers who have undeclared offshore accounts. The campaign began after Swiss banking giant UBS …admitted in 2009 that it had systematically encouraged U.S. taxpayers to hide assets in secret Swiss accounts.Unlike other developed nations, the U.S. taxes citizens on income they earn anywhere in the world. The rule dates to the Civil War. U.S. tax liabilities can also cover children born to Americans abroad, extending the reach of the Internal Revenue Service across generations as well as oceans. There are only partial offsets for double taxation for people who owe taxes both to the U.S. and a foreign country, and the reporting rules are onerous, experts say.[su_csky_ad]
OldLefty October 25th, 2014 at 5:17 pm
Bye, now, Buh Bye!
rg9rts October 25th, 2014 at 5:31 pm
I think AMF is a better term
OldLefty October 25th, 2014 at 5:47 pm
What is AMF??
tiredoftea October 25th, 2014 at 5:52 pm
Read it and weep:
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=AMF
OldLefty October 25th, 2014 at 6:19 pm
Ok.
Then I agree.
Larry Schmitt October 25th, 2014 at 6:50 pm
Adios, MF’er? Just took a guess without looking it up.
Republicans_are_Evil October 25th, 2014 at 5:21 pm
Less votes for Republicans is a good thing.
Dwendt44 October 25th, 2014 at 8:50 pm
There are plenty of delusional poor rednecks and other low effort thinkers to take their place however.
Republicans_are_Evil October 25th, 2014 at 8:54 pm
One at a time.
rg9rts October 25th, 2014 at 5:25 pm
Mobil Exxon, General Electric, IBM, Haliburton…well corporations are people too Right??
StoneyCurtisll October 25th, 2014 at 5:27 pm
Yes, “my friend”..:)
Larry Schmitt October 25th, 2014 at 6:49 pm
He will never live that down.
StoneyCurtisll October 25th, 2014 at 5:26 pm
This is all they have to do to avoid paying taxes? (renounce citizenship)..
What are all those Obama hating Teabaggers waiting for?
rg9rts October 25th, 2014 at 5:30 pm
Baggers are wannabe off shore account holders…most are poor enough for SNAP but deny themselves in the name of pride…
StoneyCurtisll October 25th, 2014 at 5:41 pm
Correct sir~!
Annie October 25th, 2014 at 7:51 pm
And denial
arc99 October 25th, 2014 at 5:27 pm
I would find it interesting to determine how many of these citizenship renouncers are living in countries with mandatory universal health care.
Fascinating question. Does universal health care mean lower taxes? Apparently the rest of the world says yes.
fahvel October 26th, 2014 at 3:55 am
I would guess that unless they want to live in a muck hole they all live in fine socialized western european countries. There’s lots of them in germany and italy and spain – france, not so many.
tiredoftea October 25th, 2014 at 5:53 pm
Boy, are they going to be surprised with their tax bill before they can turn in their passports!
mea_mark October 25th, 2014 at 6:15 pm
A lot of these people have never been in the United States and hold dual citizenship. They are renouncing US citizenship because the US wants to impose a bunch of financial restrictions and excessive fees on them. I don’t blame them, when they wrote FATCA and the rules they didn’t think about how much harm they were going to do average people living abroad. It was a poorly written law that was meant to catch the big tax cheats but is abusing normal law abiding people and forcing them to renounce citizenship to avoid costly fees that only they have to pay because they live abroad. Essentially it is taxation without representation and there is no way to fight it living abroad so they are saying we don’t want dual citizenship anymore.
Larry Schmitt October 25th, 2014 at 6:47 pm
And of course the really big dollar cheats still find a way out of paying their taxes.
Johnl.102 October 25th, 2014 at 8:19 pm
I don’t blame them either if the don’t live here or work here. Its the ones that made all there money here and now don’t want to pay. F*ck them . traitors!
tracey marie October 25th, 2014 at 9:26 pm
why would anyone have a duel citizenship when they are American…oh right the cruz family
Rudewaitress October 25th, 2014 at 8:42 pm
There is trillions over seas that not one damn cent has been paid in taxes..it is exactly why the country is taking a shit…the rich control all the money…that is why they always talk about how great Ayn Rand was…A communist atheist…that hater Social Security and thought anything goes to make money..She died broke and on Social Security and Medicare…They all think the same…I got mine and screw you!!!
tracey marie October 25th, 2014 at 9:24 pm
Wealthy people do not want to contribute to The American economy because they are just so special. deport them and let’s see how they like socialized medicine and higher European taxes. Hell deport the teabaggers with them since both groups hate the USA
Larry Schmitt October 25th, 2014 at 9:26 pm
Because if they pay taxes, they won’t be able to create all those jobs. Wait, why are you laughing? I was serious.
tracey marie October 25th, 2014 at 9:27 pm
good one
fahvel October 26th, 2014 at 3:51 am
before you talk about socialized medicine and euro taxes, may I suggest you know what you are talking about.
Larry Schmitt October 25th, 2014 at 9:45 pm
This is what a woman posted on another Disqus site: “Don’t believe the GOP hates the poor/women hype. I am a poor female Republican and they like me just fine.” I didn’t bother asking her how she liked them repeatedly trying to cut her SNAP benefits, and her kids’ school lunches, and her unemployment insurance. Another person voting against her own interests.
Tammy Minton Haley October 26th, 2014 at 12:00 am
or a “plant”…just like the stock photo ads, the photo-shopped black faces, and the fake “Obamacare” horror stories…
republicans are liars…they cheat, they lie, they steal….
fancypants October 26th, 2014 at 3:35 am
keep in mind she’s a republican ….Everything after that is most likely hanging off a fishing hook & waiting for you to bite.
Foundryman October 25th, 2014 at 10:50 pm
Once they renounce and no longer citizens, are they deported?
Tammy Minton Haley October 26th, 2014 at 12:02 am
bet not…?
DaddyO_969 October 26th, 2014 at 9:30 am
Not if they’re white.
Kendal Chandler October 26th, 2014 at 4:46 am
Tell them to hit the road.
Budda October 26th, 2014 at 7:03 am
I don’t know that they are really Americans to start with but they aren’t Americans now.
Gayla Tanner October 26th, 2014 at 2:58 pm
Thanks to this tax attack, some that renounced their citizenship decades ago are learning they need to do it again… after paying a ransom to the US government.
I have a friend that moved to Canada with her parents when she was eight, they renounced their citizenship and became all Canadian. In the eighties the Reagan administration gave back that citizenship to every person that renounced it, whether they wanted it or not.
My friend had travelled back and forth across the border visiting friends and family for 50 years until one trip she was stopped and told she owed back taxes on her “offshore” bank account. Her offshore account was at the bank she worked at her entire adult life, it was her retirement fund.
When she and her parents argued that they never asked for their US citizenship back and that they weren’t aware they had it they were told they could renounce again after paying. They lost everything.
We’re screwing expats then counting their renouncements again.
madame48 October 26th, 2014 at 7:26 pm
So leave the country….and don’t keep your business here sucking off our taxpayers for defense, courts, roads, ports, airports etc….see how they make it in Angola or Iraq
Aaron Gonzalez October 27th, 2014 at 1:44 am
Just goes to show you what these kinds of greedy people REALLY feel about America. All talk and fluff about American pride and such junk. Good, don’t come back.
HessenBalkan December 2nd, 2014 at 3:59 pm
These are not all wealthy people, there are also people who just let their green cards expire because they don’t need them anymore. Sometimes you need a green card and maybe after a couple years not anymore…Not everyones goal is it too life in the US forever.