Record Number Of Americans Give Up Their Citizenship In 2014

[D.B. Cooper]

According to a recent WSJ article more Americans are renouncing their citizenship than in previous years.
I don't know what this means but sounds alarming.

http://blogs.wsj.com...e-for-a-record/

 

[lucha54]

It means people are finally taking "not in our name" seriously!!

 

[sleslie23]

It means people are finally taking "not in our name" seriously!!

While I wish that were true, it's primarily due to things like:

"For decades these laws were rarely enforced. Now, scrutiny of Americans abroad is intensifying because of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, or Fatca, which Congress passed in 2010. The law’s main provisions, which took effect in July, will require foreign financial institutions to report income of their U.S. customers to the IRS."

Also, the article is vague, if not inaccurate:

"The Treasury Department is required by law to publish a list of the names of people who renounce quarterly. The list doesn’t indicate when people did so or why. It also doesn’t distinguish between people giving up passports and those turning in green cards, or indicate what other nationality the individuals hold."

Giving up a green card is quite different than renouncing citizenship. It could easily mean that a lot of people with green cards are choosing to return to their country of origin as the economic, social, and political climate continues to change in the US.

 

[ElCordobés]

Also an opinion piece in NYTimes yesterday. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/08/opinion/why-im-giving-up-my-american-citizenship-passport.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur&bicmp=AD&bicmlukp=WT.mc_id&bicmst=1409232722000&bicmet=1419773522000

 

[nkotb]

Lucha54: you're missing the mark by a long shot, but don't let facts get in the way of your ideology.

 

[lucha54]

Yeah I read the article after I made that comment and realized it was just a bunch of shady rich people trying to evade taxes and keep their Swiss bank accounts under wraps. MY BAD!

 

[Ceviche]

Yeah I read the article after I made that comment and realized it was just a bunch of shady rich people trying to evade taxes

not necessarily.

taxes is the prime issue but not everyone is shady

 

[Matt84]

Deja vu or didn't I open a thread with the exact same topic and very similar linked article months ago if not last year?
And I don't believe that was the only pre-existing thread on the subject either.

It's the counterpoint to what is traditionally known as immigration. It goes by another name too which, while not obscene in the least, I still will not mention it now. Just think of what it's called when it happens in cities instead of countries.

 

[Napoleon]

Summary of the article:

Greed > Patriotism

 

[garryl]

Yeah I read the article after I made that comment and realized it was just a bunch of shady rich people trying to evade taxes and keep their Swiss bank accounts under wraps. MY BAD!

I can see why "shady" rich people do not want the government to waste their easy eared tax $. Both rich and poor have paid Uncle Sam too much. You can't feel good seeing all your hard earned $ got sucked in the back hole, and next year it comes back again, you can't catch a break. That's the main reason Americans have low savings. They can't catch a break with the income tax, prop tax and their mortgage. If you are a doctor and make 200k in CA, after all bills paid, you barely have enough to bring your family to Hawaii for a week. Many far east countries have low taxes, and people have much more saving. They might have a much lower paying job, but an average family can easily have 20k -50k us dollars in the saving. What about average American families ? They live from paycheck to paycheck.


Last year all liberal places like Berkeley voted No on increasing local taxes, NO on more schools and hospitals. Those things are nice, but tax payers have nothing to be milked, someone has to make a living and keep a a job unlike the dirty politicians(who bring up these tax bills every year) and government employees.