Why are Americans giving up their citizenship?

[Wilikon]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-24135021


The number of Americans giving up their citizenship has rocketed this year - partly, it's thought, because of a new tax law that is frustrating many expats.

Goodbye, US passport.

That's not a concept that Americans contemplate lightly. But it's one that many of them seem to be considering - and acting on.

The number of expatriates renouncing their US citizenship surged in the second quarter of 2013, compared with the same period the year before - 1,131 cases to 189 in 2012. It's still a small proportion of the estimated six million Americans abroad, but it's a significant rise.

The list is compiled by the Federal Register and while no reasons are given, the big looming factor seems to be tax.

A new law called the Foreign Accounts Tax Compliance Act (Fatca) will, from 1 July next year, require all financial institutions around the world to report directly to the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) all the assets and incomes of any US citizens with $50,000 (£31,000) on their books. The US could withhold 30% of dividends and interest payments due to the banks that don't comply.

[xsfgsdrwe]

We've been giving up our rights for years now.

[nobbynobbynoob]

The US, Philippines and Eritrea have citizenship-based and well as residency-based tax law. If you retain your US citizenship but ignore the IRS, and they think you owe them serious money, you could land up in trouble if you return to the US. Expatriation* is a legal way out of this rut (assuming one has multiple citizenship or is in the process of naturalising elsewhere), though you'll be declared persona non grata in the USA if the IRS believes your expatriation lowered your legal tax liability by more than 50.000 USD, as I understand it.

* in the proper legal sense of the word, i.e. renunciation of citizenship, not just moving countries

[leoragraves666]

Funny how citizenship is sold for money (avoidance of taxes). I always thought it is something you should be proud of

[dragonkid]

Funny how citizenship is sold for money (avoidance of taxes). I always thought it is something you should be proud of

Yes, but if your country is the number one enemy of most of the terrorist organisation in the world, it will be good not to have a US passport during a hostage situation. Because you will most likely get kill first.

[millsdmb]

i believe so they can keep their money overseas

[Ekaros]

i believe so they can keep their money overseas

Or for regular persons, not having to spend huge amount of money to prove that you don't have to pay anything... Just tells how broken the system is if you have to pay more to do math than the acttual taxes...

I'm happy that my government does taxes for me. Though no that I have much to tax yet.

[scarsbergholden]

This is interesting. Still not huge numbers but I didn't realize there was such a boom recently.

[nobbynobbynoob]

Funny how citizenship is sold for money (avoidance of taxes). I always thought it is something you should be proud of

If only citizenships could be traded on the open market! A few countries, most notably Dominica, are willing to sell citizenship to willing and able foreigners for roughly 105k USD. At the other end of the scale, in the likes of the US and Australia, both of which have federal governments that get a bit gung-ho about making foreigners personae non grata at times, you will typically need a seven-digit net worth in dollar terms just to buy your way in as a permanent resident, with the possibility to naturalise four or five years down the line.

[b!z]

Maybe being a citizen of another country is more beneficial to them.

[nobbynobbynoob]

Maybe being a citizen of another country is more beneficial to them.

Bringing Bitcoinia into this, a significant portion of the Bitcoin community would love to be stateless, but only if everybody else is.

[Rampion]

Funny how citizenship is sold for money (avoidance of taxes). I always thought it is something you should be proud of

I always thought only retards are proud about where they were born/where they live.

[nobbynobbynoob]

Citizenship is slavery to the State. Statelessness would be good but only if everyone were stateless, because being in a stateless minority under Statism is a particular drag: ask any number of the hundreds of thousands of Baltic Russians, who are citizens of neither the EU nor the Russian Federation.

[Professor James Moriarty]

 To be honest if I were american , I would definetly hide the fact and try to get another citizenship and act like I have never been to america . Why would anyone willingly be american?

[nobbynobbynoob]

Plenty of Americans are nice people. It's their government that's gone rogue.

[Lethn]

Plenty of Americans are nice people. It's their government that's gone rogue.

Yep, that's certainly the case, even the ones you end up bickering with about politics are usually more intelligent than the people in charge, oh, just so you know, I'm a U.K citizen and even I'm thinking about ditching my citizenship before its too late. I'm having a careful thought about which country I'm going to join though, I just need a passport for travelling really but I'd like to be a citizen of a country that's stays neutral a lot of the time and doesn't get involved too much in overseas politics.

In this case, one of the ones you'd have to google in order to know anything about that doesn't appear in the news very often

[Professor James Moriarty]

 ahahahahha , so the ones that vote for the goverment is normal ? The ones that vote for reality shows and watch jersey shore , and the redneck ones , the army guys , the farm guys that makes beastility pron look kind  , the western ones with their eastern zen look to world with 'actor' profession in mind and yoga and so on , the washington folk? , the wall street people?

 I don't know if I need to go on , but british people sent criminal folk to america to get rid of them , irish sent white slaves , americans took africans from their home and made them slaves , mexican people are trying to run away from their country to be in america , I don't think the history of USA will never leave them alone , it was build as a corrupt place and it will stay like that. The whole 'american dream ' says step over people to become rich , what else you were expecting?

[Rampion]

Plenty of Americans are nice people. It's their government that's gone rogue.

The vast majority of people living in the world is nice, regardless of where they were born.

The most dangerous ones are those that are proud of random things they were born with (their race, their gender, their citizenship, etc.)

[Ekaros]

Plenty of Americans are nice people. It's their government that's gone rogue.

And part of population who spout nonsense which gets on my nerves...

[Mike Christ]

I always though it was kind of weird to be proud of where you were born, as if you had any choice in the matter.

These are my sentiments; to be proud of one's country is to be proud of one's ethnicity or height or social class--in other words, facetious bullshit people adopt when they have nothing else to take pride in for having done nothing their lives thus far.