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
YourPoliticalAnimal
April 18th, 2012
11:16 am
Just another right wing talking point that Sean, I hang out with Karl the fixer Rove, Oliver I should just be getting out of prison, North, Sarah, my husband should have been tried for treason, Palin, Hannity…he is obsessed with trashing Prez Obama yet he is blind to the political thugs that he is in bed with…let’s blame Obama and have a good night…works every time for the Kool Aid drinking ignorant knuckle draggers of this world…they tried this same tactic on Dr. ML King…”he’s less than American”…he’s not “one of us”…if they had sound policy alternatives they wouldn’t have to engage in character assassination…but their only policy wizardry is “less taxes for the Mitt Romney crowd”…truly the Bible was right when it stated “The poor is despised even by his neighbor…but the rich have many friends…”
Homer the Brave
April 18th, 2012
11:17 am
And also, I can’t get any of these government benefits because I am a citizen and our family makes too much at $35,000 year combined……..
Good Grief
April 18th, 2012
11:17 am
@Tax Slayer – Not sure who mentioned abolishing the IRS, b/c we need the IRS. What we do not need is the system we have and we need to drastically overhaul the entitlement mentality this country/administration has drifted towards; oh, sorry, I forgot Obmama is a socialist in so many ways.
Pandering to Dullards
April 18th, 2012
11:17 am
Since the Secret Service has proven itself to be untrustworthy, and they are the agency charged with vetting the credentials of a Presidential candidate, I say we resurrect this Obama birth certificate issue.
Come on! Who’s with me? Bubba? Billy Bob? Nathan? Chip? Let’s do this! Show me the birth certificate now! Come on, guys, get some money out of those special needs trusts and get this thing going. Impeach the Secret Service! Void the 2008 election. Make Sarah Palin Queen!
A-Team
April 18th, 2012
11:23 am
Actually, the FBI is the agency charged with such background checks.
Typical misinformed liberal.
Tax Slayer
April 18th, 2012
11:26 am
Entitlement mentality?
Which one is that? The one in which we complain that the jobs are going to India and China and we deserve them because we are American Americans?
How about you stop marrying your cousin, make your kids get a good education, and stop believing the myth that just because you were born white in America that it is your birth right to a good job, a big house (or trailer) a new pickup (and minivan for your obese wife).
I realize this was formerly true, but it has not been the case since at least the 1970’s. It’s just the reality of the world we live in. Accept it and move on. There is still opportunity for lazy whiny white people. But you have to assert yourself. The jobs are going to India and China because they are busting their tails to get them. In school, after school, at home.
They don’t sit around complaining about political topics they don’t understand and running themselves into debt with their Wal-Mart cards. They save and they study and they sacrifice.
America is a nation of overweight indebted lazy white people with an entitlement mentality. That is the hard truth. Stop whining and start improving yourself because you see how far blaming other people gets you.
Franklin
April 18th, 2012
11:27 am
Taxslayer: It’s amazing that you could use so many words without citing a single objective fact.
rodertrudis
April 18th, 2012
11:28 am
This is a rebuttal to Bend Over’s comment @ 9:24, who wrote:
“With the value of the $ in some countries(India, Costa Rica,for example) they can live like kings just on Social Security.”
Nonsense. “…live like kings on Social Security.” No one lives like a king on Social Security in Costa Rica or anywhere else. I know this to be a fact because I am living in C.A. on a retirement check and all it means is that I am not starving like I would be in the U.S.
I Give Up
April 18th, 2012
11:30 am
I give up. Obama is a socialist, so it’s pointless for me to try to work hard and make money. He’ll just take it and redistribute it.
I guess I’ll just see here on the front porch of my trailer drinking beer and counting my teeth.
I wish somebody good with money like Nathan Deal were President.
Then I could really be somebody.
Tax Slayer
April 18th, 2012
11:31 am
Here’s an objective fact: you’re an idiot.