Originally Posted by direstraits:
Originally Posted by Jankinonya:
Originally Posted by direstraits:
Originally Posted by Jankinonya:
Dire,
For a man who claims to have some back ground in taxes you should know why there are more and more ex-pats giving up their citizenship.
Taxes and the Patriot Act is the answer. Visit any ex-pat forum or website and you will see it has nothing to do with who the President is.
Jank,
Yes, higher taxes and the growing debt are two main factors mentioned. Both grew the worst on Obama's watch. Growth in giving up citizenship coincides with Obama's time in office. Ex-pats are merely US citizens working and/or living overseas, not former citizens.
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Dire,
Read this if you please, and then get back to me with your thoughts.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04...us/26expat.html?_r=0
Jank,
Thank you for providing support for my post! The article agrees with my conclusion that more Americans are renouncing their citizenship than ever. Also, from your linked article:
"Anecdotally, frustrations over tax and banking questions, not political considerations, appear to be the main drivers of the surge." Taxes, which I mentioned, and banking questions, which I didn't mention. Dodd-Frank is the reason for the banking consideration. Dodd-Frank places fines upon foreign banks who have branches in the US, if they do not report all US citizens who have accounts in their banks in their native nations. As the fines are about equal to the income the bank would make in the US, the banks simply close the US citizens accounts. These accounts are for millions of US ex-pats who simply live overseas, working and retired, and need accounts simply to pay their bills and keep their money -- not to dodge US taxes. Dodd-Frank -- another massive bill enacted without much forethought. Forethought from Congress, what was I thinking! The growing debt was also mentioned by individuals.
Also, politics was not a consideration, which obviates one of your arguments considering the Patriot Act.
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Actually it does not. The Patriot act has caused Americans who live abroad to be treated as terrorist when it comes to banking. Did you really read the whole article and not read that whole section? You seem to want to also ignore that the article actually contradicts your statements, not support them. They are not leaving because of President Obama and the trend started before he even took office.
From the article:
"Stringent new banking regulations — aimed both at curbing tax evasion and, under the Patriot Act, preventing money from flowing to terrorist groups — have inadvertently made it harder for some expats to keep bank accounts in the United States and in some cases abroad.
Some U.S.-based banks have closed expats’ accounts because of difficulty in certifying that the holders still maintain U.S. addresses, as required by a Patriot Act provision.
“It seems the new anti-terrorist rules are having unintended effects,” Daniel Flynn, who lives in Belgium, wrote in a letter quoted by the Americans Abroad Caucus in the U.S. Congress in correspondence with the Treasury Department.
“I was born in San Francisco in 1939, served my country as an army officer from 1961 to 1963, have been paying U.S. income taxes for 57 years, since 1952, have continually maintained federal voting residence, and hold a valid American passport.”
Mr. Flynn had held an account with a U.S. bank for 44 years. Still, he wrote, “they said that the new anti-terrorism rules required them to close our account because of our address outside the U.S.”
Also under President Obama the amount ex-pats can make before paying US taxes has gone up from 91,000+ to 97,000+. So, what we have is an old tax law that has been negatively effecting US citizens who live abroad for decades and the new Patriot Act that is the driving force behind the renouncing of their citizenship. Nothing to do with President Obama personally. No matter how you try and twist this one Dire, you are once again just throwing out false accusations with nothing to base them on other than your own fantasies.