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from the breaking-up-is-hard-to-do dept.
The USA has been making life difficult for Americans residing abroad; FATCA causes plenty of problems; but so does citizenship-based taxation. The IRS and Treasury department have made the reporting and taxation more onerous, and stepped up their collection efforts.
The result should be a surprise to no one: more and more Americans are handing in their US citizenship. Total numbers are unavailable (the lists published by the government include only a portion of the total), but undisputed is the fact that the numbers are increasing rapidly.
Having lots of citizens want to leave is...embarrassing. One solution could be to review the policies leading to people to hand in their citizenship. Another would be to make the fee unaffordable, especially for people living on second- or third-world incomes. It's obvious, of course, which route the USA has chosen: It now costs $2350 to hand in your US passport; more than 20 times the international average.
(Score: 2) by Sir Garlon on Wednesday December 03 2014, @06:49PM
I don't think you've considered how complex and obtuse the Federal bureaucracy is. Sure, cancelling a citizen's passport is cheap, but first the consulate has to verify their taxes have been paid, check that there are no outstanding warrants for the person's arrest, notify the Social Security Administration, Selective Service, and that's just off the top of my head. I can easily envision the process costing a tens of man-hours all told.
If you actually expect all the hundreds of Federal agencies to have fully interoperable records and data systems, then ... you must not be from around here.
[Sir Garlon] is the marvellest knight that is now living, for he destroyeth many good knights, for he goeth invisible.