Click here to view the embedded video.

These were coming to me at a rate of one every three to four months, until last week. In this past week, I’ve been contacted by three different people aiming to renounce US citizenship. Sure, that might just be random cluster in the data, but it seems significant.

And then there’s this:

More Americans Give Up Citizenship As IRS Gets Aggressive Overseas

By Martin Vaughan, Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

The number of American citizens and green-card holders severing their ties with the U.S. soared in the latter part of 2009, amid looming U.S. tax increases and a more aggressive posture by the Internal Revenue Service towards Americans living overseas.

According to public records, just over 500 people worldwide renounced U.S. citizenship or permanent residency in the fourth quarter of 2009, the most recent period for which data are available. That is more people than have cut ties with the U.S. during all of 2007, and more than double the total expatriations in 2008.

The author, Martin Vaughn, contacted me via Facebook, having found his way to my blog. Since he was looking specifically for people who had or who were considering expatriating for tax reasons, I couldn’t really help him, and the article came out a few days later.

There’s one factual error I spotted in the article:

In order to give up U.S. citizenship, a person must obtain or have citizenship in another country.

Ah, facts…

Via MMD Newswire:

EzSmoke.net claims to be selling major brand cigarettes at damned cheap prices by most places’ standards. Ownership in Dominica, operating company in Moldova, prices in US$, payment via check, shipment worldwide.

US$20.95 for a single carton of European-standard Marlboros is a pretty solid deal, and the prices only get better from there. The last year or so I was living in the States I was regularly ordering similar ones from

L&M Classic Reds US$17.95? W00t!

wesmoke.com, which was based in the duty-free zone at an airport in Switzerland, but later shut down for some sort of customs and excise violation. As I recall, the domain name ended up being transferred to Philip Morris, who put up some kind of “Das ist Verboten!” page in its place, referencing how wesmoke.com was doing something naughty by, uh… not complying with some stupid law or something, while satisfying thousands of paying customers.

I haven’t actually tried this company out, but considering that I’m paying €19.90 for L&M Reds here in relatively low-tax Slovakia, I might have to give it a shot considering they’re offering those for only US$17.95/carton. €6-7 off each carton, and I get the pleasure of learning a bit of Ukrainian in the bargain? How could I resist!?

Canada’s Investment Executive makes a blitheringly stupid set of assumptions in “New rules make renouncing citizenship too expensive for U.S. expats“:

New U.S. expatriation rules, introduced one year ago, governing U.S. citizens or long-time green card holders who wish to renounce their American citizenship are serving as a disincentive for many to make the decision to give up their citizenship.

[...]

Under the rules introduced June 17, 2008, there is a deemed disposition of worldwide assets based on their fair market value on the day before expatriation. A 45% tax is levied on any capital gains above a 2009 capital gains exemption of US$626,000.

[...]

U.S. citizens and green card holders often choose to renounce U.S. citizenship in order to remove themselves from the U.S. tax regime, which, for one thing, obligates them to file a U.S. tax return every year even if they don’t live or earn income in the U.S. They may also make the decision to renounce in order to avoid U.S. estate tax.

Only “covered” expatriates fall under the expatriation rules. Covered expatriates either have a net worth equal to or greater than US$2 million, or have an average tax liability of greater than US$145,000 for the previous five years. Those who have failed to certify compliance with U.S. tax obligations for the last five years — including filing a U.S. tax return — would also be considered a covered expatriate.

Well, I’m a covered expatriate, since the last time I filed a US tax return was 2005. I also happen to be rather broke.

What is so glaringly wrong here are the assumptions made about prospective renunciants of US citizenship which seem to underlie the article:

• That someone with US$2m in net worth couldn’t be bothered to move their assets into structured offshore vehicles in advance of expatriation, and
• That renunciants wouldn’t just say “screw the IRS anyway!” and ignore the law — which is their right under any moral framework which does not permit theft, which is what taxation is.

Of course, the ruling class tools at the OECD and its hated Financial Action Task Force have made the first option increasingly difficult by putting the screws to those few remaining countries which continue to legally permit banking, corporate stock ownership, trust and other asset-holding relationships that allow for privacy, anonymity and tax avoidance. That said, there remain plenty of holes in the global taxation control grid which can be exploited — some legally, and some illegally.

PT combinatorics interlude:

• There are 203 states today. n=203
• For safety and security, you might like to hold an asset in situated in country A with its nominal (corporate, trust) ownership domiciled in country B, all while legally residing in country C. r=3
• Take P(n,r) = n!/(n-r)!, where n=203, r=3
• P(203,3) ~= 8,200,000
• That’s a whole bunch of chances to slide ’round the control grid!

Mind you, n doesn’t really equal 203, since there are some states where you’d definitely not want to hold assets or an ownership vehicle or reside, or combinations thereof. We’re still talking about big numbers here, though.

One last thing, from the article:

Every quarter, the U.S. government publishes the names of those who’ve renounced U.S. citizenship in a federal register.

Well, that’s the Federal Register, actually, but whatever. I’m still looking forward to seeing my name turn up, but it wasn’t there as of a month ago when I did a bit of searching online. Oh well. I don’t really care about the American state’s paper tiger actions with respect to me anyway.

This brochure was originally written and published for the Movement of the Libertarian Left (MLL) by the late Samuel Edward Konkin III. This new edition has been minimally edited by Wally Conger.

This brochure was originally written and published for the Movement of the Libertarian Left (MLL) by the late Samuel Edward Konkin III. This new edition has been minimally edited by Wally Conger.

Tax is Theft! (and what to do about it)

Voiced by Mike Gogulski.

MP3, 6m41s, 6.1MB.

Download

Why assume that the amount you’re being assessed really does represent your fair share?

And if that makes sense, why not pay it forward?

If the state is so good at doing the things it does, why not give it more of your income, your wealth and your labor?

Next time a tax reduction comes around, keep paying at the old rate.

When there’s a chance to show solidarity on your income tax or VAT returns, do so by adding a few extra percent on top.

Quit taking exemptions, deductions and credits.

When you’re going to pay for a meal at a restaurant, give the waitperson a few extra of the local currency unit and explain that it’s not a tip, but that you’d like it to be sent to the treasury.

Try those things and see how they feel.

And if you’re not willing to, you really ought to be ready to explain why not.

In that posting I didn’t really give any reasons for doing it. Some looked at it as an act of pure anarchy, others looked at it as sheer insanity, and I was even accused of “aiding and abetting” “illegal” “aliens” who might use the number in the United States.

Now I’ll tell y’all why I done did it.

First of all, I’m going to burn the card later this year. That event is postponed until I, card and fire are in front of a camera suitable for making YouTube videos. So you can consider the posting just a teaser for the main event.

A token of fake solidarity -- yours for the taking

Second, and more importantly, I have resolved that I will never accept payments from Social Security, or any other state pension scheme.

Now, maybe you’re saying, “Eh, you’re not even a citizen any more anyway, so you lost that!” Not true. Citizenship has no bearing on “benefits” eligibility.

Or, you might be saying, “But you could at least take back what was stolen from you in taxes!” Not true either.

Given how Social Security is structured, what was stolen from me in taxes will always be stolen. It cannot reasonably be reclaimed, since it’s already been redistributed to millions of other people. Despite the fact that many Americans receive regular Social Security “statements” which twist language to make it appear that contributors have “invested” something, there is no investment. There are only ledger entries made, accruing future privileges to be delivered via robbing future workers.

The money that was taken from me in Social Security taxes between 1987 and 2003 is effectively gone. I cannot justify taking a Social Security pension twenty years from now in order to reclaim those funds, because to do so would be to support a system that will steal anew from other people in order to pay me. The notion of rightly getting back what you put into such a program is fallacious.

A Social Security pension — or any other state-funded pension program of the type — is a product of legal privilege. If I were to go out and rob a few million peaceful people in order to fund my retirement, civil society would rightly call me a criminal. The machinery of the state — or, even, a free people — would descend upon me to stop my crime, punish me, and perhaps attempt to make restitution to the victims.

When the state goes out and robs millions in order to fund people’s retirement pensions, the robbery is sanctified. It’s called “solidarity” or “the social contract” or other similar nonsense.

Marxists sometimes criticize what they call “capitalism” for “atomizing” society, for driving divisions between people and breaking the bonds of true solidarity which hold communities and societies together. But what could be more atomizing than a state pension system that says, “submit to robbery while you are young, so that you can enjoy the privilege of benefiting from robbery when you are old”?

No thanks. I’d prefer real solidarity. And given the choice between fake solidarity which supports the state’s privileged robbery and the real solidarity which must be expressed by each individual volunteering to support those worse off, I’ll choose the latter. Even if doing so means living in poverty at the end of my days.

Anyone who wants to fund my retirement — or, during this crisis, my living expenses — is warmly invited to do so by clicking “Support nostate.com” above. Real solidarity is welcome. I won’t have any of the fake.

Via planadviser:

[T]ax concerns might be why [...] retiring abroad is not something happening in waves. Several hundred retirees each year renounce citizenship. “It’s not something you see people doing in mass amounts at all,” [E&Y's Cheryl Spielman] said. In 2008, 231 American citizens renounced citizenship (although not necessarily retirees), which was down from 470 in 2007, according to Ernst & Young, citing IRS statistics.

Bah, this is pathetic! Let’s get those numbers up, people! We’ve got reporting metrics to meet, here!