So Long and Thanks For All The Taxes n’ Regulations: More Renounce US Citizenships

Editor’s Note from Jeff Berwick: We’re absolutely thrilled to report that we’ve convinced Gary Gibson — formerly the editor of Whiskey & Gunpowder — to come join us on the TDV team here in beautiful Acapulco! Gary will be introducing each blog article and also will wrap-up with his own thoughts in the “Parting Shot” in the same format he did for nearly 4 years at Whiskey & Gunpowder.  Those of you who aren’t familiar with Gary, don’t you worry. He’s as committed to anarchy, peace, freedom and markets as our regular contributors!  We think you’ll enjoy his presence on the team as much as we already do. 

Thanks Jeff!  It’s actually always been my dream to work at TDV so, in my own particular case, dreams come true!

Getting started, it looks like the media has a name for those who are wising up about breaking up with the US. “Renouncers” are getting more press as their numbers grow and some bigger, richer names join the list. Regular TDV contributor Justin O’Connell has the details in today’s feature article below.  Join me after the article for the Parting Shot.

“So Long…and Thanks for All the Taxes n’ Regulations!”: More Renounce US Citizenships

-By Justin O’Connell

The newest list of “renouncers”, as the Wall Street Journal calls them, has been released. According to the paper, the list includes a buyout specialist at the Carlyle Group, a private equity executive at J.P. Morgan Chase, as well as a big-law partner, an international socialite, an Israeli Supreme Court justice, and a London-based artist. These individuals saw through the propaganda about the United States being the “land of the free”. They renounced their US citizenships or turned — in the case of those with permanent resident status — they turned in their “green cards”.

The list, published Friday by the Treasury Department, is purported to have contained 189 names. Although this is a drop in renouncement compared to recent lists, some expect a surge in the amount of expatriates later this year.  Few on the list would openly discuss their reasoning for expatriation, possibly afraid of forfeiting their right to return. Some bigger names on the list included Carlyle Group managing director Gregoy Zeluck, a buyout specialist based in Hong Kong; Myron Zhu, a head of private equity at J.P. Morgan Chase in Hong Kong; Bradley Fresia of Fidelity Worldwide Investment in Asia; and Dorothea Koo, an attorney at Baker & McKenzie in Hong Kong.

Of the nearly 200 names on the list, more than 80 appeared to be Chinese. Potential reasons for this are the lower taxes in China compared to the US. The highest income tax rate in Hong Kong is 15%, with no tax at all on capital gains (28% in the US), dividends (39.6% in the US) or estates (55% taxed for dying in the US in 2013). Further, there’s no tax on foreign earnings. This is not so in the US.

One of the more bitterly contested aspects of US law in terms of the expatriate is that US citizens and residents abroad are subjected to US taxes on “worldwide” income. The “renouncers” (as the Wall Street Journal calls expatriates as if they were some form of “other”) must not cite US taxes as a cause of their departure, for in so doing they could be jeopardizing their freedom to reenter the country.

Nonetheless, the reasons cited by the recent expatriates are largely liberal interpretations of ever-expanding US law and regulation. In turn, many Chinese-Americans are feeling just as comfortable under the Chinese political system as the US. Some of these individuals fear the expansion of the nanny and police state in the US, including interpretations of laws on industrial espionage or business with embargoed countries.

Elizabeth Karageorgevic, known popularly as Princess Elizabeth of Yugoslavia, left for “emotional” reasons, while British architect and painter Gunter Paul Pueschel has left over frustration with paperwork generated by a flood of novel laws created to police offshore accounts.  He found as he filed the increasingly complex US tax return, he had to pay upwards of $1,500 in fees merely to organize the paperwork, despite not owing. “I decided such expenditure was unwarranted.”

Andrew Fisher of Maxim Global Wealth Advisors in Portland, Oregon, said that dual citizens are increasingly cutting US ties. According to Fisher, his clients’ connection with the US “has become pretty laborious for a number of reasons.” He said that renouncing US citizenship is quite common among the super-rich who already live in tax havens like Bermuda, the Cayman Island, Switzerland, Cyprus, and Singapore.

The stresses of keeping one’s ties to the US are multiplying as flurries of regulation reshape the US legal landscape. In recent years, the Internal Revenue Service has increased penalties on American expatriates who fail to report foreign bank accounts and have pressured overseas banks to hand over names of US clients. In 2009, for instance, Switzerland’s UBS AG was penalized $780 million by the Justice Department for helping 19,000 wealthy US citizens hold $20 billion in hidden accounts. Many foreign banks have thus embarked upon a policy barring US citizens from opening accounts with their institutions. US citizens abroad are finding it therefore harder to open up foreign bank accounts.

Another central reason former or soon-to-be-former US citizens are leaving the country has to do with ethics and philosophy. That the once free nation is devolving into a state that resembles the tyrannies it fought against in World War II has dissatisfied many American citizens and residents who worry about the future of the US, according to attorneys.

 “That dialogue is new, and a lot of people have soured on the US,” said one attorney. “The stigma to offshore planning isn’t what it used to be.”

Justin O’Connell, a regular Dollar Vigilante contributor, studied History and German Language at Linfield College in McMinnville, Oregon, where, in his spare time, he researched current events and their relationship to history. In his studies he has found that societies have been managed by philosophically-kindred ruling classes seeking persistently a singular, total order across the planet. Justin does not believe in government as a medium for human relationships, preferring instead the race of human ideas stemming from a diverse, vibrant culture. Currently, he is a proponent of physical silver as a means of wealth preservation and disobedience to the financial system, and lives in southern California. He writes at the Dollar Vigilante-inspired site, Silver Vigilante.

I don’t know about you, but I would be very nervous if the media coined a term for potentially subversive activities which I espouse or which I was considering myself…

Not that it would deter me! In fact, it would just spur me to act more quickly. 

If you haven’t started taking action — real action — to escape the expanding US police state yet…I understand. I was just in the same place myself. I actually preached about it and recommended everyone with any awareness of what was going on to take action NOW.

Yet I dithered. This past year, however, just proved too much to bear. Attempts to control the Internet…NDAA 2012…and now politicians actually proudly vilifying wealthy expatriates for attempting to escape the clutches of the insatiable US tax monster…

This year was the breaking point for me. Luckily I had a good friend who’d already starting laying the ground work for people like me… people who know it’s time to get the hell out. 

Jeff has started to form a real community here in Acapulco. Not just a bunch of thrill-seeking expats. But a community of like-minded folks who understand the central value of human freedom and the dangers of the state, especially as represented by the United States’ empire du jour. 

If you are also worried about the expanding police state in the United States, and are wondering how you can protect yourself and your loved ones, then look into TDV Passports today.  Or take a trip down to see us in Acapulco and see first hand how many people are living in a much freer way… all on the beach in the tropics to boot!

I honestly believe that history will look back on early “renouncers” like us as the first folks on the new “Underground Railroad”. We are the former slaves who were willing to overcome the brainwashing and leave the relative security of the plantation. 

Don’t wait to see if things will get better. They won’t. Certainly don’t wait till things are worse! Take your first step on the Underground Railroad now.

Editor, The Dollar Vigilante 

The Dollar Vigilante is a free-market financial newsletter focused on covering all aspects of the ongoing financial collapse. The newsletter has news, information and analysis on investments for safety and for profit during the collapse including investments in gold, silver, energy and agriculture commodities and publicly traded stocks. As well, the newsletter covers other aspects including expatriation, both financially and physically and news and info on health, safety and other ways to survive the coming collapse of the US Dollar safely and comfortably. You can sign up to receive our FREE monthly newsletter, our Basic Newsletter ($15/month) or our Full Newsletter ($25/month) with specific stock recommendations and updates at our Subscriptions page on our website at DollarVigilante.com.