Americans Renounce US Citizenship to Pursue Destiny in Russia

 

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Americans in record numbers are doing
what was once considered unthinkable – renouncing their US citizenship.
In numerical terms, at least 1,788 Americans officially gave up their US
citizenship in 2011 – more than the combined totals from 2007, 2008 and
2009 – and 2012 promises to be another record breaking year, with 461
Americans already taking this action in the first quarter of the year,
according to US Treasury Department figures.

Although these numbers may
seem like a small percentage of the US population, the fact that there
are a record number 6.3 million US citizens working abroad, and that
a record number of them are renouncing their citizenship, is worthy of
further consideration.

Additionally, these numbers don’t
account for those émigrés who come to the US on visas, but then decide
of their own volition not to pursue permanent residency or citizenship,
and instead to return home.

An oft-cited reason for giving up one’s
US passport is the US law known as Facta, or the Fair and Accurate
Credit Transactions Act, passed into law in 2010 and to be implemented
in 2013, which is a draconian expansion of America’s already uniquely
onerous tax laws for expatriates.

It is worth noting that the United
States is the only nation within the 34-nation Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development (OECD) that taxes its citizens regardless
of nation of residence, in essence requiring that Americans living
abroad pay income taxes to both their nation of residence and to the
IRS, albeit subject to partial exemptions based on income level.

Moreover, the high cost of compliance with Facta has led many banks and
hedge funds in Asia to turn away all American clients, creating
insurmountable barriers to banking and investment for numerous American
expatriates living and working in Asia.

Finally, if this were not sufficient
reason to change one’s citizenship, there is also the comparative
difference in income tax rates, for example, a flat rate of 13% in
Russia according to the Russian Tax Code, a flat rate of 12% in Belarus
according to the Belorussian Tax Code, and a flat rate of 15% in Ukraine
according to the Ukrainian Tax Code, compared with a combined
federal-state rate of up to 46% now, and up to 50% starting in 2013, in
such US states as California and New York, according to The Securities
Industry and Financial Markets Association.

The United States Health Insurance
Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996 mandates that
the name of every American who renounces their citizenship be published
in the Federal Register, based on the premise that individuals who do so
are unpatriotic tax dodgers who deserve to be publicly shamed.

However,
the motivations for Americans exchanging their citizenship for that of
another country, particularly that of Russia, Belarus, or Ukraine, are
often far more complicated and intertwined.

Among the reasons cited by
Americans for moving to Russia, Belarus, or Ukraine, and in many cases
giving up their US citizenship, are, in addition to taxation,
employment, education, religion, culture, foreign policy, marriage to a
foreign national, and more.

Take for example the case of an Eastern
Orthodox parish just south of San Francisco, California, which has
already lost nine families – all of them returning to either Russia,
Belarus, or Ukraine.

Among the reasons cited by parishioners for
returning home include “the American legalization of immorality via
the gay movement and abortions for minors without their parents’
consent, and the atrocious level of American education.” As one
parishioner told the parish rector:

“Only the naïve believe that
upon legalizing gay marriages America will put a period. It will
continue, gradually imposing gays upon the educational system, upon job
providers, upon private organizations such as churches, upon the
military, thus destroying it, upon Hollywood and other forms of
entertainment; it will not stop because it cannot stop – that is the
nature of this disgusting beast. We are moving out, because we have
small children, and we don’t want them corrupted”.

This parishioner is not exaggerating. In
recent years, while Russia was re-introducing Orthodox Christian
culture into its school curriculum, including history from
Alexander Solzhenitsyn, California was instead introducing revisionist
history into its school curriculum, including the alleged contributions
of Americans with homosexual proclivities, even declaring “Harvey Milk
Day” in commemoration of the middle-aged homosexual activist who had a
passion for sex with teenage boys.

The parish rector at the Eastern
Orthodox parish in California emphasizes that his parishioners who
are giving up their US citizenship are…

“quality citizens, the kind you
want in your country, the kind you want as your neighbors. These are not
people looking for an easy life, or for accumulation of material goods.
I am not aware of a single criminal or felon among these people. In our
parish they were the best parishioners – always willing to work, to
donate, to participate. Nor are they the elderly, suffering from
romantic nostalgia.”

George, an American citizen from New
York who moved to Russia over a year ago, states,

“I left America with
the intention of never returning; not because I am not American, but
because I believe America no longer exists.

Instead it has been replaced
with a Godless oligarchy bent on exploiting its citizens to satisfy the
inexhaustible whims of an elite few. Were this alone not enough, I have
found myself every year more disgusted by how America accuses other
nations of the sins it is most guilty of.

America insists it spreads
democracy, criticizing nations with dozens of parties of being
un-democratic, while the American two party system prevents democracy
completely.

America employs totalitarian tactics against protesters,
having now authorized using microwave beam weapons to prevent protest; a
right guaranteed by the American Constitution.

Many Americans have
already left and there soon will come a day when too few remain to call
the land on which America was founded America.”

Further to George’s comments on US
foreign policy, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia has, in
the past, condemned NATO’s war of aggression against Serbian Orthodox
Christians, stating that “several countries, being sure they have the
right to determine world’s fate, united to impose their will on a
nation”, and has warned that the fate of Christians in the Middle East
and Africa has been worsened by foreign intervention in the affairs of
sovereign nations in these regions.

In addition, President Vladimir
Putin has reiterated Russian’s intent of fulfilling its historical role
of protecting the world’s Christian communities from violence, and on
Victory Day this week emphasized that “strict adherence to international
norms, respect for national sovereignty and self-selection of each
nation – is one of the absolute guarantees that the tragedy of the last
war will never happen again.”

Regarding American foreign policy
particularly towards Russia, American expatriates in Moscow
are increasingly demanding an end to the US’s funneling of $200 million
through the State Department’s National Endowment for Democracy (NED) to
opposition leaders in Russia seeking to foment civil unrest or even
revolution, and an end to NATO plans to surround Russia with offensive
ballistic missiles to complement the US and NATO bases already
surrounding Russia – both in direct violation of US President Ronald
Reagan’s promise to USSR Premier Mikhail Gorbachev that NATO would not
expand eastward.

The US Government would be wise to heed Patriarch
Kirill’s warning,

“The Russian Orthodox Church is against violent
revolutions, be it in Syria, Lebanon, or anywhere else. In any country,
any disputes between the government and the opposition must be solved
only by talks, the Russian Church believes – otherwise, there is a risk
of the sorry scenario of the Russian Bolshevik revolution of 1917 being
repeated.”

Not all American expatriates living in
Russia are quite ready to give up their US passport.

Elina, a native of
Russia who became a naturalized American citizen, moved back to Russia a
few years ago with her American husband, Ken, and their children. Elina
says that “in spite of draconian US tax laws, neither Ken, nor I, nor
our children, plan to renounce our US citizenship.

We all remain
dedicated to the course of bringing our people together and uniting the
efforts of the Russian and US people against the corporate fascism that
is expanding in the world. Besides, we plan to visit the USA since Ken
has his family there whom we dearly love and care about.

I never
renounced my Russian citizenship while getting my US citizenship, and my
country did not take my citizenship away in spite of my second
citizenship. We all love American people who are not at fault for the
international aggression that is implemented by the Iron Triangle of the
military complex, banks, and the US government.”

George and Ken are actually two of many
thousands of elite foreign specialists who have come from the US and the
EU to work in Russia, including 10,000 in Moscow alone since 2001,
according to the Head of Moscow’s Department of Migration Service,
Fyodor Karpovets.

That number is likely to increase, based on Russia’s
liberalized immigration laws, Russia’s WTO accession, and increased
Government and foreign direct investment in Russia’s innovation and
modernization initiatives.

Some American expatriates in Russia were
reluctant to go on the record, presumably because of fear of reprisals
from US authorities.

It is worth noting that both the US and Russian
Governments allow dual citizenship, although the US State Department has
tried to end this practice many times over the past 50 years, each time
eventually being overruled by the Supreme Court.

The only times in
which the US State Department has prevailed in stripping a dual citizen
of US citizenship have been in cases where a US citizen living abroad
made public statements of an intent to renounce his US citizenship, only
to later attempt to re-enter the US.

Moving abroad and renouncing one’s US
citizenship is a dramatic step that is not for everyone. However, those
who have made such a move to Russia, Belarus, or Ukraine consider it one
of the best decisions they have ever made.

 

Bernard Casey – May 14, 2012 – Pravda.ru

 

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