What Do We Do If the Rich Start to Leave?

[R.A. Hettinga]

Soon enough, The US's gonna stop having illegal immigrants and start having
illegal emigrants...

Cheers,
RAH
------

Begin forwarded message:

> From: publisher at vereverus.com
> Date: April 12, 2010 7:02:11 AM AST
> To: publisher at vereverus.com
> Subject: What Do We Do If the Rich Start to Leave? (Column # 64)
>
>
> April 12, 2010
> What Do We Do If the Rich Start to Leave?
>
> By Bill Frezza
> The numbers are small. A modern record, to be sure, and an embarrassment to
some. But nothing to be alarmed about. Better to just curse their greed, slap
an exit tax on their assets, and move on. There are plenty more where they
came from.
>
> But what if more of them start to leave?
>
> 500 American citizens and green card holders in the last quarter of 2009
said goodbye to America forever. Not many, but double the number of
expatriations in all of 2008. Good riddance, other millionaires will take
their place.
>
> But what if more of them start to leave?
>
> Businesses may have been shifting jobs out of the country for decades but
their fat cat CEOs still live here, right? I don't believe many of them would
give up US citizenship just because they refuse to pay their fair share. What
are they going to do, learn Chinese?
>
> But what if more of them start to leave?
>
> 1% of US income tax filers pay 40% of our nation's income taxes. It's only
fair given how much money they make. So what if 40% of filers actually get
handouts from the IRS? Didn't our President come out on the campaign trail and
promise he was going to spread the wealth around? He won the election didn't
he? Everybody knew what the deal was.
>
> But what if more of them start to leave?
>
> When the Bush tax cuts expire top marginal tax rates are going to shoot up.
Add in city, state and local taxes the rich are going to have to fork over 50
cents of every last dollar earned. Inheritance taxes are scheduled to soar
when death tax reform expires - all on money that was already taxed. An extra
3.8% Medicare tax got slapped on dividends and capital gains courtesy of
healthcare reform. Blah, blah, let the rich squawk. We outnumber them and
somebody has to pay the bills.
>
> But what if more of them start to leave?
>
> Congress is trying to triple the taxes hedge fund managers, private equity
firms, and venture capitalists pay on their gains. Who cares, these tycoons
don't have enough votes to stop it. Sure, the smart ones are setting up shop
in Asia but they're never going to move there, right? The US will always be
the best place in the world to start a business, won't it?
>
> But what if more of them start to leave?
>
> The IRS recently began strictly enforcing requirements that U.S. citizens
with more than $10,000 in foreign accounts annually report all their assets to
the government. Not just income, assets. Get caught failing to file and they
can seize half your account balance. This data base should come in handy if
rich defectors try to evade exit taxes. There's no right to privacy in the
constitution, keeping an eye on these bastards will make them think twice.
>
> But what if more of them start to leave?
>
> Healthcare. Energy. Banking. Housing. Automobiles. Insurance.
Pharmaceuticals. There is so much that needs to be regulated or nationalized
if we hope to achieve equality. Why should we let a few exploiters make
obscene profits selling essentials when so many are unemployed? We need jobs
for the little man, not bonuses for the bosses.
>
> But what if more of them start to leave?
>
> How dare they leave after all we did for them! If expatriations keep growing
Congress should triple the exit tax. In fact, why should we let deserters take
any money with them at all? They should be thankful we let them out with the
clothes on their backs. Didn't they enjoy the benefits of this great country
while the getting was good?
>
> But what if more of them start to leave?
>
> Maybe we can't put up walls but there are ways to keep people from fleeing,
lots of countries do it. We can lean on foreign governments to deny economic
defectors citizenship. If anyone tries to sneak out the IRS can hold their
children hostage. We have so many complicated laws and regulations, surely we
can find some obscure rule that they broke, and if we can't we can pass more
laws and make them retroactive. Even better, let's pass enough laws to make
sure that no one is allowed to get rich in the first place! That'll solve the
problem once and for all.
>
> # # #
>
> Bill Frezza is a partner at Adams Capital Management, an early-stage venture
capital firm. He can be reached at bill at vereverus.com. If you would like to
subscribe to his weekly column, drop a note to publisher at vereverus.com.
>
>
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