Posted on 12/07/2014 7:58:17 PM PST by Theoria
LONDON — The mayor of London, Boris Johnson, who was born in New York and holds both American and British passports, recently said that he would not pay a tax bill from the United States on capital gains from the sale of his home in the London borough of Islington. Mr. Johnson pointed out that he hasn’t lived in America since he was 5. He’d like to renounce his citizenship, but said the process was “very difficult.”
It is, but I am doing it. My “in-person final loss of citizenship appointment” is scheduled for Jan. 14 at the United States Consulate here. My British passport, acquired in 2012, will be my only one.
Some 3,000 Americans gave up their citizenship last year, a tiny number that’s nevertheless been soaring. Yes, a few expatriates may be trying to avoid future taxes, as Senator Charles E. Schumer accused the Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin of doing two years ago, when Mr. Saverin, who lives in Singapore, surrendered his passport ahead of the company’s initial public offering.
But most, like me, are not tycoons. We’re responding to the burden and cost of onerous financial reporting and tax filing requirements that are neither fair nor just. (Living and working in London, I pay higher taxes, to Britain, than I would in New York.)
Some 7.6 million Americans live abroad — expats would be the 13th most populous state, if we were a state. Many are overseas temporarily, for work or study.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
He has nothing to worry about.
IRS harassment is only for little people with no political clout.
People like Boris Johnson and Al Sharpton are treated differently.
You really can’t blame him. The IRS is out of control.
It’s an electronic Berlin Wall —if you hold the blue passport and try opening ANY bank account overseas, then the bank will look at you like you’re coughing Ebola blood all over the NYC subway:
Uncle Sam tells the banks, “you have to send us REAMS of info about OUR guy, and if you don’t, then we’ll tax 30% on every one of your transactions that flow through ANY US bank...”
It is the same greedy, bully force that puts NYC cigarettes at $13.50 and makes “onesies” profitable for choke hobbyists.
We used 2b welcome ALL over the globe as banking customers, and now we’re leper AIDS Ebola guys.
Doing biz with any American means a tax-hungry dictator is calling you up around the clock, speaking rudely and arrogantly, and trying to sue you, non-stop.
It’s way easier for all bankers to simply tell ALL Americans, “we don’t accept American citizens as customers..”
Obama and his global bullying have made us into Nigerians.
Actually, this particular abomination is a product of the US Congress.
The bank account stuff started well in to Bush's term.
You are correct. It would be great if the new congress took on tax reform. Ripped the whole rotten structure out by the roots, and proposed something simpler. Of course, the entrenched interests (tax attorneys, accountants, etc.) would squeal like pigs, and Obama would veto it, but then we can pin the whole stinking mess on him.
Hay, I am looking at Costa Rica. Looks sweet to me.
The big government left loves to rant about “greed”, but there is no greedier entity on the face of the earth than a governmental bureaucrat. Good for the mayor.
‘Bronzy’...heh...looks like ya already have the tan for the beach in Costa Rica!
1. Eliminate ALL corporate tax.
1a. Eliminate ALL depletion allowances and depreciation allowances.
2. Eliminate ALL current IRS regulations.
3. Set the individual tax rate at 10% regardless of income.
3a. Perquisites at taxed at 10% of cost.
3b. Withhold at the rate of 11%, to get a refund you have to file taxes, but there is no legal imperative to file.
4. Tax ALL money coming into the country at 0% (yes, ZERO%).
If there are not yet sufficient numbers of canaries in the coal mine dying , this accelerating number of Americans voting with their feet to freedom elsewhere is a dire warning sign to the rest of us.
I thought I read somewhere that Costa Rica was pretty violent - could be wrong about that. I thought Chile was of interest for those wanting to relocate, but then they voted in a socialist as president.
1. Article V.
Sharpton will cry racism if the IRS made him pay up his back taxes.
RE: Sharpton will cry racism if the IRS made him pay up his back taxes.
Wesley Snipes should’ve done the same or asked for Sharpton’s help.
I think Snipes committed fraud or something - Sharpton is just not paying and the IRS is afraid to go after him because 0bama is telling them not to. IMHO
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.