The Market Oracle, Feb 12, 2013 – 03:18 PM GMT By: Jeff_Berwick
Wendy McElroy writes: Anyone planning to permanently leave the US should give deep thought to whether they are emigrating or defecting.
The two concepts have so much in common that they tend to blur together. They may be best viewed as two extremes of the same axis upon which people can ‘grade’ themselves. But there is a significant difference between the attitude, motives, and actions of a straightforward emigrant versus a defector. And where you stand on the axis affects the most important aspect of who you are: How do you evaluate yourself?
Wendy McElroy writes some very interesting articles. In a recent article she compared the US exit tax to the exit tax imposed by the German Government in the 1930s (arguing that it was worse). At first glance, there appears to be a huge difference between emigration and defection. I interpret “emigration” to be leaving under conditions where one agrees to be bound by any applicable laws of the country you are leaving. Defection is a statement that one is unwilling or unable to be bound by the laws of the country and presumably recognizes the impossibility of return. In other words, by defection, one becomes an exile. In a recent blog post, Victoria suggested that many U.S. citizens abroad become exiled from the U.S. Often this is not exile by choice but circumstance (the impossibility of complying with tax laws, etc.).
Therefore:
All voluntary defectors become exiled.
but,
Not all those who are exiled are voluntary defectors. They simply cannot return because it is not possible for them to comply with the insanity of Form Nation laws.
What is clear is that the U.S. is trying very hard to prevent people/capital from leaving. It also seems intent on making it very hard for U.S. citizens abroad to return. Guess if you are a U.S. citizen you have limited mobility.
@swisspinoy,
Thanks for the Wendy McElroy thought-provoking article, asking us the question of how we evaluate ourselves.
Thank you, USCitizenAbroad, taking Victoria’s commentary, and boiling it all down to:
Here is the money quote by Ms. McElroy:
I also called the exit tax the New Berlin Wall in my blog post two years ago announcing my intention to renounce citizenship. See http://righteousinvestor.com/2010/02/25/the-new-berlin-wall-heroes-earnings-assistance-and-relief-tax-act-2008/
I WAS an emigrant under Ronald Reagan when I left for Canada to study; then I married, went to Europe, and returned to Canada and settled here with my wife.
I am a defector under Barack Obama, who has pursued expats to stop gap his profligate budget deficit, the intention of which is to buy voters with benefits from the treasury like food stamps and Obamacare. I defect from the United States to protest this persecution, and I detest the manner in which the United States acts even worse than the former Soviet bloc in its treatment of emigrants. I see little difference between the US treatment tax persecution of emigrants and the kidnapping of East Germans who defected to West Germany to return them to the protection of communism.
Uncle Sam’s mistreatment of American emigrants (ex-pats) has been forcing many to “defect” as the IRON CURTAIN of FATCA begins to descend upon them.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Bloc_emigration_and_defection
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Soviet_Union_defections
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refusenik
History is full of courageous individuals who “defected” from abusive governments. In fact, the signers of America’s Declaration of Independence “defected” en masse from Great Britain.
Times sure have changed.
Interesting. I’ve never really considered myself a ‘defector’ before. But, given the current situation there, along with my negative experiences with said government, I’ll have to conclude that indeed, I am a defector.
Could one be considered a defector if one emigrated with a parent as a child and 45 years later renounces US citizenship only because of US policies?
A defector is making a statement – and becoming free however they may. Renouncing, and performing a relinquishing act with intent to lose US citizenship can be defecting. I think of us as economic hostages. Held hostage via citizenship that we didn’t ask for, don’t want, can’t get rid of. Funny though, usually defectors have to physically leave a country behind in order to defect, whereas many of us have been geographically and physically gone from the US for decades, even half a century or more. Some, born abroad, have never ever even been inside the US – but that makes no difference to the US.
How can one be forced to defect from a country one has never been to?
A US-Cuban citizen has negotiated with the US to renounce his citizenship and stay in Cuba instead of returning to the US to complete his probation:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/03/us-usa-cuba-spy-idUSBRE9420YP20130503
It is possible to renounce US citizenship in Cuba at the Swiss Embassy’s US Interest Section, providing of course that the renouncer pay the $450 fee.
Assuming he renounces, I would wager that his name will appear on the Federal Register’s quarterly expatriation list in the future since he is an undesirable.