US Citizens Now One Step Closer To Becoming Permanent Tax Slaves (Take a look at the Ex-PATRIOT Act)

The Sovereign Man ^ | 05/22/2012 | Simon Black

[SeekAndFind]

This week, the universally stupid brainchild of US Senators Chuck Schumer and Bob Casey known as the Ex-PATRIOT Act inched a bit closer towards becoming law.

‘Ex-PATRIOT’ is an absurd acronym that stands for “Expatriation Prevention by Abolishing Tax-Related Incentives for Offshore Tenancy”. I call it the Tax Slave Act… and it proposes three key provisions:

1) Individuals who are deemed, in the sole discretion of the US government, to have renounced US citizenship in order to avoid US taxes, will be permanently barred from re-entering the United States.

2) Such individuals will also be required to pay a 30% capital gains tax to the United States government on ALL future investment gains derived from the US. Currently, non-citizens who do not reside in the US pay no US capital gains tax.

3) These proposals are RETROACTIVE, and, if passed, would apply to anyone who renounced his/her citizenship within the last 10-years.

During a Sunday interview with ABC News, House Speaker John Boehner threw his support behind the bill… certainly a big step towards its eventual passage.

Let’s pause briefly for a little history lesson–

Dart Container Corporation was founded in 1960 by William F. Dart, the man who first perfected the design of styrofoam. Dart Container is today a multi-billion dollar family-owned company with thousands of employees and operations around the world.

In the early 1990s, brothers Kenneth and Robert Dart, heirs to the family fortune, renounced their US citizenship and became citizens of Belize and Ireland, and set up residency in the Cayman Islands.

Around the same time, several other wealthy Americans renounced citizenship, including Carnival Cruise Lines founder Ted Arison (who obtained Israeli citizenship), Campbell Soup heir John Dorrance (Irish citizenship), and fund manager Mark Mobius (German citizenship).

President Clinton was furious, and in 1996, he pushed Congress to pass a series of financial penalties for people who renounce citizenship. At the time, a ‘renunciant’ had to continue filing US tax returns for 10-years after renouncing.

Effectively, though, this penalty was a tax on worldwide income, not an exit tax on assets.

Fast forward to the mid-2000s, a time when the asset bubble was at its peak; the stock market was at its all-time high and real estate prices kept going up.

The Bush regime passed a series of changes to expatriation rules, dropping the income tax filing requirements in lieu of charging a one-time exit tax on assets.

In this way, the government was able to derive a much larger payment up front based on total assets rather than chasing around a former citizen for a piece of annual income.

In the years since the exit tax on assets was established, two things have happened:

1) The number of Americans renouncing US citizenship has risen steadily, from 235 people in 2008 to 1,780 last year (according to Schumer’s office).

2) The asset bubble has burst, and assets are worth much less than just a few years ago. As such, the government isn’t collecting as much revenue from the exit tax.

My sense is that the government has been watching the number of expatriates rise over the years, and simultaneously watching the value of the exit tax fall… and they’ve been looking for an excuse to make sweeping (i.e. retroactive) changes.

Eduardo Saverin is the perfect excuse. The Facebook co-founder’s recent renunciation of US citizenship has become a rallying cry for politicians to go back in time and steal money from former citizens retroactively…plus establish a larger base for future tax revenues.

This is a truly despicable thing to do considering that these former citizens followed the appropriate rules at the time, paid the tax, and moved on with their lives. Now Uncle Sam wants to go back in time to unilaterally change the deal, and expect everyone to abide even though they’re not even citizens anymore. The arrogance is overwhelming.

More importantly, this bill is also a major deterrent for people who are thinking about renouncing US citizenship today.

The passage of this law will undoubtedly cause many people who were considering expatriation to abandon the idea altogether as the thought of being permanently barred from entry is too much to bear.

It’s truly extraordinary that the Land of the Free has deteriorated to the point that the government must now resort to threats, coercion, and intimidation in order to keep its most productive citizens inside.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

All money rightly belongs to the feral government.

[Oztrich Boy]

America, Home of the Slave, Land of the Unfree.

[massgopguy]

EX POST FACTO!!!!!!!

[silverleaf]

are citizens no longer protected from ex post facto punitive legislation?

Looks like tax refugees who want to come back just need to change their names to Jose Gomez and be smuggled back across the mexican border.

[Principled]

These proposals are RETROACTIVE...

Nope. No can do. That is if we are to follow our laws.

[fella]

The Soviets used to charge their citizens(or is that subjects?) for all the “Free” stuff that the benevolent government had given them throughout their lifetimes before allowing them to immigrate too.

[almost done by half]

Just another reason to put money in foreign trusts or other tax dodges.

[Jess79]

How do they plan on enforcing this?

[iceskater]

Didn’t you get the memo? The Constitution is irrelevant now.

[liberalh8ter]

Republicans approach situations from an analytical perspective. Liberals approach situations from an emotionally vengeful perspective.

[silverleaf]

While he’s on a roll, good little fascist Chuckie Schumer ought to author a law that any New Yorker who moves to FL or any other state for lower taxes is permanently barred from re-entering New York

[Vince Ferrer]

Republicans like to build walls to keep people out. Democrats like to build walls to keep people in.

[Skepolitic]

This is right out of the Communist Manifesto:

“4. Confiscation of the property of all emigrants”.

Plank #4 of 10.

[Vide]

As Norquist has pointed out, this is just an updated version of the Nazi Reichsfluchtsteuer tax on Jewish emigrants.

[SeekAndFind]

RE: How do they plan on enforcing this?

_________________________________

Expand the reach of the IRS.

The US government ( with the aid of the IRS ) has already BULLIED Switzerland’s biggest banks (e.g. UBS ) into disclosing the names and accounts of US citizens with deposits in that country.

How do they do that? Simple, punish the American business of UBS.

Even as we speak many American ex-pats are starting to find it difficult opening bank accounts in many places. Too much paperwork for US citizens for foreign banks to comply.

It is happening folks. The only thing is most of you are not aware of it because most of you are not expats and don’t have or plan to live and work in other countries.

As they once said in Nazi Germany,

First they came for the Jews and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for the trade unionists and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for me.

[mo]

There are some interesting numbers below....at some point its gonna start looking like a “bank run” ...which is essentially what it is...

The Feds are desperately worried some of the 50% of the population they uses as cash cows to help them fund their delusions are catching on...and leaving....

“Last year, almost 1,800 people followed Superman’s lead, renouncing their U.S. citizenship or handing in their Green Cards. That’s a record number since the Internal Revenue Service began publishing a list of those who renounced in 1998. It’s also almost eight times more than the number of citizens who renounced in 2008, and more than the total for 2007, 2008 and 2009 combined.”

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/16/us-usa-citizen-renounce-idUSBRE83F0UF20120416

Even more alarming....in 1997 the list was ONLY 90 people renouncing...so that year, 2011, it was TWENTY times greater that in 1997...

http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-1997-01-30/html/97-2283.htm

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Nazis did the same thing, but don’t you DARE call Schumckie a Nazi.

[ansel12]

We sure have come a long way since 1970, when conservatives had nothing but disgust and revulsion for anyone who would renounce America and their citizenship.

[SeekAndFind]

In the international section of its most recent annual report to Congress, the agency’s National Taxpayer Advocate notes that whether it’s Americans working abroad or foreigners residing here, “taxpayers who are trying their best to comply simply cannot.” The result is that some are “paying more tax than is legally required, while others may be subject to steep civil and criminal penalties.”

Here’s the real issue: When it comes to attracting highly successful people, America is just not as competitive as we like to think we are.

What we need is a complete rethink. That rethink begins with a hard look at what these 1,800 citizenship renunciations are telling us. True, 1,800 is a drop in the bucket compared with either the number of Americans working abroad or the number of foreigners who are seeking U.S. citizenship. Still, when it comes to the global inefficiencies of our tax code, these 1,800 ex-Americans are canaries in the coal mine.



Our tax code—and especially the onerous reporting requirements that come with it—is turning U.S. citizens into economic lepers. Many foreign banks refuse us as customers; some investment ventures no longer want us as partners; and some business opportunities that would have benefited Americans now benefit others.

[Gator113]

My country is dying. She is being brutally murdered at the hands of the enemy within.

There simply must be a breaking point.... I don’t know what it looks like or when it will be here, but it must be on it’s way.

There must be a point when country loving patriots all stand at the same time and shout, “NO! ENOUGH! NO MORE!

Just as sure as the sun is hot, THESE ATTACKS CAN NOT BE ALLOWED TO CONTINUE.... our once great country can not survive much more of this.

Our Constitution was written by man, yet it was a gift from God. How long must we stand still and watch this gift be torn to pieces?

God Save the Republic....

[ansel12]

Is this about people moving somewhere, or renouncing America and their citizenship.

If it is renouncing citizenship, then what do we care what happens to them, they are hostile foreign nationals, anti-American foreigners, traitors?

[musicman]

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[Buckeye McFrog]

President Clinton was furious

and yet Bubba would have been the first to renounce if it was the only way to keep his pudgy pink rear out of the Draft...

[Buckeye McFrog]

are citizens no longer protected from ex post facto punitive legislation?

Yes but having renounced these people are no longer citizens, get it?

Loopholes: The Trademark of Seedy Legislation

[Lurking Libertarian]

EX POST FACTO!!!!!!!

Way back in 1798, the Supreme Court held that the Constitution's ban on ex post facto laws only applied to criminal laws, not civil ones. (Calder v. Bull.) Retroactive tax laws have sometimes been upheld and have sometimes been struck down as violations of the Due Process Clause; this proposal way well be found unconstitutional, but that is not a sure thing.

[Jacquerie]

Ex post facto was understood at the Constitutional Convention, as per Blackstone's Commentaries, to apply to criminal matters only. It is why the prohibition on bills of attainder accompany it in Article I Section 9.

The Schmuckster's bill still stinks.

[douginthearmy]

I don’t recall the old “Love it or Leave it” expression having an addendum “after we seize your assets”

[ansel12]

I don’t recall the old “Love it or Leave it” expression having an addendum “after we seize your assets”

I'm not following the story closely.

Is this done after renouncing citizenship, or before someone has renounced America and their citizenship?

[Little Ray]

Won’t hold up in Court. The SCOTUS would strike it with 6,7 or even all 9 voting it down.

[SeekAndFind]

RE: Won’t hold up in Court. The SCOTUS would strike it with 6,7 or even all 9 voting it down.

First things first, SOMEONE or SOME GROUP, ORGANIZATION or LEGISLATORS will have to file suit. Who’s going to do it?

[douginthearmy]

Firstly, if people are leaving the country to avoid confiscatory taxes we need to question the taxes first. From day one, America has kept its people in by being the best country to live in, not by force or fee! It’s no accident that Nazi Germany, Soviet Russia and the communist manifesto all have these emmigrant taxation policies. It’s outrageous beyond the pale! When you hear people talking about building a fence to keep you in, it might be time to get out.

[a fool in paradise]

Slaves aren’t permitted to leave the plantation. The Communists know this and shoot those who try to escape from Communist nations.

[SeekAndFind]

RE: Yes but having renounced these people are no longer citizens, get it?

In the United States, the federal government is prohibited from passing ex post facto laws by clause 3 of Article I, section 9 of the U.S. Constitution and the states are prohibited from the same by clause 1 of Article I, section 10.

_________________________

So, Article I section 9 applies only to American Citizens and NOT to non-citizens?

[a fool in paradise]

I just haven’t figured out where to go yet.

Some say, “you have to stay and take this country back”.

How did that go for the Germans, Russians, Chineses, Cubans, Italians, French, Iranians...?

[ansel12]

What are you talking about?

No one is restricting Americans travel, or talking about putting up a wall.

This is about scum renouncing America and American citizenship, a totally different subject, and one that conservatives have always agreed was about the lowest thing on earth.

These are the most disgusting form of foreign scum, not Americans.

[SeekAndFind]

RE: The Schmuckster’s bill still stinks.

What really surprised and disappointed me was Speaker John Boehner throwing his support behind this bill.

I thought he had better sense and a greater love of freedom than that.

Who called him a conservative again?

[SeekAndFind]

RE: These are the most disgusting form of foreign scum, not Americans.

I’ll agree that they are scum IF they purposely DO HARM to America.

What harm have these people done to America other than prevent the government from taking their hard earned money?

[goat granny]

Making laws (fences) to keep citizens in...Shades of the USSR.....what makes those arrogant SOB’s think they can steal money from non-citizens.....greedy bunch of old geezers and witches....

[a fool in paradise]

Under Marxism, all property is theft.

[ansel12]

Renouncing American citizenship is now cheered by patriotic conservatives?

Beam me up Scotty.

[Jacquerie]

What do you think of retired NY public employees fleeing to FL to avoid onerous taxation?

[SeekAndFind]

A conservative is loyal to CONSERVATIVE PRINCIPLES. Such principles transcend the governments of ANY COUNTRY ( and the United States government is NOT exempt ).

One essential principle is this — Your property, lawfully acquired through talent and hard work, belongs to you regardless of whether you are a foreigner, a resident or citizen.

When government becomes CONFISCATORY, I see no reason why someone should not follow what the founding fathers did by peacefully renouncing their ties with their government, if and when they see that it is becoming more and more totalitarian.

Now, you can argue that the better course is for a conservative to FIGHT the government AS AN AMERICAN ( that would be my personal preference ). But I certainly would not call these people who leave, scum.

And I certainly would not support a confiscatory government BECOMING MORE CONFISCATORY by creating ex post facto laws targeting former citizens trying to protect their lawfully acquired wealth. That would be supporting BIGGER and MORE FAR REACHING and eventually MORE TOTALITARIAN government.
THAT would NOT be conservative by any stretch of the imagination.

A Conservative government would create and environment that ENCOURAGES wealth creators to STAY, not COERCIVE laws that create BIGGER GOVERNMENT like the Ex-Patriot Act.

[philetus]

“These are the most disgusting form of foreign scum, not Americans.”

Do you know any of the history of the United States?

[ansel12]

What in the world does that bizarre question have to do with some scum bag traitor renouncing his American citizenship?

[SeekAndFind]

RE: What do you think of retired NY public employees fleeing to FL to avoid onerous taxation?

___________________________

Well, they would be considered TRAITORS to New York (there for, New York Scum), since they were former citizens of the Empire State (that is, if we follow the logic of some people).

[ansel12]

Hey, you are trying to sell me on renouncing your citizenship as patriotic, then do it yourself, personally, I’m still an American.

[SeekAndFind]

RE: some scum bag traitor renouncing his American citizenship?

Again, explain to us WHY they are scum bags?

Was George Washington a scum bag for being disloyal and fighting against his King and country?

FREEDOM is a RIGHT, NOT A PRIVILEGE you owe to the government.

Demanding that people be “grateful” to the US Government for not having their freedom violated so much is morally obscene.

In any case, the freedom that wealth creators like Eduardo Saverin enjoyed in this country was the result not of the government (which would happily expand to totalitarian dimensions if it could) or of the ruling class (ditto), but of many generations of citizens working to restrain both. So asking Saverin to feel grateful to the government, and surrender his money to it, is like asking a patient to be grateful to a virus because, thanks to inoculations, he doesn’t suffer too badly from it.

[ansel12]

Comparing moving from one state to another with renouncing American citizenship, shows how out of touch you are on this goofball scum bag, and his traitorous act.

I feel like I need to visit a veterans hall to get the stench off me from this rejection of patriotism.

[SeekAndFind]

RE: Hey, you are trying to sell me on renouncing your citizenship as patriotic, then do it yourself, personally, I’m still an American.

You seem to have missed a key sentence in my post #43 above. Please RE-READ it and UNDERSTAND my personal preference. I am not going to renounce my citizenship ( I prefer to fight a totalitarian government AT HOME ).

I am simply questioning your use of the word “scumbag” to describe, peaceful, law-abiding ex-citizens who follow our laws to renounce their citizenships.