“If Donald Trump wins, I’m leaving the country.”
“I am embarrassed to be United States citizen these days.”
“I don’t feel safe in this country anymore. I want to move to Europe.”
We hear it every time we elect a president they don’t like, and maybe even more so when that president is Donald Trump. From celebrities to random people on social media, the leftists in this country threaten to leave the United States. Few of them actually follow up on their threats, and the ones who do realize that life in most other countries isn’t quite as nice as it is here. But either way, Marco Rubio and the State Department just added a little extra incentive for anyone who wants to renounce their U.S. citizenship.
In 2010, the State Department began charging people for formally renouncing their citizenship in what’s called an “intensive and lengthy process.” According to the Associated Press, “Applicants must repeatedly confirm in multiple written and verbal attestations to a State Department consular officer that they understand the implications of the step before being allowed to take a formal oath of renunciation. It must then be reviewed by the department.”
In 2010, the fee was $450, but in 2015, the Barack Obama administration raised it to $2,350 “to cover the administrative expenses as the number of people wanting to renounce their citizenship surged in part due to new U.S. tax reporting requirements for American expatriates that angered many.”
The 2015 increase led to a lot of lawsuits from groups, like the France-based Association of Accidental Americans, that claimed that the higher fee made renouncing your citizenship unaccessible for many who couldn’t afford it. Plans to return the fee to the original $450 have been in the works since 2023, but the State Department just made it official on Friday, thanks to Rubio’s desire to streamline bureaucracy at the agency.
I joke about lefties leaving the country, but the reality behind this is that it does have a lot to do with Obama-era tax burdens, particularly Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), which was designed to catch tax evasion and prevent wealthy citizens from keeping financial assets offshore, but the reality is that it made life a headache for everyday expats and people who are U.S. citizens but may have never even lived in our country.
FATCA requires “foreign financial institutions to report directly to the IRS information about financial accounts held by U.S. taxpayers or by foreign entities in which U.S. taxpayers hold a substantial ownership interest. The reporting institutions will include not only banks, but also other financial institutions, such as investment entities, brokers, and certain insurance companies. Some non-financial foreign entities will also have to report certain of their U.S. owners.”
When FATCA was signed into law, the number of people who wanted to renounce their citizenship jumped from a few hundred a year to thousands, so the Obama State Department raised the fee 80%. Even those who renounce their citizenship may still face Obama-era tax burdens. Any worldwide assets you own are treated as “deemed sold” once you complete the renunciation process, which triggers capital gains tax and creates a whole host of other issues.
It’s all government overreach at its finest. They’re bound and determined to bleed you of your hard-earned cash one way or another. Perhaps Trump can work on fixing this so people who actually work for a living can do what they please with the money they earn?
Even though it had more to do with taxes, I still say this move will still make it a little easier for the loudmouth lefties to self-deport and pretend they never lived here. But I’m going to go out on a limb here and assume very few actually take advantage.
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