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

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...