Two top senators went after Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin Thursday over his decision to renounce U.S. citizenship, unveiling a proposal they claim would bar him -- or anyone -- from de-friending the United States in order to avoid taxes.The law would force him to prove he *didn’t* do it to avoid taxes? How would you prove a negative?
Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., who unveiled the proposal alongside Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., said their so-called "Ex-Patriot Act" would subject high-earning ex-Americans to a steep capital gains tax.
The bill was their answer to the move by Saverin last year to renounce his citizenship and move to Singapore. The decision, made public in a recently released IRS list, came ahead of Facebook's initial public offering, and fueled speculation that Saverin cut ties with America in order to cut down his tax bill. Singapore does not impose capital gains taxes.
Just like so-called hate crime laws, I don't really like laws that penalize people specifically for holding what some would consider the "wrong" views.
People should be able to renounce their citizenship whenever they want.
Update, 5/27/12: I like this from Mark Steyn:
No one should begrudge Mark Zuckerberg his billions, and decent people should revile in the strongest terms thug-senator Chuck Schumer's attempts to punish Zuckerberg's partner Eduardo Saverin for wishing to enjoy his profits under the less confiscatory tax arrangements of Singapore. It is a sign of terminal desperation when regimes that can't compete for talent focus their energies on ever more elaborate procedures to prevent freeborn individuals voting with their feet.
4 comments:
As a conservative Republican educator like you (also on the best/left coast), I've thoroughly enjoyed and agreed with what you have to say, except on this. Laws are created for justice. Is it just that Saverin profit so immensely from the greatest (albeit fleeting) capitalist system in the world and then stab it in the back? It strikes of a son who abandons the aged parent who gave him everything in life. It's just wrong. Aside from this one forgivable aberration, thanks for keeping me grounded with your mostly awesome insights. :)
If he doesn't want to be on our kickball team, I certainly wouldn't want him on our team. Enjoy Singapore, don't let the door hit you in the butt on the way out.
If we as a sovereign nation believe that individuals have the right to accept or reject citizenship, then there should be no problem should they elect to do so by leaving a nation that has become numero uno in corporate taxes. That is free will and free choice. And speaking of Free Will, did you see Will Smith's reaction to the proposition being floated by the new socialist government in France that "the rich" be taxed at 70% or more? It seems he was playing at being some sort of front man in Europe for Obama by saying that his wealth accrued in American made it a responsibility to pay taxes. But when confronted by the reality of socialist redistribution of wealth-which incidentally is at the core of Occupy and World Workers Party ideals-he was very appreciative of the smaller chunk taken by the IRS.
http://ricochet.com/main-feed/When-Hollywood-Meets-Reality
Since we have a representative form of government, not a representative-of-those-who-don't-covet-the-wealth-of-others government, it stands to reason that those who reflexively covet the wealth of others will find representation. Schumer's one such.
Not being an idiot Schumer's quite capable of crafting clever rationalizations for his desire to take what he hasn't earned and to which he has no claim that are more palatable then "cause I wannit".
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