Posted on 07/04/2008 6:25:14 AM PDT by Kozman
President Bush recently signed the Heroes Earnings Assistance and Relief Act of 2008, aka, the HEART bill.
Hidden in the bill is new taxation on those who renounce their citizenship. The bill specifically calls for taxation on the net unrealized gain in their property, as if the property had been sold. Call it the "Hotel Calfornia" Tax, checkout any time you want, but a good chunk of your money can't leave. The first $600,000 in estimated net worth is exempt, then the tax kicks in at regular rates. Thus, this tax creates the potential for huge taxable phantom gains, with huge cash flow ramifications.
The bill also applies to foreigners who are living and working in the United States legally with green cards. When they decide to go home, the tax kicks in for them also...
(Excerpt) Read more at economicpolicyjournal.com ...
This sounds like Zimbabwe in the early 80's. The farmers couldn't sell their farms and leave because they couldn't take the $$ with them.
I would be curious what senator or congressman inserted this bill into the law. They appear to be acting like your money...”is their money”...and probably have the financial education level of a 13-year old kid. If I chose to move $80 million of my personal money out of the US....without their knowledge....(if I even had such a fortune)....I could accomplish this in a couple of days and they’d never notice. There are millions that appear in Panama each week...compliments of guys in California who don’t want their cash sitting in the US banking system.
If I were to make a guess of the strategy of this congressman and his lobby group....they are expecting a cash-flow problem with the US economy....with fair portion of folks attempting to move the cash out of the US in a hurry...similar as you suggest in Zimbabwe as things dissolved. The lobby group probably has a mechanism in place to funnel naive folks straight to their doorstep, and get the cash quickly out (legally).
If you find the congressman, you will find the lobby group...and all of this will be explained.
Bush and the other leftists are obsessed with seizing accumulated wealth from those who work hard for it, and urinating it away to those who don’t work for it. Since this affects only a few people at any one time, there will never be a critical mass of protesting people, and so this bill will remain.
Hypocrite politicians! Illegal immigrants can send as many of our dollars back home as they want to, tax free and without interference.
This government is out of control and becoming a monster.
Somebody clarify if I read this wrong. A 600,000 exemption? Isn’t the current one 500,000 for two-owner property? Also, does this 600,000 include investment property?
So don’t renounce your American citizenship.
It that difficult?
Sheesh.
If George W. Bush had not prevented a 9/11 repeat and appointed good justices to the Supreme Court, his Administration would be down there with those of Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, Warren Harding, and U.S. Grant as failures.
As it is, it hovers just above them.
THANKS, W!
This is typically retarted US tax policy.
Can someone please tell me, in Las Vegas, what is “fair market value” for a house that has not been sold yet? It’s dropping by the hour out there.
My company (Based in Germany) employs many ex-pats here in the states. This is going to be a nightmare for them.
Probably because their totals don’t amount to much.
No, the bill is generalized enough that anyone trying to move most of their assets overseas will experience the tax.
That statement applies to ALL men, not just US citizens. We all have the right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. In the late 16th century pursuit of happiness meant economic freedom and retaining one's own earnings. See Butchers' Union Co. v. Crescent City Co. - it refers to economic freedom.
Penalizing others for their own economic success - whether US citizens or not - is fundamentally opposed to the Declaration.
We gain materially from foreign investment, trade, and residents living among us. We should encourage legal immigration and green card workers, not penalize them.
Interesting.
Meanwhile, for those with ‘dual citizenships’ and under the NAU Social Security Totalization umbrella, no rain shall fall on that parade?
South Africa has a similar policy. It is aimed at preventing emigration of productive folks out of that seething cauldron of a country.
Wonder what this law is aimed at?
The bill also applies to foreigners who are living and working in the United States legally with green cards. When they decide to go home, the tax kicks in for them also.Interesting.
This is the wrong idea. With this tax, how are we going to get Hollywood leftists like Alec Baldwin and Barbra Streisand to keep their promises about leaving the US if the Republicans win the 2000 and 2004 elections? A radio station near me even had a “Pack up the Pinkos” fundraiser, to buy airplane tickets for them, one-way tickets to the Third World hellhole of their choice.
“Until then, all I ask of my country is that we don’t beat ourselves and that we remain a place where Gwyneth Paltrow refuses to live.”—Dennis Miller, 12/08/2006
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.