Posted on 06/29/2008 4:41:06 PM PDT by Coffee200am
A lot of people probably can't understand why someone would voluntarily give up American citizenship -- but if someone wanted to do that, they'd now incur financial penalties for it.
Congress just passed a new law that will stop your capital -- or at least a good portion of it -- at the border, should you decide not to be a U.S. citizen anymore. Is it, perhaps, in preparation for the possibility that Americans might rebel at the debt and taxes incurred by their government by leaving for lower-tax locales?
You probably didn't notice this little provision inserted into the Heroes Act of 2008, passed by Congress on June 17. The headlines in the press release about the law were about the increased benefits for veterans and families of deceased military.
But Richard Kohan of Price WaterhouseCoopers drew my attention to one section of the act, which states that anyone voluntarily giving up his or her citizenship will be taxed on all of his assets as if he or she had sold them -- paying capital gains on assets that have increased in value, even though they have not been sold.
That's right. While everyone in the media is focused on keeping aliens out of America, Congress has voted to lock its citizens - or at least a good portion of their assets -- into America! Maybe they're thinking that patriotism won't be enough to keep the smart money from recognizing the coming increases in the tax burden.
Patriotism and Debt
We expect our elected leaders to be patriotic, to wear flap pins on their lapels? But how patriotic is it for our elected officials of both parties to drag our country into debt?
This year the Federal budget deficit will be a record $400 billion. That astonishing number will be added to our existing $9 trillion national debt. It's money that our government spends in excess of what it collects in taxes.
Government officials say they're shocked at the record number of American consumers who are filing for bankruptcy. Yet those same politicians are spending America into an effective bankruptcy -- building a burden of current debt and promises of future debt that can never be repaid. Now, how patriotic is that?
Patriotism and Taxes
Do you consider it your patriotic duty to pay your taxes? Do you feel unpatriotic because you spend some time trying to figure out how to reduce your tax burden, by maximizing deductions whenever possible?
If that's not unpatriotic for you, is it unpatriotic for wealthy people, or corporations, to try to reduce their tax burden? Where do you draw the line? Perhaps it's most unpatriotic for our elected officials to construct a tax system that doles out benefits to special interest groups, pitting one group of Americans against another.
What's really unpatriotic, in my opinion, is trying to divide Americans through the politics of envy. Our country has moved forward because of our optimism and our belief that any American can build a better financial future. It has been our nature to honor those who have been successful, and seek to emulate them, not to destroy them because they have more assets or income.
Of course, that presupposes that the successful people accept their patriotic responsibility to give back to the society that made their success possible. And the facts show that Americans are the most charitable and generous people on the planet.
Think of Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, literally giving away their fortunes to help humanity. Or think of the people who filled sandbags along the Mississippi this month to save the homes of strangers.
When a government encourages the best in its citizens, by its policies and its example, patriotic citizens rise to the occasion. And when a government burdens its citizens, it inspires dissent and departures.
The Beatles famously left Britain, and Bjorn Borg left Sweden, when their governments raised taxes to such high levels that even these national icons departed. Are American lawmakers preparing for that kind of scenario with this new law?
Now in America, you can love it, or leave it -- but you can't take it all with you. And that's the Savage Truth!
Even the Soviets did not do this I think for people fleeing the USSR to economic and political freedom.
Thank goodness, I am glad our forefathers stayed in the British system, and put up will all sorts of taxes out the kazoo, and never stood up to it, and veered away from proclaiming their independence, or moving offshore to pursue liberty and economic freedom, but instead were Good British Citizens and stayed under the Union Jack and paid their fair share of taxes even if they were not represented. Loyalty is everything, you know.
open forum might not be the place to do that or talk about that, but one should indeed study behind the scenes clever and legal ways to to keep ones hard earned money in one’s OWN pocket and out of the coffers of the SSA (Socialist States of America) if it does eventually go down that Obama-type craphole into the massive welfare state, taxing the producers of our country out the wazoo to support the lowlifes.
” We are just spiraling down the toilet bowl of socialism. “
Yes , it is true . I’m almost to the point of saying “ Good riddance “ . Not that Japan - where I be - is any better .
Praying for the end of the world .
Hey, thanks alot!
I have been so frustrated lately (gas prices anyone) and I am terrified of Obama and this is a fine place to find all the articles at one spot. So far so good.
Hey, do you know anything about how the oil market works? Cause me, and everyone I know has certainly stopped driving as much with the price being what it is. And now summer is here, no schools using tons of gas. But the price of oil today is $143 a barrel? This is not making sense to me and what I know of supply and demand. Shouldn’t it at least be leveling off?
I know this is not what this thread is about, but I didn’t know who or how to ask this.
I like to look at it like this, regardless of what the oil market is doing: It’s possible to spend less on gas even at higher prices by consuming less. I think in the coming years we as a nation will have to become much more reliant on busses and trains. Until the infrastructure becomes operable, we must reduce our driving. How much can we cut back? Quite a bit in most cases. Sports and recreation will take a big hit. Gas most likely will not be going back down, and we need to radically adjust our thinking and driving habits to compensate. This will ultimately be good for the USA. We will learn to conserve, to exploit our own resources, and to reduce our exposure to foreign interests. We really need to draw together as a nation and hopefully this bit of adversity will start the process. Keep the faith autumnraine!
One of the communist planks.
Don't you just love the subtle collectivist vibes? Phrases like "giving back," "paying your fair share," "fortunate," and the use of "rich" or "wealthy" to describe high-income individuals and households.
Let's just put it this way: the government believes that anyone who has high-income (but not necessarily wealth) is only lucky...they never actually worked for it in the first place! Per the government, "wealth" is doled out at random to members of society and must be given back to its source because it's never really yours in the first place.
Such clever manipulation of words and their popular connotations, continuously over the long term, represent some serious social engineering that has enabled the government (by majority mandate) to institute all manner of wealth redistribution mechanisms, though usually wealth is redistributed into the pockets of government officials, employees, and their supporters.
The U.S. Government and the Episcopal Church seem to have much in common! Sounds like Congress just passed a "Dennis Canon" for the whole country.
There are many ways to skin a cat. The fact that even the Congress critters don't quite understand the entire tax code is only inviting smart folks to find and exploit legal loopholes in order to minimize their tax burden.
Thanks, I’ll keep the faith.
The only thing that scares me is the hit on all the jobs of the people in the first thing to go, the entertainment industry. And that will cause them to spend less and so on and so on. I am not paranoid, and I can conserve with the best of them, but I do fear the economy right now.
It’s been 10 or 12 years since they passed the “ex-pat tax” — renounce your citizenship and you’re still on the hook for the income tax for another 7 (?) years!
Funny, I just had this conversation with the tour guide in Bermuda 2 days ago. I asked for purely intellectual reasons.
The feds are wise to American citizens leaving the country and taking their millions with them and moving to a tax free haven.
They’re not as incompetent as you think. Somebody is thinking up there. They should give that guy a raise.
Most free place on the planet.....for now.
Costa Rica used to be a nice place until too many of us moved there.
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.