The purported tax-avoidance scheme of one internet entrepreneur has once again set the brain-trust of the United States of America into over-drive and grand-standing with a retaliatory plan to glean taxes from individuals who choose expatriation. Already the US is a soured thug in terms of tax treaties, demanding its cut from citizens worldwide, regardless of their place of residence and regardless of whether the targeted income was earned with the help from the homeland, made travel a distasteful affair beyond even beyond its borders, place the burden of reporting on foreign banks so as to make them wary about dealing with Americans abroad.
The proposed law would seek to repatriate tax revenues, impose withholdings and an exit-fee—in addition to barring these individuals from returning to the States. Plenty to do at the Hotel California. I am sure that this bill, should it come to pass and much worse is being done, will not affect cosmopolitan billionaires (the timing of this whole casus belli seems pretty tacky but it is unclear whether the media or the government is rightly understanding the motives and no individual ought to have to defend his or her reasons, especially political ones, for making such a choice), those brazenly berthing their fortunes off-shore or corporations that hide behind a string of nationalities, but for the average citizen, it demands that he or she would face undue hardships should they choose to immigrate. America’s bastions are not only uninviting to immigration, the gate-guards are saying that one cannot leave either. It sounds suspiciously like the policies of Soviet Russia whose restrictions on movement presented many with the difficult decision to remain or flee forever. Despite the reactionary nature of this proposal, I wonder if there was ever much difference between the two super-powers—especially within the self-styled framework of a monopolar world.
