Facebook IPO, Taxes And American Citizenship

http://kmacphail.blogspot.com/2010/12/not-so-much-blog-post.htmlGiven the choice of being an American citizen or paying significantly less in taxes on a multi-billion-dollar IPO, Facebook co-founder, Eduardo Saverin, renounced his American citizenship to avoid paying millions in taxes and live in Singapore because it doesn’t have a capital gains tax. This particular tax maneuver is similar to Apple stamping “Design in California” on its products while funneling profits through a Neveda corporation to avoid paying corporate taxes to California. Perfectly legal but distasteful.

If you seen “The Social Network,” Saverin provided the funding for the early days of Facebook before being screwed over by the other co-founders because he didn’t read the fine print of the legal paperwork that gave away his ownership in the company. Now that the big payday is around the corner to turn his 4% ownership into a multi-billion-dollar fortune, he’s screwing over the taxpayers in California and the United States by leaving the country. In short, he’s a schmuck.

If you become rich enough to join the 1% club in the United States, you now have the option to become a member of the stateless rich to live wherever in the world without being beholden to any particular community that requires your “hard earned” money for services, infrastructure and schools. Maybe the price for renouncing your American citizenship should be leaving your fortune at the border. If you came into the world penniless, you can leave the country the same way.