Posted on 04/16/2012 6:43:58 PM PDT by markomalley
A year ago, in Action Comics, Superman declared plans to renounce his U.S. citizenship.
"'Truth, justice, and the American way' — it's not enough anymore," the comic book superhero said, after both the Iranian and American governments criticized him for joining a peaceful anti-government protest in Tehran.
Last year, almost 1,800 people followed Superman's lead, renouncing their U.S. citizenship or handing in their Green Cards. That's a record number since the Internal Revenue Service began publishing a list of those who renounced in 1998. It's also almost eight times more than the number of citizens who renounced in 2008, and more than the total for 2007, 2008 and 2009 combined.
But not everyone's motivations are as lofty as Superman's. Many say they parted ways with America for tax reasons.
The United States is one of the only countries to tax its citizens on income earned while they're living abroad. And just as Americans stateside must file tax returns each April — this year, the deadline is Tuesday — an estimated 6.3 million U.S. citizens living abroad brace for what they describe as an even tougher process of reporting their income and foreign accounts to the IRS. For them, the deadline is June.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnbc.com ...
>Yes, taxes are outrageous and we have loads of problems. But we truly won life’s lottery by being born in this greatest nation on earth. Those renouncing that priceless gift are total jackasses.
Are they?
Let’s take the new “meme” of ‘War on Women’ as an example; remember it was sparked off by the ‘birth-control’ issues. This is utterly insulting, not only is the entirely reasonable (and will-affirming) self-control/personal-responsibility not given so much as a look, but it does a disservice to anyone lake myself who has been deployed in a war-zone (and how much more those who have seen battle?) by degenerating ‘war’ to mean “anything we don’t like.”
And that is insult to injury; because I signed up for the Constitution, not the government which, it must be admitted, cares nothing at all about the Constitution except insofar as it can be used in political sound-bites. (Else we would not see the cognitive dissonance of Prohibition and the War on Drugs where the former REQUIRED a Constitutional amendment in order to authorize regulate a substance and the latter apparently has the magical quality of generating its own authorization from itself or “Drugs are bad, m`kay” or “I’M WITH THE GOVERNMENT, DON’T QUESTION ME!”)
Now, while the insult and injury are grave indeed, let me ask: what would society-as-a-whole do if someone took a stand against this sort of stuff?
* If it was something like ignoring the ridiculous interpretation of the commerce clause and, say, growing/cultivating their own self-medication (weed, wheat/hops/beer, etc) most would side with the government/law claiming them to be wrongdoers.
* If it is resistance, say to the ‘magic’ of the IRS (which has regulations saying, basically, that any legitimate ‘loophole’ can be considered illegitimate), then we have something similar to Joe Stack (the guy who flew a small plane into the IRS building) who was vilified.
* If it was something like going to jury duty with your gun because the State Constitution says something like “No law shall abridge the right of the citizen to keep and bear arms for security and defense” or “The right of the citizen to bear arms in defense of himself and the state shall not be denied” would you call him a hero, or stupid because guns don’t belong in courthouses?
>bills of attainder
Can you elaborate/give-examples for this?
“”The decision by the IRS to publish the names is referred to by lawyers as “name and shame.” That’s because those who renounce are seen as willing to give up their citizenship primarily for financial reasons.”
Ever wonder why its the “lawyers” that seem to think everyone should bare the unwanted and unconstitutional burden of citizenship while not even living in the USA?
The Federal Government has no right to tax anyone or anything outside theses united States Period. The very idea that they do is offensive to the very essence of sovereignty & our rights as individuals. It is basically Washington telling every “American citizen” that they are owned by the Government and therefore owe service or equivalent to the same.”
I am not willing to leave to Washington my State. I advocate for secession/revolution. But your right the prospect to reclaim our rights have been dwindling stealthily for a 100 years. More and more of our population have been been lawlessly bought by politicians using debt and the money of those increasingly few who still produce.
We are headed towards a slowdown & crash. Revolution of some-kind is inevitable. It is simply our job to take advantage of the growing symptoms and make sure that revolution is of a kind that might actually throw off the burdens of the present lawless federal government, and liberate our individuals again.
I would love to see an organized very large group of people suddenly denouncing citizenship, several million at the minimum.
Send the feds a message.
Seriously I begin to wonder just how good America really is compared to say Canada or Australia.
The way I see it communists have invaded every part of the government and nobody cares. The ones that were fighting have been either attacked, threatened or assassinated.
I’m going to be living (part time) in Thailand beginning in 2013. I know the country well, speak the language pretty well, and know the Thai people quite well. I highly recommend Thailand as at least a part time foreign residence. Thais (the vast majority anyway) are ‘Farang’ (Westerner) friendly. I am becoming certified to Teach English as a Foreign Language. There are plenty of jobs in Thailand teaching English (they understand that English is the language of Work, Commerce and Trade)... Too bad we can’t teach that concept to those who break into the USA! Oh - there are some ‘horror’ stories about living in Thailand (as there are for many countries around the world) - but a responsible, respectful and careful person need not worry too much. I find that learning the language of the country you are in (or at least making a good attempt) goes a long way in establishing good rapport. Oh - and with the $95,000 threshold before having to pay taxes - I won’t have to be doing anything but file a report (unfortunately!!!)... By the way ... a nice 2 bedroom townhouse (not super large or extra fancy) can be rented in some respectable areas Bangkok for less than $400 a month. Also - there are good websites to help one become educated about visiting and living Thailand in all manner of ways - Thaivisa.com and Teakdoor.com are two.
Oh - and with the $95,000 threshold before having to pay taxes
What are the terms and conditions for this to exemption to apply? I presume you are talking about U.S. Taxes?
Maybe I need a new CPA but she tells me the 24k is not deductible to the gift giver (you) but is not a taxable event to the receiver (anybody you want to give a gift to).
Anybody want to chime in on this?
Naw, it was jes’ rettrick and vitriol.
The $95,000 (rounded number) is U.S. Tax earnings threshold - I just read on the link to this post. I do not know details of Thai income taxes...
>Naw, it was jes’ rettrick and vitriol.
Damn, I was hoping for a couple good examples of Bills of Attainder.
We have the equivalent with administrative law where, for example, a man gets a restraining order put on him by a judge and *poof* he becomes a ‘prohibited person’ as far as firearms are concerned, no trial, no jury, no defense, just *poof*.
Do as Peter Griffith did and form the Republic of Petoria? (motto: "E. Peterbus Unum")
I have a better idea. I'm going to move to Mexico, renounce my American citizenship, and THEN enter California unlawfully (preferably with my parents driving me across the border, so I can say they just brought me with them) Once there, I will enroll for MBA program at UCLA, and demand in-state tuition rates. I'll save a ton of $$$ and according to the Perrybots here, it's not only heartless to deny me discounted tuition, it's racist as well. I also plan on saving a ton on medical bills (too bad I'm not female and can't give birth to 10 kids that would also benefit), driver's license fees, federal tax laws, and being able to vote in the presidential elections of TWO countries in 2012! Woo hoo!
One of my favorite threads on FR was the guy who wrote Senator Sarbanes and inquired how he could change his status from natural-born U.S. citizen to illegal immigrant, in order to reap the benefits in the bill Sarbanes voted for:
Sickening!
I bought a small fixer-upper cruising sailboat in 2008 and moved aboard (knew what was coming). It’s now ready to go and I’m thinking along the lines of a four year cruise, if you know what I mean.
If someone were inclined to live aboard, you can live very cheaply and if you have basic handy skills there are abandoned and repossessed sailboats of liveable size going for $5k or less for the person prepared to hunt for them.
I’m not quite thinking of running away to the land of coconuts, more just being nomadic and checking out some of the places other cruisers recommend...with an option of heading for the sunset if things get worse than I imagine.
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