One of the founders of the social network Facebook, Eduardo Saverin
Two Democratic U.S. senators, Charles Schumer and Bob Casey, have introduced a bill in the Senate that would make it harder for U.S. citizens to voluntarily renounce their passports. It concerns cases where Americans seeking various official ways to avoid taxes resort to extreme methods – returning their blue identity card with the great seal of the U.S. to the authorities. U.S. law does not prohibit citizens from holding other citizenships, but dual citizenship is not recognized.
The new bill was proposed by the senators after news broke of a rather scandalous case involving a very well-known person in America – one of the founders of Facebook, Eduardo Saverin. The young man was born in Brazil and moved to the U.S. in 1992. Six years later, Saverin became a naturalized U.S. citizen. He is considered a close friend of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and himself owns five percent of the company's shares. It is clear that in his case, we are talking not just about big money, but about very big money. That is why it is believed that Saverin renounced his U.S. citizenship back in September 2011 precisely to reduce his tax payments. However, it only became known last week when his name appeared in the relevant official list.
The well-known entrepreneur has now decided to officially become a resident of Singapore. His press secretary explained the decision by saying that the businessman had made investments, among others, in Asian companies. Incidentally, Singapore does not have a capital gains tax, which a U.S. citizen would have to pay in the event of a successful company IPO.
Saverin himself was quick to state that his decision to move to Southeast Asia had nothing to do with taxes. In a special press statement, he reminded that he would in any case pay the U.S. government the so-called 'exit tax' that wealthy people who renounce U.S. citizenship must pay.
However, the U.S. senators were not satisfied with this explanation: they are convinced that Saverin made the decision to renounce his citizenship in order to avoid large taxes. 'When we see someone selling out the country that took him in, provided security, gave him a good education, and helped him become a billionaire, it makes us truly furious,' said one of the senators.
According to the bill proposed by the two lawmakers, a former American who renounces citizenship to avoid taxes would have to pay a 30 percent capital gains tax on future investments. Moreover, this rule is planned to apply to all those who renounced citizenship in the last ten years. Naturally, the tax would only be due on income earned in the U.S. after the new law is enacted. Those who do not pay will likely be banned from returning to the country.
According to U.S. tax authorities, about four thousand people renounced U.S. citizenship between 2005 and 2010.
Alex Vayden.
Russkaya Germaniya