Posted on 07/04/2012 7:11:39 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
07/03/12 Laguna Beach, California – In November, millions of Americans will trudge to their local polling places to cast votes in the hope of improving their lives here in the USA. Between now and then, a few hundred Americans will vote with their feet in the hope of improving their lives outside the USA.
Last year, nearly 1,800 Americans surrendered their citizenship. In a nation of 300 million folks, 1,800 émigrés is hardly a rush for the exits. But the recent trend is, nevertheless, intriguing.
As recently as four years ago, only 200 people checked out of America for good. Back then, surrendering US citizenship would have seemed as unthinkable to most Americans as declining a free vacation to Hawaii to pay for a vacation in Newark. It would have seemed as crazy as:
Giving up citizenship would have seemed as incomprehensible as…go ahead, create your own simile.
Bottom line: Surrendering US citizen was absolutely unthinkable. But not anymore. Now it is thinkable, albeit still relatively rare. The absolute numbers are still tiny, but the trend conveys a very large message: Discontent is on the rise.
Increasingly, the used LeSabres and Augusta Municipals are winning the contest. And probably not because they are so alluring, but rather because the Aston Martin is starting to sputter like a used moped and Augusta Nationals fairways are starting to sprout more weeds than its deep rough.
To be clear, your California editor remains an American citizen with a valid American passport…and no pending petitions in any American embassies to surrender his citizenship. His observations, therefore, are not personal…but they are heartfelt.
When Americans begin abandoning the Land of the Free to seek greater freedom elsewhere, it is time to sit up and pay attention; it is time ask yourself, Why? Why are they leaving? Whats wrong?
Is it just a tax thing or are other forces in play? Is it because folks dont like:
Who knows the exact reason why 1,800 Americans chose to leave last year nine times as many as left four years earlier. Certainly, each one of them had their reasons. But like a corporate insider that sells his own stock, theres one thing you know for certain about his motives: he is not selling because he believes the stock will go up. Maybe he doesnt believe the stock will go down, but no one sells a stock they believe will go up.
Likewise, Americans who bail on their country may not think things are going to get any worse any time soon, but they clearly do not believe things are going to get better. So far, the pitter-patter of footsteps heading for the exits is barely a murmur…but the murmur is getting louder.
Eric Fry
for The Daily Reckoning
I wonder what the driving force behind that is?
Going to live in another country is one thing....giving up your U.S. citizenship is another,
Good riddance.
This is mainly Americans working abroad. Part of this trend is because the US is the only country which taxes income earned in foreign countries. I think one of the more recent driving issues is that now foreign banks have been given extremely burdensome new reporting requirements for Americans working abroad to the point where many are now refusing to provide service to US citizens.
We are a nation of 315 million. These numbers, less than 2,000 a year are statistically meaningless. The numbers are infinitesimal.
I wonder what the driving force behind that is?
I suspect it has to do with double taxation on income.
When I was working in Switzerland in the 80’s I had to still file with the IRS every year and report foreign earned income. At that time I believe anything over $75,000 per year was taxed again by the US federal government.
But where to go? Europe is a basket case, the ME a smoldering mess, no decent place in Africa (including SA), and leftist governments in most of S. America.
Its not like American citizenship means anything anymore.
I am willing to bet that ALL of these Citizen renuoncers are WEALTHY folks (AKA the 1% ).
The USA is one of only 2 countries I know ( the other one being a small African country I can’t remember ) that taxes you based on your citizenship REGARDLESS of where you earned your income.
Germans who work in America and make money here are NOT taxed in Germany for the money made here. But Americans who make money in Germany are taxed IN GERMANY *AND* America.
There was a time when an ex-pat could open a Swiss account and deposit their money there without having to inform the IRS. Not anymore. America bullied Switzerland to inform the IRS of ALL American bank accounts and the Swiss CAVED.
RE: Its not like American citizenship means anything anymore.
Aren’t we still the land of the free and the home of the brave?
RE: But where to go?
Does Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin know something we don’t?
FWIW,there is an entire system of statistics of rare events, which (probably) would show that the increase in abandonment of citizenship are “significant,” and worthy of further study.
FWIW,there is an entire system of statistics of rare events, which (probably) would show that the increase in abandonment of citizenship are “significant,” and worthy of further study.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poisson_distribution for example.
For example, the U.S. adds one international migrant (net) every 36 seconds. Immigrants account for one in 8 U.S. residents, the highest level in more than 90 years. In 1970 it was one in 21; in 1980 it was one in 16; and in 1990 it was one in 13. In a decade, it will be one in 7, the highest it has been in our history. And by 2050, one in 5 residents of the U.S. will be foreign-born.
Perhaps our growing immigrant population will result in some wishing to return back to their home country. We recognize dual nationality, but perhaps their home country does not forcing them to make this decision.
One would have to analyze who is in the 1,800 and see where they came from, their age, their income, etc. At this point, I see these data as virtually meaningless.
I would have to agree with you. If you take the net worth of those former American citizens and look at it in the long term it will have a serious effect on the USA’s bottom line.
If the trend continues to increase then the effect becomes more obvious over the short term.
It's just never enough.
Other people have a right to an individuals labor and the US being a nation of rights and all....
“....Arent we still the land of the free and the home of the brave?...”
Ummmm.....no. That all died in Nov. 2008 and is so passe’.
The recent SCOTUS decision on odongocare put the final nail in the coffin. Also, old odongo had to do a world-wide tour to apologize to the entire wide world for our “braveness” over the recent course of modern history, but its all cool...he got everything straightened out for us. /s
But hey, there are a few of us trying to throw the rotten, slimy, commie bums out of office in about 126 days or so in order to try to restore a modicum of freedom to the common American. The brave part, well, the republicans are still working on that one....they’ve got a long way to go, but a couple of us on here still have some balls.
The US imports a much larger percentage of third worlders than in 1970 and immediately go on the dole. How is that affecting America in a positive way?
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