Al Lewis, whose earlier story castigated rich people who expatriate, now has done an article telling the other side of the story.
Tax man makes it hard to be an American/ Commentary: Tough IRS rules hit the little guys hard
He interviews some guy named Peter Dunn and plugs his blog, the Isaac Brock Society.
Laura Harrison McBride has an interesting article over at The Smirking Chimp blog (tagline: “News and commentary from the vast left-wing conspiracy”) entitled “Me and Eduardo Saverin; The major difference is money”, in which she discusses her own relinquishment of U.S. citizenship in February 2012 and eloquently contests the tiresome mainstream narrative (spread by bloggers like Matias Ramos and the Tax Justice Network) that people giving up U.S. citizenship are all rich traitors “fleeing” the United States with ill-gotten gains in their pockets.
Senators to Unveil the ‘Ex-Patriot Act’ to Respond to Facebook’s Saverin’s Tax ‘Scheme’
The Saverin fall-out, as expected, has begun:
Key quote:
The senators will call Saverin’s move an “outrage” and will outline their plan to re-impose taxes on expatriates like Saverin even after they flee the United States and take up residence in a foreign country. Their proposal would also impose a mandatory 30 percent tax on the capital gains of anybody who renounces their U.S. citizenship.
The plan would bar individuals like Saverin from ever reentering the United States again.
What does this mean? Can we never be free from these people? Is this implying that if you renounce citizenship now even with under the 2 million in assets that you will end up paying capital gains taxes anyway? And what is this about “re-imposing taxes on expatriates”? Does that mean that renouncing citizenship doesn’t do anything and that there would be no way to get out of the US net? Personally I couldn’t care less if they ban me from travelling there, but this has me very alarmed at what is going on. I just want to get rid of this unwanted, accidental citizenship and get about living my life in my own country!
Cross posted from RenounceUScitizenship
https://twitter.com/#!/renounceus/status/203105755249909761
As you know the FATCA hearings on taking place in “Form Nation”. The U.S. is trying to impose FATCA on the world. Can the world’s biggest debtor tell the rest of the world what to do? A comment on an earlier post, about the U.S. seeking to impose FATCA on the world, had the following thoughts on debt:
The US is trying to make use of the old adage “you owe the bank $1000 dollars it’s your problem, if you owe the bank $100M its the bank’s problem”
However this is a short term strategy because the “bank” will eventually get itself out of that situation by crisis or planned divestiture. No country has ever solved its debt problems without giving up influence or power by not paying.
The Americans actually believe they owe so much to China that they won’t flinch. The creditor always has the upper hand eventually whether the debtor wants to believe that or not.
The day will come when they will decide the US is too much of a liability to support perhaps like the EU and Greece today. Debtors very rarely get the upper hand on creditors without paying a big price. The US should concentrate on improving its hand by domestic means and not rely upon China to flinch – they may not.
John Templeton, one of the world’s greatest investors once commented that:
Those who spend too much will eventually be owned by those who are thrifty. Continue reading
Both the Ontario Provincial Conservatives and the Ontario NDP are objecting to the contract signed by the governing Liberals.
Roger Conklin provides insight that few today have about the United States trade deficit. Today, in a comment, he displays the remarkable depth of his knowledge and the compelling force of his narrative:
I found an interesting blog post on Warren Kinsella’s website (Warren Kinsella is the former top political strategist to Canadian PM Jean Chretien) about an MSNBC print ad which Kinsella views as Maddow “dissing” Canada. I will note under current law but not necessarily at all points in the past Maddow is entitled to a Canadian passport and is a citizen of Canada although she might not have a Canadian passport(It seems as in all likelihood she doesn’t). Perhaps some IBS members would like to go over to Warren Kinsella’s blog and leave some comments.
In “Planet U.S.A”, the U.S.A. isn’t everything – it’s the only thing! The U.S. is of course also the world’s number one debtor. As was argued in a post yesterday, the U.S. is, through its attempts to increase the money supply, inflicting a vicious inflationary tax on the rest of the world. But, then again, they are the U.S. Therefore they can do what they want (or can they). How much longer is the rest of the world going to tolerate this? As one commentator noted, when it comes to other countries, the U.S. is kicking them in the banks. Of course, FATCA, the new Berlin wall of the financial system is a big part of this. Continue reading
I’ve been in contact with a columnist who asked me what I thought about Eduardo Saverin’s expatriation. I respond as follows:
Eduardo Saverin has exercised his unalienable right to renounce his US citizenship. This right is enshrined in the Declaration of Independence of the United States, the Ninth Amendment of the United States Constitution, the Expatriation Act of 1868, the Freedom of Emigration in East-West Trade, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which for its part declares (Article 15, 2):
No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality.
Yet for exercising a fundamental right, some in the media have vilified Eduardo Saverin. I suppose because he is rich, and the rich today, because of class warfare, are open targets of abuse and defamation. But I understand why Saverin expatriated. I am not rich, but I sympathize, nay I identify with his desire to shed US citizenship. I have done it too.
