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
A.K.A.
April 18th, 2012
12:50 pm
Tax Slayer, what do those straw man arguments have to do with anything. Here are some objective facts, the sky is blue, the grass is green, and liberals hate rich people.
Call it like it is
April 18th, 2012
12:53 pm
American are getting ready to nominate a non-Christian.
According to who? You. So I take you have decided Mormons are not Christians.
The South lost the War. Wow sparky thanks for the update.
Georgia ranks last in education, Okay you got me there, all I can say is I don’t solely rely on a public school to educate my child. Education begins and ends at home.
And what if any of this had to do with Americans renouncing their citizenship is beyond me.
time
April 18th, 2012
12:57 pm
Edward: Millions like Wendall speaks the truth…sorry!
Nobama
April 18th, 2012
1:00 pm
They just want the same citizen class as Obama……………. ALIEN!
Larry
April 18th, 2012
1:03 pm
Y’all leave wendell alone. He’s just one ignorant racist who can’t read or think and has to depend on the likes of Hannity and Limbaugh to tell him what to think. He obviously had his brain surgically removed at birth.
Emma
April 18th, 2012
1:07 pm
Ok we always seem to get off the subject. It doesn’t matter if your are Democrat, Republican, Independent, etc..It’s so hurtful to know that there are people out there who were born American that don’t want to be American and reliquish their rights. I guess I could look at it as defecting and just until I read this article never really thought about it. I know taxes sucks, but to leave the country and denouce being American is kinda of hurtful to me personally. WoW…you can call me a wuss but I just teared up. I am at a loss for words…
maybe this?
April 18th, 2012
1:09 pm
This is also called TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION – if you live in another country and do not maintain a residence in this country you are still being expected to pay tax to the US Gov. Isn’t this what 1776 was all about????
Icegolfer
April 18th, 2012
1:09 pm
Well, Wendell’s numbers are mostly correct. Here’s a link to an NPR article, for those of you interested in expanding your knowledge, about who pays how much in taxes. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=125997180
Dissapointed
April 18th, 2012
1:11 pm
Uncle Sam will take whatever he can. Then, our government will waste it here, and abroad, while bankrupting this country. What a serious mismanagement. Just look at this congress, how incompetent it is. What a shame!
tax baby
April 18th, 2012
1:14 pm
GT FOREVER here is the link http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxfacts/displayafact.cfm?Docid=456. The reference to 1/5 2/5, 3/5 is breaking the average effective rates into their income brackets per the stats (1/5 = lowest 20% income bracket, 2/5 20 to 40% and so on, the stats call this the income quintile) As I stated before, these are each groups effective tax rate to their income so it will not add up to 100. It shows that on average the highest earners pay a higher percentage of their income to federal taxes than the other groups. Baby and others state that the rich pay less of a percentage of their income in income taxes, which isn’t true based on the stats.