Record number renounce U.S. to avoid income tax
Would you renounce your U.S. citizenship if it meant you didn’t have to pay an income tax?
More Americans than ever are saying “yes” to that proposition, according to the Internal Revenue Service.
A Reuters article says 1,800 people either renounced their citizenship or relinquished their ‘Green Card’ in 2011, the highest number since the IRS began publishing a list of those who’ve quit Team U.S.A.
The number that walked away in 2011 is eight times larger than those who renounced their citizenship in 2008, Reuters reports, and more than 2007, 2008 and 2009 combined.
Why are people doing it? Probably taxes.
The United States is one of the few countries to tax citizens living abroad. An estimated 6.3 million Americans living overseas have until June to file income taxes, but some apparently find the liability is greater than the benefit.
Longstanding federal law requires U.S. citizens to list offshore bank accounts, but a new law — 2010’s Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act — asks foreign banking institutions to provide the IRS with financial information that some Americans may have “forgotten” to provide. This new law likely explains the 2011 spike.
The IRS publishes the names of those who’ve decided not to pay up, a practice referred to as “name and shame” by lawyers representing the expatriates.
There’s an “exit tax” for the very rich who choose to leave. Reuters says Ted Arison, the late founder of Carnival Cruises, and Michael Dingman, a former Ford Motor Co. director, both paid to no longer be considered American.
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106 comments Add your comment
Good Grief
April 18th, 2012
11:09 am
@wendell – Don’t waste your time giving the leftist dreamers facts and figures. They operate by giving you grief when you make a statement and then ask for facts, when you give them facts they find something else to cry about. @Truth Seeker could not have said it better with respect to what SHOULD be done. I am sick and tired of hearing about “paying your fair share”. Why should any taxes be percentage based on income levels? Does someone making $300,000 a year “consume” more from the federal government than someone making $50,000? An easy example, national parks; assuming a 30% tax rate (with no deductions
), the $300,000 salaried person pays nearly $100,000 in taxes and the $50,000 salaried person pays $15,000 – Does the $300,000 salaried person get $100,000 worth of enjoyment/use out of the park system and the $50,000 salaried person get $15,000? Talk about inequality (for the $300,000 salaried person) and this is true for every federally funded program. . .
This country needs to move to a fair tax system and “fair” does not mean an equal percentage of income!
Fed Up
April 18th, 2012
11:10 am
Everyone on this board must be liberal, or listen to only what the liberal media and democrats want you to believe. Stop blaming Bush and the Republicans for all you don’t agree with in this country. All anyone has to do is listen to and watch Obama and the rest of the democrats to see/hear who is to blame for high gas prices, unemployment, etc. Check facts, not emotions. Gas prices, unemployment, home values are approaching double what it was under Bush. Lest I forget, the national debt has gotten out of hand under Obama as well. No, I am not a Republican. It is not just the middle class, but the lower income and those on welfare that can work though choose not to that is hurting this country. Oh, yea, that’s right. You liberals and demos believe in entitlement programs or as your Obama put it, the need for things to be “fair”. It is also not “fair” for those who have worked hard, saved, been gifted, or invested well to have to pay for and keep up the rest of Americans who want hand outs. You should pay your taxes while you live or own property here, but if one wants to move out of the country it is their right. You guys are just afraid that it won’t be “fair” and that you will have to pick up the slack.
Voice Of Reason
April 18th, 2012
11:12 am
“Scratch a liberal and you’ll find a fascist … I’m not joking.”
Not only has the debt increased to record numbers during this term, but Obama has officially edged out Jimmy Carter for the largest increase in gas prices during his first four years. This double standard infuriates me…if this had happened during Bush’s tenure, the Dem’s and Media would have been on the White House lawn with pitchforks and torches. Recognize the hypocrisy??
Tax Slayer
April 18th, 2012
11:12 am
Yes, yes. Let’s abolish 200 years of carefully crafted tax code because some ignorant mopes are confused by it.
Better yet, let’s pay money to a non-profit organization that supports a disproportionate tax on the poor because we are too dense to realize that the idea supported by a local radio host is simply propagated to sell books to bumpkins who think they know a thing or two about a thing or two.
If you don’t like paying taxes, get an MBA or hire somebody with a brain to figure how to work the system. It’s the Republican way. Well, real Republican, that is. Not the broke loser Southern version.
Let’s face it, saying “abolish the IRS” is both lazy and dumb.
Good Grief
April 18th, 2012
11:12 am
News Flash to Sterling – Please let Obama know that the USA is not a dictatorship or socialist state . . . he does not seem to understand.
bed
April 18th, 2012
11:13 am
baby – Why do you believe the middle class bears the brunt of the tax system – because politicians tell you that? They know the middle class is the largest voting block, and therefore, they pander to that voting block to remain in office. The top 5% of earners in the country pay 58% of federal taxes – that’s a fact. While wendell is off on the 99% benefits, he is correct that about half of American workers pay no federal income tax.
Zombie Steve
April 18th, 2012
11:13 am
Everyone hates taxes, but this is downright Un-American. Get the he!! out of this country if you’re not proud to be American.
Zombie Steve
April 18th, 2012
11:14 am
Bed speaks the truth
FCM
April 18th, 2012
11:15 am
Maybe the government should wake up and realize that an INCOME tax is not the right method to generate revenue.
Homer the Brave
April 18th, 2012
11:15 am
I read earlier about how the middle class bears the brunt of taxes, and it’s true. The rich & corporations pay far less. This will never be fixed though as our fat cat lawmakers keep insisting that these folks are the “saviors” of the economy and will create all these jobs by not being taxed. How many years have we been hearing this??? Where are those jobs?? Oh, I forgot, China & India….