Once upon a time, the American colonies separated from England because King George, three thousand mils away, wanted to collect taxes from them.
Granted, that was a long time ago. But today,
the IRS ants the Mayor of London, B...'t live here since he was five years old .
Mayor Johnson, like the American colonies, is no pushover. He's being talked about as a future prime minister, has libertarian leanings, and he says the IRS can go get stuffed.
This could be fun!
Should London’s Mayor pay U.S. taxes? How about filing FBARs and other forms that make it easy for the IRS to track his bank accounts? London’s Mayor Boris Johnson is English, but being born in New York means he’s American too. Turns out he never gave up his U.S. citizenship, as the BBC confirmed. Sure, he threatened to renounce in a column for the Spectator, but he renewed his U.S. passport instead.
And on his recent book tour, in a Diane Rehm Show Interview, November 13, 2014, Mr. Johnson even said a thing or two about the American global tax regime. He thinks it is outrageous to tax U.S. citizens everywhere no matter what. He hasn’t lived in the U.S. since he was 5 years old, he notes. Still, the IRS wants money.
Mr. Johnson notes that the tax rates in the U.K. are higher than in America. Still, he laments, the U.S. comes after him for gain on selling his U.K. home. And as a dual citizen, even though such a sale is exempt in the U.K., the IRS says it’s taxed in America. Mr. Johnson says he won’t pay, and he doesn’t sound like he’s kidding.
Will the IRS chase him down? He could renounce, of course, but he points out that renouncing isn’t easy. Besides, that wouldn’t solve his current tax bill. When you exit you must certify five years of U.S. tax compliance to the IRS. And any tax for the current or prior years must be paid. So, maybe Mayor Johnson should have renounced when he threatened to in 2006.
More and more Americans are doing it. The U.S. Treasury Department’s name and shame list of Americans who renounced citizenship in July, August, and September of 2014 is up to 776. That’s 2,353 renunciations for 9 months. It means by year-end, last year’s 2,999 renouncers should be exceeded. For 2013, there was a 221% increase, with record numbers of Americans renouncing.
Clearly, this doesn’t count everyone, and 5.5 million Americans are considering it, a new survey reveals. There are real horror stories for Americans abroad. They now have trouble with basic banking, home loans, and other forms of what can only be called discrimination against Americans. Some U.S. persons abroad are taxed on their pension contributions, end up with big penalties, or at least the fear of them....
Onward and upward,
airforce
