Don't know a thing about the bahamas. However, I do know that if you renounce your U.S. citizenship, you can NEVER get it back except under very special circumstances (like you can prove you were under duress or insane). Further, if the U.S. government thinks you're only renouncing for tax reasons, they won't <i>let</i> you renounce citizenship and if they're satisfied that it's not for tax reasons, you still have to renounce in another country and prove you have citizenship elsewhere before they even think releasing you. Even if the U.S. allows you to renounce your citizenship, you will owe taxes for 10 years after renouncement. The U.S. is one of the very few countries on earth that taxes its citizens where ever they live and is (as far as I know) the only country that can enforce their post-renouncement tax rule. These rules seem Draconian and rather Soviet to me. I think people should be able to renounce citizenship and the obligations of the ex-citizen should end when the benefits of citizenship end. Guess I'm just a dumbass believer in free association. As an immigrant <i>to</i> the U.S., I have no intention of renouncing, but I looked into it just in case the U.S. decided to go the way my country did and "change" to a communist state.
They're not at all subtle about the way they fuck you anymore. They're just all out in the open about it.
If you just left the country, and lived and worked elsewhere, would they actually, in reality, enforce the taxes that you owe? and if so, how (I'm sure the answer is going to be unpleasant)
Frankly, I don't GIVE A CRAP how you feel about my conspiracy theories. You're free to believe your Gummint is magnanimous.
Oh, yes. The answer is unpleasant. It's very simple. Say the IRS figures you owe $250K in taxes and sees you have not paid. First, the IRS will contact you reminding you of the error of your ways. If you still don't pay, the IRS will freeze your assets. All of them, not just the $250K you owe. If they want to be REALLY unpleasant, they can seizure all of your liquid assets. If you want to challenge the seizure or the freeze you will have to come to the United States...where you will be arrested for tax evasion and held until after your trial.
They have that right, btw, because there are agreements with almost all other countries. If you move to a rogue nation, they'd have a harder time freezing your assets - unless you ever wire money anywhere, that is. They'll seize the wire. But then....you'd be living in Caracas under Chavez or in Iran. Is that really an improvement over the United States and is it really worth not paying taxes to live in places like that?
Yeah. What really chaps my hide is that this is the treatment you will receive if the government goes after money you earned AFTER renouncing citizenship and losing the rights and privileges of citizenship. It's one thing to go after citizens who move to another country to avoid taxes on income they earned in the U.S., but post renouncement is BS.