More Americans Give Up Citizenship As IRS Gets Aggressive Overseas

Dow Jones Newswire ^ | 4-9-2010 | Martin Vaughan

[Rodebrecht]

The number of American citizens and green-card holders severing their ties with the U.S. soared in the latter part of 2009, amid looming U.S. tax increases and a more aggressive posture by the Internal Revenue Service towards Americans living overseas.

According to public records, just over 500 people worldwide renounced U.S. citizenship or permanent residency in the fourth quarter of 2009, the most recent period for which data are available. That is more people than have cut ties with the U.S. during all of 2007, and more than double the total expatriations in 2008.

An Ohio-born entrepreneur, now based in Switzerland, told Dow Jones he is considering turning in his U.S. passport. Mounting U.S. tax and reporting requirements are making potential business partners hesitate to do business with him, he said.

[Niuhuru]

Maybe they’ll kidnap relations.

[CodeToad]

Excellent points.

[GeronL]

Isn’t that what Cuba does?

[SatinDoll]

Bill Gates won’t hire people like himself.

[GeronL]

Millions of them, many not even speaking English as a second language too!!

lol./s

[Niuhuru]

“With the government paving the way for foreign universities to set up campuses in India, it can only mean one thing: poorly-paid academic superstars of the country’s top institutes can finally expect to get value for their worship. In other words, lowly-paid teachers will be poached.”

I don’t really blame them. We have had chance after chance after chance to give them what they’re worth and if we aren’t going to do that, then maybe we do need to go through a dark period.

[taxtruth]

Can you blame them?Lots of people are looking elsewhere to live since America is so in debt!

[Texas resident]

Our very responsible lawmakers will be excluded. Like they are excluded from the obamacare trainwreck. Is the irs going to go after hollyweird or are they protected like the multimillionaire lawmakers?

[july4thfreedomfoundation]

“....the US reserves the power to force you to pay income taxes for 10 years after you surrender citizenship.”

If you’re overseas and not planning to come back, I would write obscenities all over the forms and tell them to do disgusting things to themselves and their mamas.

[Wissa]

Can you blame them?Lots of people are looking elsewhere to live since America is so in debt!

Not the ones profiting from the wealth- redistribution.

[GeronL]

lol.

[ilovesarah2012]

I can’t imagine giving up my American citizenship but if Nobama keeps running America into the ground, I can see how people would do it.

FUBO

[Richard Kimball]

I don’t doubt it. I remember reading that in China Bill Gates is worshiped like a rock star and in Vietnam they had to pull kids off of his car so he could get where he had to go.

Dang. He drives like Joe Biden.

[Habibi]

“....the US reserves the power to force you to pay income taxes for 10 years after you surrender citizenship”

This is true. If ones net worth is above a certain amount, the IRS imputes that you are renouncing citizenship to avoid taxes. This places you in a different category as far as taxation is concerned. Unfair or not, it is an odd method of determining ones motivation for taking up a foreign citizenship. While one may always renounce, there are greater and greater economic disincentives.

[Jacquerie]

Well said. The once soft tyranny is turning hard.

[April Lexington]

This is the Iron Curtain and the Berlin Wall. We can travel anywhere we want physically. However, our money can't follow. Americans are SLAVES to the Federal Government...

[April Lexington]

We need to clean house in Washington... RIGHT NOW...

[Niuhuru]

I think he was chauffeured.

[Matchett-PI]

Good “killer of the golden goose” that he and his commie union friends are, BO’s next move will be to seal the borders - not to keep the illegals and terrorists out - but to keep the producers in.

[Wissa]

I can’t imagine giving up my American citizenship but if Nobama keeps running America into the ground, I can see how people would do it.

I hope the day doesn't come where we wish we would have got out before they put up a version of the Berlin Wall to keep us in.