July 4th: The new refugees Americans who give up citizenship to save on taxes
Expatriating? Give up U.S. citizenship? Who in his right mind would give up his U.S. citizenship? Lots of people. You could practically fill a Boeing 747 with well-heeled U.S. citizens who have taken on foreign citizenship rather than submit to what Learned Hand called "enforced exactions" at a level that amounts to virtual confiscation. The exodus may speed up under an Administration that campaigned for office on a tax-the-rich platform.The expatriates of recent years have included:
Michael Dingman, chairman of Abex, and a Ford Motor director. Dingman is now a citizen of the Bahamas and lives there. Billionaire John (Ippy) Dorrance III, an heir to the Campbell Soup fortune. Dorrance is now a citizen of Ireland and lives there as well as in the Bahamas and Devil's Tower, Wyo. J. Mark Mobius, one of the most successful emerging market investment managers. Born a U.S. citizen, Mobius has the German citizenship of his ancestors and lives in Hong Kong and Singapore. Kenneth Dart, an heir to Dart Container and his family's $1 billion fortune. He is a citizen of Belize and works in the Cayman Islands. Ted Arison, founder of Carnival Cruise Lines. He kept Israeli citizenship and now lives there. These newer emigrants join others of longer standing, including Robert Miller, the co-owner of Duty Free Shoppers International Ltd. Miller has a British passport obtained in Hong Kong, though he was raised in Quincy, Mass.
The U.S. is virtually the only country in the world that imposes significant income and death taxes on the worldwide income and assets of every citizen, even if the citizen is domiciled elsewhere. Even Canada, semi-socialist, did away with estate taxes.
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