Article about renouncing US citizenship

[Kurofune]

Here's an interesting article about renouncing US citizenship: http://news.yahoo.com/more-renounce-us- ... 09477.html

Whether or not you're from the US, have you considered it? For me, it would simply be a matter of practicality. If I felt more at home and secure about my future in an adopted country, I'd renounce without a second thought.

[havill]

You're thinking about the situation in reverse. People think about the merits of their new citizenship; losing/changing their old (unless they're from a war-torn/totalitarian/brutal hell hole — and no, America is not that) is an after thought — and depending on the nationality you change to, often mandatory.

The article was about breaking stereotypes about those who relinquish (the proper term for the U S. procedure; yes, there is a big legal difference): people who do it are not filthy rich, tax cheats, or hate America. *

They simply have a real (as in "until death do us part" real) life outside America, with no realistic prospects of needing U.S. citizenship.

I'd strongly caution anybody who attempts to naturalize for the primary motivation of getting rid of their U.S. nationality.

Unless you're very rich, people who gain/lose nationality as some sort of "scheme" often end up regretting it.

* Mike Gulgoski, of nostate.com, is a "renouncer".

[yanpa]

Personally I don't imagine I would ever want to acquire a new nationality if it meant I had to give up my original one (UK), even though I haven't lived there since I was 18, and it's unlikely I will ever "return" there. It's more of a pragmatic than a patriotic thing; if nothing else it makes easier to relocate should the need arise, because it gives me easy access to not just the UK but most of Europe. On the other hand I don't see any particular benefits to myself of acquiring Japanese citizenship over PR.

[Russell]

Personally I don't imagine I would ever want to acquire a new nationality if it meant I had to give up my original one (UK), even though I haven't lived there since I was 18, and it's unlikely I will ever "return" there. It's more of a pragmatic than a patriotic thing; if nothing else it makes easier to relocate should the need arise, because it gives me easy access to not just the UK but most of Europe. On the other hand I don't see any particular benefits to myself of acquiring Japanese citizenship over PR.

You would be able to vote here...

But yeah, I have the same thoughts. Unless there is a real need, I won't apply for Japanese citizenship.

[Coligny]

I can't stop being French... It's a de-facto thing... (There is a small window 6 month before turning 18 until you reach 19 where you can bug out, but after that, it's wine and cheeze for life)

Plus, who would want to stop being awesome ?

[matsuki]

Personally I don't imagine I would ever want to acquire a new nationality if it meant I had to give up my original one (UK), even though I haven't lived there since I was 18, and it's unlikely I will ever "return" there. It's more of a pragmatic than a patriotic thing; if nothing else it makes easier to relocate should the need arise, because it gives me easy access to not just the UK but most of Europe. On the other hand I don't see any particular benefits to myself of acquiring Japanese citizenship over PR.

You would be able to vote here...

..and reply "Who the fuck you callin' Gaijin?" for the rest of your life.

[Mike Oxlong]

Personally I don't imagine I would ever want to acquire a new nationality if it meant I had to give up my original one (UK), even though I haven't lived there since I was 18, and it's unlikely I will ever "return" there. It's more of a pragmatic than a patriotic thing; if nothing else it makes easier to relocate should the need arise, because it gives me easy access to not just the UK but most of Europe. On the other hand I don't see any particular benefits to myself of acquiring Japanese citizenship over PR.

You would be able to vote here...

..and reply "Who the fuck you callin' Gaijin?" for the rest of your life.

Even citizenship won't make you an insider. To do that you've got to...

[wangta]

Articles on that topic are sort of fashionable at the moment on the net.

I think Americans have a point re their govt's increasing encroaching on their lives abroad - it's getting more difficult for banks outside the US to have Americans as customers because of tighter laws against usual American citizens yet in the USA you can engage in tax avoidance more easily if you are non American of more than middle class status and laundering money into American banks or can set up front companies in South Dakota and both launder money and evade tax.

The Canadians are getting their knickers in a knot over American govt pressures on their banking system to release confidential information so as to find out who was born in the US and never relinquished their citizenship or who did but their children fall into some kind of category whereby they are considered Americans for tax purposes. This is a big reason why there is so much interest in relinquishing American citizenship.

I do find some of the Canadian ranting and raving over this to be over the top. There is a website for the Isaac Brock Society that has them whingeing up a storm over the issue of American citizenship and while I sympathise, most of them there are rabid when somebody writes a comment telling them that no, the USA is not the only country along with a couple of African countries that tax you according to your citizenship and not your residency.

Over the last 7 yrs or so not a few govts have implemented polices that more or less tax expats based on their citizenship by demanding they pay back at home the difference in taxes regardless of how little the expats receive for their taxes in a foreign country. So if you earn x amount of salary per year in a foreign country and pay less tax than you would pay in your home country, then your home country demands when you return that you pay them the difference in tax.

This is similar to taxation based on citizenship a la the American model but is less honest than the American model. Americans also keep referring to how 'high' their taxes are but I know for a fact that Australians at the average salary level pay more tax than Americans do. That is another issue altogether, it is about our entitlement society that has got bigger through both conservative and labour govts from around 2002 handing out money for votes.

But the fact is relatively ordinary Americans do not pay as much tax as the Brits, Aussies, Canadians and western Europeans. The American 'our taxes are too high' argument for relinquishing citizenship is misguided in my opinion especially when they talk about going to a 'lower' taxing country like Australia.

[TennoChinko]

Link to PDF on how to renounce US citizenship: http://pdf.thepdfportal.com/?id=296274#

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-01-1 ... why-part-1

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-01-1 ... why-part-2



Fuck FATCA