Meanwhile, the US gained nearly 780,000 citizens in 2013-
http://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/ois_natz_fr_2013.pdf
This whole snit is just another manifestation of trumped up right wing persecution fantasies.
Citizenship based tax dodging has always been a ploy for the demi-riche. In Europe, sports stars want to become citizens of Monaco. In the US, businessmen want to become citizens of Bermuda. OTOH, Rupert Murdoch became a US citizen in 1985 so he could advance his media empire in the US & never looked back. Go figure.
The whole persecution of the Rich song & dance is utterly dishonest astroturfing.
You are breathtakingly stupid in your knee jerk partisan reaction and rants.
There is no "trumped up right wing persecution fantasies".
It appears you have not read the article nor are otherwise familiar with recent tax law changes/requirements etc.
This issue is NOT about double taxation. The concept of worldwide taxation is not new. American citizens have been taxed on their worldwide income since 1913; the first year of income taxation. (It was settled in one of the first SCOTUS cases on taxation.)
What IS new are requirements for reporting money or property held abroad. This can be as simple as a bank or savings account, or as complicated as a foreign retirement plan.
I cannot adequately emphasize the complexity and difficulty of complying with these laws. As a CPA I have been doing international tax for over 30 yrs. This garbage is about as complicated as it gets. That's saying a lot.
The penalties for failure to complete the numerous, lengthy and complicated forms are
huge.
The fees people must pay to have their tax returns completed, both to eliminate double taxation and comply with these financial forms, are becoming ridiculously high. In a foreign country your access to a professional competent in US tax is both limited and expensive. I worked in the European HQ of one of the largest most well known firms assisting people in US tax matters. Back in the late 80's and early 90's that firm charged nearly $1,000 an hour for my time. I have no idea what it is now but imagine it to be higher. I'm sure there are some US CPA's who live over there and work on their own and surely charge less, but it is still going to be quite high.
The aggravation, stress, cost and risk of penalties is what is driving people to dump US citizenship. The great majority of these are:
1. Foreigners who worked for a large multinational company and were assigned to work in the US for a period of years. Some get Green Cards. Some of those will go on to get US citizenship. Previously it wasn't that big of a deal to have to file an annual US tax return. But as everyone knows, over the years tax law has become insanely complex, even more so for these people. So, they are turning in their US passports. It's simply not worth it.
2. People who, for whatever reason, move abroad. Many are like me, they worked abroad for a large firm and ended up marrying a 'native'. Some of these will remain in the foreign country after their assignment abroad is up. These people, who were born and raised in the US and have family here, are now also dropping their US citizenship because of this crap. They've, in effect, been forced to renounce their citizenship and make the decision to stay away.
The number of wealthy people doing this to avoid US taxation is incredibly small, if any at all. If you're wealthy you already have all the professional help you need. You already have international tax lawyers and CPAs handling your matters. You're already taking advantage of every loophole and planning strategy money can buy. These people are not forced into anything.
As usual, this is just another story of the 'little man' getting crushed by a runaway federal bureaucracy.
Fern
The inducement to renounce also affects all of those 6.2m people and not just those who have renounced, and this inducement (taxes) could be judged to be either fair or unfair, or sensible or not, without there needing to be some kind of mass exodus.
Facebook
Twitter