A new study has found that Americans continued to renounce their United States citizenship in 2016. With a Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton presidential prospect, it would make sense that numerous Americans wanted to flee the country.
According to the latest data from the U.S. Treasury Department, a total number of 5,411 Americans renounced their citizenship in 2016. This up by 26 percent from the previous year, when a total number of 4,279 Americans expatriated, and up by 58 percent from 2014, when 3,415 Americans renounced their citizenship.
This is the fourth consecutive year that Americans renounced their U.S. citizenship.
International tax attorney Andrew Mitchel, who has been tracking this type of data since 2008, told the Daily Caller that it is the tax code and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) that is forcing so many Americans to leave the Land of the Free. In other words, you can’t blame Barack Obama, Trump or Clinton.
“Once they come to terms with the fact that the IRS may now catch them if they don’t file, and realize how large the penalties can be for not filing, they get caught up with their necessary U.S. tax filings,” Mitchel told the website. “They usually use one of the various voluntary disclosure programs that the IRS has. Once they are caught up, the renounce their citizenship and get out of the U.S. tax system.”
The U.S. government still makes plenty of money because the fees have gone up to give up your passport. You can expect to pay $2,350.
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