Americans are giving up their citizenship at record levels, according to new research published on Sunday. And with Joe Biden ahead in the polls, why wouldn't they?
Bambridge Accountants New York, a firm specializing is ex-pat taxes, says more Americans are renouncing their citizenship than ever before. Some 2,072 Americans gave up their citizenship in 2019, but in the first six months of 2020 alone, nearly three times that number -- a little over 5,800 -- renounced their U.S. citizenship. The record number represents a 1,210 percent increase over the prior six months when only 444 cases were recorded.
Maybe Americans don't recognize their country anymore after having their businesses ordered shut, churches closed, and told to wait inside for months unless they're going out to protest in a leftwing rally.
"For U.S. citizens living abroad, they are still required to file U.S. tax returns each year, potentially pay U.S. tax and report all their foreign bank accounts, investments and pensions held outside the U.S.," Alistair Bambridge, partner at Bambridge Accountants New York, said in a press release. "For many Americans this intrusion is too complicated, and they make the serious step of renouncing their citizenship as they do not plan to return to live in the U.S."
The intrusion is also too complicated for many Americans living in the United States.
The firm says Americans must pay a government fee of $2,350 in order to renounce their citizenship, and citizens living overseas must formally do so at a U.S. embassy.
Bambridge Accountants said it examines public data every three months and reviews the names of all former Americans who have given up their citizenship. If that's public data, can we get a list of all people living in the United States who aren't citizens?