4 ms·

>you probably earned that money in large parts due to the support of the people and infrastructure of the United States Or, you know, not. It's ridiculous to s

by cr1895 11y ago

>you probably earned that money in large parts due to the support of the people and infrastructure of the United States Or, you know, not. It's ridiculous to suggest that if you earn money abroad, American people and infrastructure are largely responsible for your success. It's in Dutch, but feel free to translate: http://nos.nl/nieuwsuur/artikel/2044332-amerikaanse-belastingdienst-maakt-jacht-op-nederlanders.html http://nos.nl/nieuwsuur/artikel/2044332-amerikaanse-belastin...

Dylan16807 11y ago
The claim was "probably". Anecdotes aren't very helpful here, only statistics. For example, I could say that if you're an American citizen you probably have brown eyes. A million counterexamples wouldn't make that wrong. Edit: Why so many downvotes? I'm not saying he's right, just that cr1895 is arguing against a totally different claim.
colechristensen 11y ago
I was talking about people renouncing their US citizenship to avoid American taxes. That article is talking about renouncing their US citizenship to avoid an administrative nightmare. The people mentioned in that article probably owed little to nothing, but just didn't realize or didn't handle the finer details of their dual-citizenship very well.
- cr1895 11y ago
  First I think it was unfair of me to assume that you meant income earned abroad when reading it again you didn't actually specify. I don't think that's what you were implying, that if you were financially successful in another country the American people are somehow responsible. If you renounce your US citizenship you don't just get to erase all your existing tax obligations and if you're wealthy enough (i.e., the IRS assumes you're renouncing for tax purposes) you pay an exit tax. At what point is one's "duty" to the American public satisfied? Why are Americans so exceptional in this regard, where practically every other country in the developed world lacks taxation by citizenship? https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/legal-considerations/us-citizenship-laws-policies/renunciation-of-citizenship.html https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/legal-considerati... Just to put things in perspective: Last year 4,279 people renounced their US citizenship. It's a big increase, up 20% from the year prior. However, it's minuscule when you compare to the 8.7 million non-military Americans who live abroad. Less than 0.05%. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_diaspora#Number_of_U.S._citizens_living_abroad https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_diaspora#Number_of_... http://money.cnn.com/2016/02/08/news/americans-citizenship-renunciation/ http://money.cnn.com/2016/02/08/news/americans-citizenship-r...

by cr1895 11y ago

Dylan16807 11y ago

The claim was "probably". Anecdotes aren't very helpful here, only statistics. For example, I could say that if you're an American citizen you probably have brown eyes. A million counterexamples wouldn't make that wrong. Edit: Why so many downvotes? I'm not saying he's right, just that cr1895 is arguing against a totally different claim.

colechristensen 11y ago

I was talking about people renouncing their US citizenship to avoid American taxes. That article is talking about renouncing their US citizenship to avoid an administrative nightmare. The people mentioned in that article probably owed little to nothing, but just didn't realize or didn't handle the finer details of their dual-citizenship very well.

cr1895 11y ago
First I think it was unfair of me to assume that you meant income earned abroad when reading it again you didn't actually specify. I don't think that's what you were implying, that if you were financially successful in another country the American people are somehow responsible. If you renounce your US citizenship you don't just get to erase all your existing tax obligations and if you're wealthy enough (i.e., the IRS assumes you're renouncing for tax purposes) you pay an exit tax. At what point is one's "duty" to the American public satisfied? Why are Americans so exceptional in this regard, where practically every other country in the developed world lacks taxation by citizenship? https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/legal-considerations/us-citizenship-laws-policies/renunciation-of-citizenship.html https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/legal-considerati... Just to put things in perspective: Last year 4,279 people renounced their US citizenship. It's a big increase, up 20% from the year prior. However, it's minuscule when you compare to the 8.7 million non-military Americans who live abroad. Less than 0.05%. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_diaspora#Number_of_U.S._citizens_living_abroad https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_diaspora#Number_of_... http://money.cnn.com/2016/02/08/news/americans-citizenship-renunciation/ http://money.cnn.com/2016/02/08/news/americans-citizenship-r...