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Where do you get the 0.002% figure from? The number of people divided by the population of the US? If so, that's not a meaningful figure - you should be exami
by mech4bg 13y ago
Where do you get the 0.002% figure from? The number of people divided by the population of the US? If so, that's not a meaningful figure - you should be examining the tax they would pay compared to the tax base, which could be many times higher.
The reason this is news is because it's incredibly wealthy and high profile people with a large amount of assets to tax that are giving up their passports.
- ajross 13y agoWith all due respect, the linked article should be examining that. You assert it "could be many times higher", which is fine. I assert, with equal justification, that the relevant expats are destitute receivers of the EITC and that the IRS revenue will increase. Wouldn't it be nice if someone out there, maybe a web site with journalists and stuff, might do that research for us and give us the results? I'm not saying there can't possibly be an issue worth talking about. I'm saying that this article isn't worth talking about.
- mech4bg 13y agoFair enough point - but they do mention some specific examples of people that obviously have a high net worth and have a _lot_ to lose by these tax laws. I assume that anyone giving up their citizenship has enough to lose to make that worthwhile. It would be good to examine exactly how much is being lost and whether it's _actually_ newsworthy, but I'm not sure how they can do that - AFAIK all they can go on is the number of people giving up their citizenship that is provided by the IRS. You'd need to figure out specific names, it'd be a huge undertaking. It'd be interesting to know though, and probably worthwhile for the government to investigate and monitor.