Record High Number Of Americans Renounce Their Citizenship

It is no surprise that frustration and discontent with life in the West is growing. Following a declining economy, America is no longer seen as a viable employment destination, as net immigration from Latin America turned negative in 2007. Indeed most foreign born residents of America are now from Asia, not Latin America.

There also seems to be an anecdotal increase in stories from people like Roosh, who have all but abandoned the West, favoring the slightly greener pastures found abroad. Indeed, my first exposure to the pre-manosphere was an article written years ago by Matt Forney about leaving behind the trash of the West in order to meet high quality females in Southeast Asia.

It may come as little surprise that record high numbers of US citizens have renounced their citizenship. While the overall numbers are relatively low (under 14,000 renounced since 2010 out of an overseas population estimated at 8 million), there are important points to consider.

Renunciations have accelerated exponentially

Renunciation was relatively low in 2000. The Patriot Act did not yet exist. The twin towers were still standing. America was clearly on the decline socially, morally, and economically, but there was no doubt that we were the one remaining superpower, and for all our faults, still a really good place to live. In 2000, just 432 citizens renounced.

Five years later, the total climbed to 764, an increase of 77%. In 2010, the numbers spiked again, due to FATCA (see below) to 1,536. 2013 saw record numbers of renunciations–indeed an increase of 221% over the prior year.  2014 was another record, and the total for 2015 has already surpassed 2014’s record and the year is not yet over. Total renouncing citizenship in 2000: 432. Total in 2014 was 3,415, an increase of 691%.

The reported numbers are undercounting

The figures above only represent cases about whom the Secretary of the Treasury has data. In other words, the majority of these cases are wealthy people who want to avoid the draconian tax rules of the US, who along with the African paradise of Eritrea are the only two nations on earth which tax income worldwide.

Consular expatriations, where the American enters the consulate and formally renounces (the way Lee Harvey Oswald supposedly did) are not counted in this number!

Renunciation is a very drastic step

Renunciation is the final step along a path that has many other options—traveling abroad, working abroad, living abroad, investing abroad, marrying a foreigner, obtaining another passport—these are all things one can do while still retaining US citizenship. Renouncing citizenship is a very serious final step, and one that the US government does not take kindly to.

Renouncing means giving up the right to vote in US elections, pass on citizenship to your children, receive government benefits, and most importantly, the right to freely enter and exit America. In order to visit America, someone who has renounced must apply for a visa the same way a goat herder from Ethiopia would request to visit.

The biggest problem is that the government typically acts out of spite and will deny these visas, meaning renunciation often means saying goodbye permanently to friends and family in the US. And to add insult to injury, the US charges a “renunciation fee” for those who tell it to go pound sand, a fee of $450—oops this has just been raised to $2,350. And even still there is a backlog of cases waiting to be processed.

Renunciation is a proxy for many others who have unofficially abandoned America

For every person who officially renounces, there are literally thousands of others who have unofficially renounced. There are currently around 8 million Americans estimated to be living abroad. Some of these, perhaps many of these, have no intention on living a life in America.

Perhaps they are on permanent vacation. Perhaps they are marrying a foreigner and choosing to live in their country. Perhaps they have obtained a second citizenship in another country, which is fully legal for Americans to do. Perhaps they are enjoying a different lifestyle while maintaining an online business. But many of them have given up on America. They simply haven’t gone through the steps of formal renunciation.

Moral Reasons

As America has continued waging war on wedding parties and goat herders in the desert for the past 15 years, it has weakened its currency through bailouts and massive currency creation and below market interest rates, spied on the phone conversations and internet activities of all of its citizens, legalized abortion and gay marriage, encouraged and allowed slutwalks and gender fluidity, and endorsed a morally questionable view on morality, sexuality, marriage, and justice.

The US is incarcerating more citizens per capita than any other nation on the planet, surpassing China, Cuba, and North Korea, the supposed “axis of evil,” while maintaining offshore facilities that torture and commit war crimes that America executed others for committing 60 years ago. Considering these factors, many have decided that enough is enough and that they cannot, in good conscience, continue to support a regime of evil, and formally renounced all ties.

Again, this is a proxy for thousands if not millions of others, who do the same thing through joining war tax protestors, working in the underground economy, or merely choosing to earn an income below the threshold of taxation.

As a side note, I recently returned from a trip to Costa Rica, and visited a town that was founded by American expatriates. The cloud forest of Monteverde, in northwestern Costa Rica was founded by a group of pacifist Quakers who abandoned the USA during the draft imposed during the Korean War. Costa Rica, unofficially known as the Switzerland of Latin America, is a pacifist and neutral country with no army.

The area is now a popular tourist destination, and the Monteverde Cloud Forest Biological Preserve exists due to the efforts of these former Americans.  Often you will see groups of expatriates making important accomplishments in their new countries, after escaping the rat race and leaving the cubicles of America behind.  Today, Monteverde is a popular destination for other Americans looking for a new place to live.

Financial Reasons (FATCA)

In 2010, the US Congress passed a draconian law which has curtailed most international banking for Americans, unless you are a billionaire or an international corporation. FATCA requires “all US persons” and their banks to issue detailed reports to the US Treasury. The law was completely unnecessary, as it is already federal law that any bank accounts of $10,000 or more must be reported on your tax form.

But this new law requires, for example, a 35-year-old man born in Korea to a Korean mom and American dad to submit detailed information on his bank account. Since this man may not even realize he is an American citizen, has never lived in or visited America, doesn’t own a US passport, and since he may not be required to pay any taxes or file a tax return, he probably won’t file the necessary forms, which means the US government can then penalize him and any bank that doesn’t comply must withhold 30% of any amounts transferred, and civil penalties can often wipe out your account in as little as 2 years.

That’s right, you could lose 100% of your assets just because you didn’t fill out a form in a country you’ve never even visited. The cost of compliance with FATCA—an American law—in the United Kingdom alone, is estimated at $80 to $150 million a year. So what did most banks do? Refuse to do business with any American. Period. And any Americans or people with American parents who have never lived or even visited the USA now choose to renounce their citizenship.

Losing the best and brightest

If you are a billionaire, you can be happy just about anywhere in the world. If I were a billionaire, my main criteria about where to live would be based on the climate and weather, as literally everything else from women to food to housing can be provided by your wealth, to the same degree abroad as in America, if not more so (I don’t think Ivory Coast is going to deny you a permit for a swimming pool along the coastline the California regularly does).

But since America does have the world’s most regressive international taxation rules, being the only country outside a violent African dictatorship to tax citizens living abroad, many wealthy people, like Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin, decide to just say adios. Saverin took the money and ran, and although he paid all taxes he owed, the US now loses out on all future taxes from him.

And incidentally, US tax rules allow *foreigners* to earn as much profit as they want in America, tax free, so all that Facebook stock he owns, they can’t touch now that he’s moved to Singapore. This not only affects the US financially in lost revenues, but there is a real danger of a brain drain as talent leaves for countries with fairer tax systems.

The Implications

Be aware that US citizenship reported renunciations are up almost 700% from 2000, and that many more have “all but” officially renounced. This includes those who have left America with no plan to return but did not take the final step of renouncing citizenship. This includes MGTOWs, retirees, internet businessmen, and the motivated entrepreneur.

There were those who left fascist Germany in the 1930s, and those who died of starvation in camps in the 1940s. I’m not saying America is going to become a war zone, or start rounding up citizens into re-education camps. I’m simply saying to be aware of what’s going on and what others are doing and understand there are reasons motivating their behaviors.

Also understand there are options out there, and you can live, work, and obtain citizenship abroad without having to renounce your own US citizenship. If you are living abroad, strongly consider consulting an accountant to make sure you are not putting your money at risk.

Finally, this fact is evidence that America needs to change. When even Mexican farm workers don’t want to come here and pick watermelons in the sun for 12 hours a day, you know something’s wrong with our society.

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