How Facebook IPO billionaires are denouncing US citizenship to avoid paying taxes in Off topic Forum

0 Points

How Facebook IPO billionaires are denouncing US citizenship to avoid paying taxes

Author	Comment
firebat	How Facebook IPO billionaires are denouncing US citizenship to avoid paying taxes	Lead	[-]
Posts: 2031 05/13/12 4:58 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Tags : None http://pandodaily.com/201...-hint-nearly-everything/ http://www.latimes.com/ne...20120512,0,5844322.story
peterg		#1	[-]
Posts: 15680 05/13/12 6:10 AM ADMIN Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Looks like Mark Twain was wrong.
X529		#2	[-]
Posts: 1383 05/13/12 12:07 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	He does come across as an ingrate. Oh well, one less to deal with. He's not alone though, I've seen three news reports this last week on wealthy people fleeing England, France, and China for more friendly tax havens. This eat the rich sentiment that's appeared in the last few years is a little over done IMO. Look at the new Socialist in France who wants a 75% tax on the wealthy. I think in the big scheme of things a lot of the super rich give back quite a bit in philantropy. Last Edited By: X529 05/13/12 12:10 PM. Edited 1 times.
llilly		#3	[-]
Posts: 9885 05/13/12 12:42 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Philanthropy doesn't mean the money finds its way to the people that need it most. What I find amusing is the number of people that aren't super rich that continue to advocate for them. They aren't doing the same for you. Jealousy is the horse the devil likes to ride.
firebat		#4	[-]
Posts: 2031 05/13/12 12:48 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Ya know what X, I'm not a socialist. I think that the ability for people to get ahead and make their fortune is a great feature of our country. BUT - a lot of these people use the facilities, infrastructure (paid for by Joe taxpayer - in this particular case government subsidized Universities) and sweat off of other American workers' backs to make their fortune. These "regular" people don't have the means to dodge the tax system. So then the "super rich" are permitted to blow Dodge or hide money in offshore accounts when it's time for them to pay their fair share and give some back after having exploited the system? Look what Defense Contractor Erik Prince of Blackwater did with his fortune (and his company) that he made off of our our defense budget - he moved it all to Dubai, as did Halliburton (yeah - Dick Cheney's old company)! These people rape the taxpayer then skip town. If I take $10K with me on a vacation - they'd probably throw me in jail and put me on the no fly list! This guy doesn't even want to pay the 15% capital gains tax that he might incur should the stock appreciate! Sorry, it just ain't right. And, it shouldn't be allowed. As for "eating the rich" - I'm also not in favor of that - but I am in favor of going back to a system of taxation that is more balanced. Even the more "reasonable" Republican presidents were in favor of a more balanced system of taxation with a higher marginal tax rate on the super rich. The top 1% are not satisfied with the Bush tax cuts, now they are moving offshore to avoid paying any taxes. Our current top marginal tax rate (due to the Bush tax cuts) is 35% and 15% on capital gains. Top marginal tax rates under past Republican presidents Taft: (1909-1913)--income tax began in 1913 at 7% for top rate Harding: (1921-1923): 56%-73% Coolidge (1923-1929): 24%-56% Hoover (1929-1933): 24%-63% (63% after Roosevelt took power) Eisenhower (1953-1961): 91-92% Nixon (1969-1974): 70-77% Ford: (1974-1977): 70% Reagan (1981-1989): 28%-69.13% Bush I: (1989-1993): 28%-39.6% (39.6% after Clinton took power) Last Edited By: firebat 05/13/12 1:56 PM. Edited 11 times.
Oz Greg		#5	[-]
Posts: 21843 05/13/12 3:57 PM Under the Southern Cross. Admin. Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	People earning an income in a particular country should pay taxes based on that countries tax rates. It's to easy for rich people or corporations to set themselves or their head office up in some island tax haven so they pay little or nothing in tax. Even athletes set themselves up in Bermuda or elsewhere to avoid paying tax in their native country.
X529		#6	[-]
Posts: 1383 05/13/12 5:05 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Look, if eduardo wants to renounce his US citizenship and blow Dodge that's his personal decision. Did I not call him an ingrate ? What are you proposing we do about these people ? Pass a law that confiscates 50% of their total net worth for surrendering their US passport ? Would that even be legal ? I'm not a big fan of immigration anyway. I think there was a time when people came here to become an American but it's become a magnet for a large number of people who have no loyalty and the oath of citizenship is just a bunch of words they speak verbatim and then, it's game on. I have one in my own Family unfortunately. If I had my way, she would be on the next Aeroflot fight back to Siberia and on the do not fly list.
firebat		#7	[-]
Posts: 2031 05/13/12 5:07 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	X529 wrote: Look, if eduardo wants to renounce his US citizenship and blow Dodge that's his personal decision. Did I not call him an ingrate ? What are you proposing we do about these people ? Pass a law that confiscates 50% of their total net worth for surrendering their US passport ? Would that even be legal ? I'm not a big fan of immigration anyway. I think there was a time when people came here to become an American but it's become a magnet for a large number of people who have no loyalty and the oath of citizenship is just a bunch of words they speak verbatim and then, it's game on. I have one in my own Family unfortunately. If I had my way, she would be on the next Aeroflot fight back to Siberia and on the do not fly list. I'm not criticizing you, X - and I totally agree with "I think there was a time when people came here to become an American but it's become a magnet for a large number of people who have no loyalty and the oath of citizenship is just a bunch of words they speak verbatim and then, it's game on". I concur completely - and I don't know what we can do about it.
firebat		#8	[-]
Posts: 2031 05/13/12 7:29 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	llilly wrote: Philanthropy doesn't mean the money finds its way to the people that need it most. What I find amusing is the number of people that aren't super rich that continue to advocate for them. They aren't doing the same for you. I have coined a term for this: The Joe the Plumber Syndrome. Remember, you heard it here first.
firebat	Lessons in Disloyalty: Eduardo Saverin and the Facebook IPO	#9	[-]
Posts: 2031 05/15/12 8:02 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	http://www.thenation.com/...saverin-and-facebook-ipo When it was revealed last week that Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin renounced his US citizenship, even notorious bad-boy billionaire Mark Cuban took to Twitter to express his disgust. The move allows the 30-year old Saverin to avoid paying a significant chunk of the taxes he will owe on the windfall coming his way with the impending Facebook IPO. In making this decision, the Brazilian native did more than expose his blind disregard for all that his adopted country has done for him. He has made himself the poster child for the callous class of 1 percenters who are all too happy to use national resources to enrich themselves, and then skate, or cry foul, when asked to pay their fair share. The story evokes the image of the marauding aliens from the movie Independence Day, who come to Earth to take what they can get before moving on to another planet. Saverin, who stands to make billions from his 4 percent share in Facebook, hastily moved here at the age of 13 when his name turned up on a list of potential kidnap victims targeted by criminal gangs in Brazil. His father was a wealthy businessman, with a high profile in their home country, and so his family relocated to Miami to protect the youngster. Eduardo thrived in his new country, eventually attending Harvard University, where he had a stroke of life-changing luck when he was assigned future Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg as a roommate. Their subsequent struggle over the company has been immortalized in the blockbuster Academy Award–winning film, The Social Network, which portrayed Eduardo as an outsider within the close-knit circle of friends, who eventually only won his stake in the company through a lawsuit based on an early investment in the company. Writer Farhad Manjoo does an excellent job at pandodaily identifying all the ways that young Eduardo’s years in the United States played a role in the financial bonanza he’s about to experience. Starting with the obvious protection from kidnapping that wealthy people generally enjoy here in the United States all the way through the reasonably functional US court system that awarded him the shares that are about to make him a billionarie, this country played a critical role in this young man’s life. In return, Saverin has decided to relocate to Singapore, where he’ll pay no capital gains taxes on any Facebook shares he sells in the future. In fact, he’ll only pay an “exit tax,” which will be determined by his own team’s estimated value of his net worth at the time he renounced his citizenship. This little move could cost the US Treasury as much as $600 million dollars. That’s a novel way to thank your adopted country. Saverin exemplifies the spoiled 1 percenter who erodes the fabric of the country that afforded such opportunity by not paying back the investment America made in him. His decisions are a slap in the face of every person who recognizes that, to be a place that can facilitate the birth of new innovations like Facebook, the United States needs resources. Doubt that? Remember what government funded the research that created the Internet and the web? Harvard University, where the Facebook plot was hatched, took in almost $700 million in federal grant support for tuition and research last year alone. But Saverin’s decision is even more insulting to the millions of his less wealthy fellow immigrants who work hard to gain the privilege of giving back to the country that affords them opportunity to pursue their dreams in relative safety. Not to men
jurate		#10	[-]
Posts: 6705 05/16/12 12:05 PM TSMB Supporter Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	What a dirtbag. Too bad Zuckerberg didn't succeed in forcing him out of the company. The extremely wealthy increasingly have no country. Manhattan is filled with them, from all over the world. People who've absconded with a lot of loot from Russia, China, India, South America.... They buy real estate here because of the safety of the market. All the real estate agents have stories of foreigners buying multi million dollar apartment sight-unseen, for cash.
Oz Greg		#11	[-]
Posts: 21843 05/16/12 9:21 PM Under the Southern Cross. Admin. Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Lets not forget the African despots who rape their country, stash their loot in Swiss bank accounts and then hightail it out of there before the forward guard of the revolution reaches the outskirts of their palace.
firebat	Senators to Unveil the 'Ex-Patriot Act' to Respond to Facebook's Saverin's Tax 'Scheme'	#12	[-]
Posts: 2031 05/17/12 5:39 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has a status update for Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin: Stop attempting to dodge your taxes by renouncing your U.S. citizenship or never come to back to the U.S. again. In September 2011, Saverin relinquished his U.S. citizenship before the company announced its planned initial public offering of stock, which will debut this week. The move was likely a financial one, as he owns an estimated 4 percent of Facebook and stands to make $4 billion when the company goes public. Saverin would reap the benefit of tax savings by becoming a permanent resident of Singapore, which levies no capital gains taxes. At a news conference this morning, Sens. Schumer and Bob Casey, D-Pa., will unveil the "Ex-PATRIOT" - "Expatriation Prevention by Abolishing Tax-Related Incentives for Offshore Tenancy" - Act to respond directly to Saverin's move, which they dub a "scheme" that would "help him duck up to $67 million in taxes." The senators will call Saverin's move an "outrage" and will outline their plan to re-impose taxes on expatriates like Saverin even after they flee the United States and take up residence in a foreign country. Their proposal would also impose a mandatory 30 percent tax on the capital gains of anybody who renounces their U.S. citizenship. The plan would bar individuals like Saverin from ever reentering the United States again. "Eduardo recently found it more practical to become a resident of Singapore since he plans to live there for an indefinite period of time," Tom Goodman, Saverin's spokesman, told Bloomberg News in an email. Last year 1,700 people renounced their U.S. citizenship.