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Why expat Americans are giving up their passports

bbc.com

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Re: Why expat Americans are giving up their passports

#91

Post by to3m »

crdoconnor wrote: post #43
ascorbic wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

" Jane has lived and worked in France for 30 years drawing what she calls a "humble" salary. She has filed a tax return every year even though she earns significantly less than $106,000 a year." Hardly the 1%

She isn't the reason this article appeared in the BBC (it's effectively a reprinted press release, cf. Paul Graham's submarine). She also earns a good salary and is dropping citizenship basically in order not to have to fill out a form once a year. Either that or she's expecting a pay raise from her "humble" salary and will have to start paying a small amount of US tax. Either way, my sympathy dial isn't moving.

It sounds more as if she is having difficulty getting access to banking facilities on account of the additional reporting requirements the US insists on.

Re: Why expat Americans are giving up their passports

#92

Post by arto »

josh_fyi wrote: post #51
IIAOPSW wrote: post #15

I don't even have to click to know what this is about. God damn government wants to tax me despite being overseas. Don't get me wrong here. I love my country but hot damn do I hate our government. HK or UK or Canadian passport would probably be nearly as good but without any of the bullshit.

No, this is NOT primarily about taxes. It is about expensive reporting requirements -- the sort of paperwork usually done by billionaires and big corporations must be filled out by every American, even those with low-incomes.

Indeed. I think most people mind the Kafkaesque bureaucracy involved in taxation much more than the taxation itself.

Re: Why expat Americans are giving up their passports

#93

Post by masklinn »

cheatdeath wrote: post #65
arto wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indeed: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/top-10-most-powerful-passport...

That list is out of date - there's an updated version on wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visa_(document)#Visa_restricti... Not sure if "powerful" is the right word either. It's more of a list of the best passports to have if you want to go on holidays. "Doesn't require a visa" usually means those countries don't require visas for short non-business trips (anything from 14 days to 6 months). E.g. you can visi…

> E.g. you can visit the US with a German passport for 3 months for a holiday but it's extremely difficult to get a visa to move there indefinitely.

You do realise that works the same way for everybody and US visa-free entry is not a residence permit right? For instance as a US citizen you'd get visa-free entry to Iceland or Japan or New Zealand but can only stay for 90 days.

Re: Why expat Americans are giving up their passports

#94

Post by wickedlogic »

charlieflowers wrote: post #76
jacquesm wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That sounds about as hard as cancelling comcast.

If comcast could charge $2350 to cancel, they would.

And really, at that price have you thought about upgrading to triple play?

Re: Why expat Americans are giving up their passports

#95

Post by StevePerkins »

madaxe_again wrote: post #45
youngtaff wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>He doesn't want his hard earned wealth pissed away by clueless bureaucrats. Yeh, but guess he likes driving on roads and making use of many of the other public services taxes pay for

Actually, doesn't own a car, and spends most of his time in third world nations doing said philanthropy - but I'm not here to talk about his relative merits, just that fatca is ineffectual.

To recap:

[1] Random person on Hacker News personally "knows" a billionaire.

[2] Billionaire renounced U.S. citizenship without having to realize any significant capitals gains.

[3] Billionaire doesn't own a car. He just spends his time touring Africa, solving AIDS or malaria like Bono or Bill Gates.

[4] Billionaire has a secret lair, from which he dresses up in a costume and fights crime by night.

I could be making some of these up. I started to have serious doubts right at [1], and completely got off the train by [2].

Re: Why expat Americans are giving up their passports

#96

Post by cpursley »

1stop wrote: post #77
cpursley wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The guy gives crazy amounts to philanthropic causes instead. This. As a someone who leans libertarian, folks give me the "you must be greedy" look when I mention that I have an issue with income taxation. Not at all - like your friend, I'm rather selective about where I donate my money - to causes that matter to me. I'm a generous person and consider the coercion of the state to be neither altruistic nor efficient.

So you took advantage of a system paid for by others and then decided you wouldn't contribute back. That's fine, but also pretty much the definition of greedy/selfish. Regardless what your "hardship" story maybe, it would have been harder if everyone acted the way you do now.

What? I haven't taken advantage of anyone. I file and pay my taxes like everyone else. It's just that dropping bombs on impoverished people and bailing out corporations do not align with my personal values. How does this make me greedy?

Re: Why expat Americans are giving up their passports

#97

Post by [deleted] »

youngbullind wrote: post #4

This affects my girlfriend. She has a dual passport but only lived in the US to the age of six months. We are are British but live in Spain which already makes for complex tax arrangements, and this on top of things is just crazy. How the hell does the US think it has the right to tax people who haven't lived there for over 30 years?

[deleted]

Re: Why expat Americans are giving up their passports

#98

Post by chrisseaton »

youngbullind wrote: post #4

This affects my girlfriend. She has a dual passport but only lived in the US to the age of six months. We are are British but live in Spain which already makes for complex tax arrangements, and this on top of things is just crazy. How the hell does the US think it has the right to tax people who haven't lived there for over 30 years?

Does your girlfriend have access to services as a US citizen? Such as embassies, entrance to the US without a visa, or evacuation in case of war? Who should pay for those services if your girlfriend doesn't want to?

Re: Why expat Americans are giving up their passports

#99

Post by magicGLASSman »

maxerize wrote: post #83
mbesto wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The US economy and quality of life commands that premium. Note - My fiancee is British and I've lived for 4 years overseas in the EU (UK 3 years, DE for 1). As the tax code as an American begins to squeeze more and more, I've become more reluctant to "pay" that premium, but there are indeed aspects of American life and opportunity that don't currently exist in the EU.

I constantly have to remind myself that people who browse HN learn strongly libertarian and are mostly well-off white males. Otherwise, saying that the US quality of life exceeds that of the UK, Germany or Switzerland is just blatantly false.

saying "blatantly false" does not make something factual. Please provide and argument with evidence instead of blanket racist remarks.

Re: Why expat Americans are giving up their passports

#100

Post by Xylakant »

madaxe_again wrote: post #45
youngtaff wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>He doesn't want his hard earned wealth pissed away by clueless bureaucrats. Yeh, but guess he likes driving on roads and making use of many of the other public services taxes pay for

Actually, doesn't own a car, and spends most of his time in third world nations doing said philanthropy - but I'm not here to talk about his relative merits, just that fatca is ineffectual.

so he just earned all his money without using any government built/administrated infrastructure or any technology that was developed using government/tax money or any common good? I'm impressed. Must be hard developing your own internet, electrical network, build your own road infrastructure, legal system and police enforcement, schools and hospitals for your employees and in the end still end up billionaire.

As much as we like or dislike it, as a matter of fact we all use common goods and services provided by the government. For better or worse.

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