Americans are renouncing their citizenship in record numbers!
Or so we’ve been told. Lots of partisan reasons have been cited for this, including the silly implication that some Americans are trying to flee from a black, Muslim, Kenyan-born U.S. president. But the truth is these sensationalistic headlines reflect the sort of misleading math and misuse of statistics that I constantly rail against.
Let’s look at the claim to see if a little context and some data can help explain this purported exodus.
First, like all good misleading political tropes, it starts with a kernel of truth. In recent years, more Americans have voluntarily given up their passports than the year before. The regular spasm of news about Americans fleeing the U.S. is courtesy of the Federal Register’sQuarterly Publication of Individuals, Who Have Chosen to Expatriate.
The reason for the increase isn’t because of who now is or might become president, but something much more mundane: Annoying paperwork. The U.S. is one of only two countries in the world — the other is tiny Eritrea — that taxes people based on citizenship, rather than residency. This means overseas Americans must file two tax returns — one to their nation of residence, and one to the U.S.
This is due to the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), 2010 legislation that was created to detect, discourage and penalize offshore tax evasion by U.S. citizens, including those living abroad. The Washington Post reports that “The law requires foreign banks to report whether their clients are U.S. citizens. The penalty for not complying is stiff: a 30 percent withholding from the proceeds of the bank’s financial transactions in the United States. That has caused plenty of consternation among foreign firms, some of which have reportedly closed accounts belonging to Americans as a result.”
The BBC notes that as a result, “ordinary Americans abroad are being denied access to basic banking facilities; banks would rather refuse US citizens’ custom than run the risk of hefty penalties.”
Continues at: Americans Are Not Racing to Get Out of the U.S.
