[quote=NeetaT]I plan on living abroad in the near future. If I find it more beneficial to renounce my U.S. citizenship, I will. I have no conviction to any one country. Those who think that the U.S. is the best place in the world to live have not traveled much thus they have a myopic view of the world.[/quote]
Even if you live abroad many years you might want to really think twice about renouncing your US citizenship. I lived abroad for almost a decade and I never even thought of giving up my US citizenship.
I’ve lived in several different countries and travel extensively (over 100+ days a year). We have residences in several countries as well. We also have permanent residency status in several countries besides the USA. Our kids hold 3 passports.
Although I side with this guy in this case, I personally wouldn’t give up US Citizenship unless I was in some situation like this guy and I happened to really like Singapore or Hong Kong or wherever I was living.
Although I have enjoyed living in other countries I will agree that the US is the best place in the world to live in when you look at the total overall quality of life issues, efficiency, safety, efficiency, ease and affordability of buying goods, etc.
The USA is one of the greatest countries in the world. Both of my children were born abroad but they instantly got USA citizenship because I’m American.
Definitely take advantage of the legal tax structures to minimize your legal taxes. For example, if you are living the entire year (or in the USA less than 30 days a year) in the foreign country you can take the first $92,900 you make in that country and it is tax free in the USA. Also, if you are married, your spouse can also take the $92,900 per year tax free credit. Potentially $185,800 per year tax free. (Check out IRS Form 2555 or Form 2555-EZ). And with inflation, those amounts have been steadily increasing each year.
Of course you will most likely pay taxes in the country you are living in. And in the case you make quite a bit of money, you will be paying taxes in both that country and the USA on any income above those amounts. It can really suck if there is no tax treaty between countries.
But the point is you should NOT pay anymore taxes than you are legally obligated to pay. I don’t fault this guy at all. And he still will be paying plenty of taxes to the USA government on the departure tax.
It’s just silly and ignorant to pay more taxes than you are legally obligated to pay when living abroad.
And for the arguments that the USA gave this guy the means to build his company, etc. Sure, and you can also argue that because of this guy, an entity like Facebook came into fruition. You could argue without him, that Facebook might not have never happened. It could have ended up being Harvard Connection and then just failing.
Certainly the USA will make unimaginable amounts of money because he came to the USA. Thousands of jobs in the USA will be created (which these people will pay taxes on), the company will pay incredible amounts of taxes on. And all of these people will pay capital gains taxes on their instant wealth as well as buy properties that they will pay property taxes on.
So try to look at it from the standpoint that the USA has benefited more from Saverin entering the USA. Tremendous amounts of tax revenue will enter the federal government as well as the state of California because they allowed this guy to come to the USA and get citizenship. Look at it objectively.
