Check this out to learn how the mainland regards those who renounce citizenship – I’m flabbergasted.
Backlog of people to renounce U.S. citizenship isaacbrocksociety.com/2012/01/24/vis…understandablewith this attitude toward expats allgov.com/US_and_the_Wor…
— U.S. Citizen Abroad (@USCitizenAbroad) January 25, 2012
Catch that web site creator name at the very bottom: David Wallechinsky. Check out his connections and involvements. Hold your nose.
He owns the domain that this site is on but don’t know anything about him. The article seems to have been syndicated all over the place.
truly frightening
What’s new?? I remember the exact same wording in another article. This guy cut-and-pasted the first few paragraphs.
They will never stop THIS SORT OF RHETORIC because:
1- The US knows that shaking down innocent overseas people for a large part of their bank account is wrong
2- The only way the can justify it is if they care “convinced” everyone who lives overseas is a tax cheat.
I’m still waiting to see stats for 2011 renunications. I’m betting that’s going to be over 2,000.
Well I threw in my .02 and it’s being moderated.
Like you, geeez, I am waiting for those renuciation numbers. However, the folks at the Web renunciation guide made an excellent point – these numbers are massaged and may not be all that accurate.
The IRS is only required to report “covered expatriates”, which means people worth more than 2 million dollars and subject to the exit tax. You can verify this yourself: Go to the page that has all of the lists of the renunciants and plug a few names into a search engine: every time I did so somebody came up who was usually somebody who quite clearly would be well off, like a CEO or lawyer, etc. You will also come across politicians from Taiwan and Jamaica, where there have been brewing controversies in the past few years over having ministers and MPs with dual citizenship. Do a search for either country and “renounce citizenship” in the search field and wait for the results to flood in.
I imagine that the real numbers of renunciants could possibly number in the tens of thousands this year, a number that the US will never release since it is so embarassing.
OK. Well, how do we do an end-run around this one?
Could we start our own list?
Publish it ourselves?
It could even be anonymous with people simply giving their status (dual, expat, “accidental”) their host country and their profession.
@Don & Victoria, that’s not such a bad idea. I could create a database where people could enter in first names, or something not too identifiable if they choose. Haha, “The Isaac Brock Relinqument/Renunciation List” 🙂
I’m also not convinced that the current lists are correct. I suspect the numbers are waaaaay higher. I think that’s a dead give-a-way every time they turn up the rhetoric!!
Oh, geeeez, let’s do it! Even if we get just a percentage of people, I think it would be darn useful and a nifty counter to the “official” list.
Just tell me how I can help/what I can do.
My concern here is that this may only spur them on to make renouncing even more difficult, knowing their mindset.
@Victoria
My understanding is the “official” list is the “real” list in that several people who were not covered expatriates found their name on the list. I’ll try to find the link again.
@Mona quite honestly I don’t see how they could make it any more difficult than it already is. Higher price? More interviews? More tax returns?
If they tried we’d know that we hit a nerve. There just comes a point where they are going to look very very foolish – as though they were trying to hold expat Americans “captive”. Imagine how that would go over with the “let them renounce if they want to” homeland crowd. Could be kind of fun actually to watch the pirouettes…
Expats are already held captive. That is the point of the HEART Act and the Reed Amendment. Sorry. That’s just the way it is.
Everyone that leaves the US Consulate after relinquishing/renouncing has a sigh of relief that it’s over…but IMHO i think it is only the beginning.
I have no information to back up my thoughts, but I cannot see the US Government letting us go free until they get there pound of flesh….even if we don’t owe them a dime.
I strongly feel that once the paperwork gets to Washington, they are still going to make the process painful.
This might not have been the case years ago…but now that there is a line up, who knows.
I hope i am wrong…
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I renounced back in 1776. I don’t know what everyone is waiting for.
Do you think I can get a back dated CLN from Great Britain?
Hancock
@ John Hancock
Absolutely hilarious!
P.S. Do let us know if you try. 😉
Hi nobledreamer,
I couldn’t resist having at least a little bit of fun in the midst of this hard time we are all going through.
Best wishes,
Hancock