I always come back to this every time I hear someone propose to fix any aspect of things by just taxing the rich more… This isn’t the 40’s, the uber rich can and will move to some place that will give them a better deal.

So, find a way to flip this asshole, wait for his next goose, and cook that fucker. Call it treason for effectively stealing millions or billions and imprison them for life, or until they’re willing to give up other bastards.

He says he’s helped more than 300 US citizens acquire another citizenship to escape the IRS; these people give up their US passports.

There’s the rub. They have to give them up because the U.S. is one of the few nation-states that taxes its citizens no matter where they live or what other passports they hold (although there are plenty of countries with tax treaties that prevent double taxation).

The U.S. makes it very difficult to renounce citizenship (see Vietnam-era draft dodgers) and becomes a somewhat unwelcoming place for someone who has. Also, there are still certain benefits to holding the passport of a prosperous Western democratic empire. Still, if you’re ultra-wealthy those are mere nuisances.

LordInsidious:

Wouldn’t a 50% tax on transferring assess out of the country just to avoid taxes? Place the burden of proof on the people transferring and any fraud is immediate jail time.

A tax on capital flight is not an entirely bad idea, but the legislation would have to be written very carefully so that it would hit only the intended target (e.g. tax any cash transfers totally $10-million+ in a given year) and not be abused.

Flip the guy how? With what leverage? He’s now a Portuguese citizen, and Portugal doesn’t extradite its nationals.

And charge his clients with treason because they changed their citizenship to avoid taxes? Treason only applies to people who commit certain acts while “owing allegiance to the United States.” (See 18 USC § 2381.) If they’ve changed their citizenship, they don’t owe allegiance to the United States, and therefore can’t be prosecuted for treason.

Wouldn’t a 50% tax on transferring assess out of the country just to avoid taxes? Place the burden of proof on the people transferring and any fraud is immediate jail time.

gracchus:

A tax on capital flight is not an entirely bad idea, but the legislation would have to be written very carefully so that it would hit only the intended target (e.g. tax any cash transfers totally $10-million+ in a given year) and not be abused.

We have an exit tax. It is 30% (capital gains rate) of your entire net-worth worldwide at current fair-market value.

Oh and if you inherit or are gifted money from anyone in the US afterwards? We tax that at 40%. Twice. Once by the source and once at the expatriate.

Oh and you better not sell any US property since we’ll be taking 10% of the transaction price (not just the gain).

Oh and if you stay in the US more than 30 days a year? Congratulations, you’re a citizen for the year and are required to pay full federal taxes on all your income worldwide.

always come back to this every time I hear someone propose to fix any aspect of things by just taxing the rich more… This isn’t the 40’s, the uber rich can and will move to some place that will give them a better deal.

I’m familiar with a few falsehoods as to why we shouldn’t tax the rich. “They are the job creators.” “Cutting taxes on the rich stimulates economic growth; raising taxes retards growth.” “It’s class warfare.”

But this is a new one: “They’ll just move to a different country.”

If and when taxes are raised on the rich, sure the uber rich can move, some of them. So, let the traitors move. But just shrugging and saying “well, we only can tax the poor and the middle class” is a falsehood. Not all the uber rich are traitors and not all will move.

The real reason we don’t tax the rich is because we only elect the rich to make our laws. And, over the last 3 decades, they’ve finally gotten their message straight that allows them to act purely in their own self-interest while appearing to act in the nation’s self-interest.