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Eduardo Saverin, the co-founder of the social network and Facebook Inc., stands accused of violating the social contract -- the idea that government is based on an agreement among its citizens to ensure mutual protection of person and property. His decision to give up his American citizenship before the Facebook initial public offering drew criticism for his perceived breach of financial and patriotic duties, including the duty to pay income taxes. He is even the target of legislation called the Ex-Patriot Act, proposed by Democratic Senators Charles Schumer and Bob Casey, that would ban wealthy expatriates such as Saverin from...

If you are a nonimmigrant American reading this, do you know why your ancestors came to America? The fact is, a large percentage of immigrants were trying to escape various forms of government persecution, including religious and tax persecution. The American Revolution was set off, in part, by a tax on tea that ranged from about 10 percent to 33 percent of its value. That and other grievances were enough to cause people to take up arms against the British. Rather than taking up arms, most people who believe the tax burden now has become too great pick up and...

The Ex-Patriot Act introduced by Senators Chuck Schumer and Bob Casey is a bill of attainder which would result in cruel and unusual punishment. Eduardo Saverin's renunciation of U.S. citizenship has angered many people in the United States. I write as one who has also relinquished U.S. citizenship. As a blogger who openly writes about the experience, I've attracted some media attention, including an article by Dow Jones columnist Al Lewis. Lewis starts by saying that I renounced my citizenship to avoid the IRS. So now, Saverin and I have joined the ranks of the most hated people in America...

Did you know the government publishes a quarterly list of every individual who renounces his or her citizenship? The Wall Street Journal's infographics team decided to crunch the data and came up with a chart tracking the growth of how many Americans no longer wish to be so. The results are fairly striking:  WSJ.com The accompanying article by Laura Sanders notes that in 2010, Congress passed a law requiring foreign financial institutions to certify that U.S. taxpayers aren't hiding money in them as a condition for being allowed to do business here.

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Eduardo Saverin, one of the original Facebook founders, holds, what, 3% of the company now, still makes him a billionaire. Eduardo Saverin's family fled his native land, I believe that's Brazil, not sure. His family came to the United States to escape oppression wherever they were. Eduardo Saverin goes to Harvard, meets Zuckerberg. They start Facebook. He becomes a billionaire. Eduardo Saverin moves to Singapore. Last week Eduardo Saverin renounced his American citizenship because of taxes. The capital gains tax, when this IPO goes and his share value is actually monetized and not just on paper, will...

Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin, under fire over the tax consequences of renouncing his U.S. citizenship, said on Thursday he is obligated to and will pay 'hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes to the United States government.' The social media entrepreneur and investor said in a statement, emailed to Reuters by a spokesman, that his decision to move to Singapore was 'based solely on my interest in working and living' there.

“Is the rich world aware of how four billion of the six billion live? If we were aware, we would want to help out, we’d want to get involved.” – Bill Gates _____________________________ Dear Eduardo Saverin (if I may call you that), You were, as I’m sure you’re aware, born in Brazil to a wealthy family, and were moved to Miami when you were a child. To America, the land of opportunity. And boy, did you ever have a lot of opportunities. Your parents sent you to Harvard, where according to Wikipedia you “took advantage of Brazil’s lax insider trading...

Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin may not be allowed to return to the United States after he renounced his citizenship to save millions in tax. The 30-year-old, who has a $3.64billion stake in the social networking site, migrated to Singapore ahead of the company's massive stock market floatation tomorrow. The timing of the move has raised eyebrows since Singapore does not have a capital gains tax, which could vastly reduce his bill on any payout. According to an immigration law, he could be refused re-entry to the U.S. if he is judged to have relocated for the purposes of avoiding taxes....

Senators to Unveil the ‘Ex-Patriot Act’ to Respond to Facebook’s Saverin’s Tax ‘Scheme’ Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has a status update for Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin: Stop attempting to dodge your taxes by renouncing your U.S. citizenship or never come to back to the U.S. again. In September 2011, Saverin relinquished his U.S. citizenship before the company announced its planned initial public offering of stock, which will debut this week. The move was likely a financial one, as he owns an estimated 4 percent of Facebook and stands to make $4 billion when the company goes public. Saverin would reap...

Eduardo Saverin can escape the United States, but he cannot slip Facebook. “Everything I do in my personal life, in my professional life, it’s completely there,” said Mr. Saverin, a Facebook co-founder, in his first major interview. “A lot of what I do, what everyone does, is influenced by it.” Alone among Facebook’s 900 million users, Mr. Saverin is special: a billionaire with only the vaguest of causes. He co-founded Facebook at age 21, then left two years later with a legal settlement that cut him off from Facebook but left him phenomenally wealthy. His stake will most likely be...

Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin may not be allowed to return to the United States after he renounced his citizenship to save millions in tax. The 30-year-old, who has a $3.64billion stake in the social networking site, migrated to Singapore ahead of the company's massive stock market floatation tomorrow.

When Brazilian-born entrepreneur Eduardo Saverin, one of the founders of Facebook, renounced his U.S. citizenship, allegedly to avoid paying millions -- or is it billions -- in taxes ahead of the company's Initial Public Offering, there was plenty of indignation. Saverin was blessed with an upscale Miami upbringing, a top-notch Harvard education, and has thrived in an entrepreneurial environment created by Americans, becoming insanely rich during the Internet boom. So the question is: What does Saverin owe the United States? Is it reprehensible for him to drop his citizenship before paying his “fair” share to the government that made all...

Saverin, who was immortalized in the film “The Social Network” as Zuckerberg’s contentious former friend and business partner, has a 4% stake in the company, according to the Who Owns Facebook? website. His stake could be worth nearly $4 billion after the IPO. “It's definitely savvy tax planning,” said Edward D. Kleinbard, a professor of law at USC who specializes in federal tax policy and international taxation. “He can argue that the value of the Facebook shares in September, when he gave up his citizenship, were significantly less than the value that will be set at the IPO next week.”