{"id":1156931,"date":"2019-12-21T19:38:56","date_gmt":"2019-12-22T01:38:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/commonstockwarrants.com\/?p=674880"},"modified":"2019-12-21T19:38:56","modified_gmt":"2019-12-22T01:38:56","slug":"having-a-us-passport-is-no-longer-an-advantage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/?p=1156931","title":{"rendered":"Having a US Passport Is No Longer an Advantage"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"\"<\/h2>\n

Doug Casey on Why Having a US Passport Is No Longer an Advantage<\/p>\n<\/header>\n

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by\u00a0Doug Casey<\/a><\/p>\n

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International Man<\/strong>: In recent years, record numbers of Americans are renouncing their citizenship. What is going on here?<\/p>\n

Doug Casey<\/strong>: Well, it used to be that having a US passport was a tremendous advantage. But over the years, it\u2019s turned into an albatross around the necks of the people who own one.<\/p>\n

America is the only major country in the world that taxes its citizens no matter where they live.<\/p>\n

Even if an American moves abroad\u2014he never returns or even sets foot in the US again\u2014he\u2019s obligated to file taxes and, at best, can get a $100,000 or so exemption on earned income.<\/p>\n

That makes it extremely costly to be an American. But on top of that, the US government forces Americans to file many forms having to do with their foreign financial dealings. And they\u2019re precluded from buying various assets or investing in various countries.<\/p>\n

There are other disadvantages too because of the aggressive foreign policy stance that the United States has taken, certainly since World War II: invading numerous countries.<\/p>\n

If a terrorist takes over an airplane or hotel, it\u2019s unlikely that they\u2019re going to want to execute all the Mexicans or all the Latvians; chances are they\u2019ll want to single out people who carry US passports.<\/p>\n

Actually, there are no longer any advantages to being an American and lots of disadvantages.<\/p>\n

I say that, recognizing that being born and raised in the US, at least up to now, has been a tremendous advantage. But that has nothing to do with carrying the US passport. It\u2019s a fortunate accident of birth, because the US has historically been the freest country in the world, but that is changing.<\/p>\n

International Man<\/strong>: Even if Americans leave the US and never set foot in it again for the rest of their lives, the US government still will tax them. It\u2019s the only country in the world that has this type of tax system and can enforce it.<\/p>\n

\"Stock<\/a><\/p>\n

The tiny, impoverished African country of Eritrea also taxes its citizens this way. But unlike the US government, it has no means to enforce it. So, it\u2019s not a fair comparison.<\/p>\n

What do you make of this?<\/p>\n

Doug Casey<\/strong>: That\u2019s right. Of course you can renounce your citizenship, but that\u2019s not particularly easy to do.<\/p>\n

It has to be done outside of the United States at a US embassy or consulate. The filing fee is $2,350, and it generally takes a year for them to process the forms. Although the law has changed a couple of times over the years, there\u2019s now a penalty. All of your worldwide assets are assessed, and you have to pay a capital gains tax on the appreciation from whatever your cost basis is.<\/p>\n

International Man<\/strong>: Taking a step back, we can see over time that renunciation has become harder and more expensive for Americans.<\/p>\n

It used to be free. Then the US government raised the fee to $450. They then increased it to $2,350.<\/p>\n

They also instituted the Exit Tax\u2014a tax on\u00a0unrealized<\/em>\u00a0capital gains\u2014and made it increasingly costly.<\/p>\n

There are several proposals to make renunciation even more difficult in the years ahead. Perhaps one day it will become impossible.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s your take on this?<\/p>\n

Doug Casey<\/strong>: There\u2019s no question about it. A couple of years ago, they passed a regulation that, if you\u2019re accused\u2014not adjudicated, but accused\u2014of owing over $50,000 to the US government, your passport can be taken from you. That apparently happened to over 300,000 Americans last year.<\/p>\n

I know that for a fact, because I personally know somebody this happened to.<\/p>\n

Also, it\u2019s very hard for an American to open a financial account\u2014a bank account or a brokerage account\u2014in almost any other country in the world.<\/p>\n

Financial institutions don\u2019t want American business, because, since the US dollar is the world\u2019s currency, the US is in a position to enforce its domestic laws on foreign countries. A foreign bank or broker has to report transactions of its US clients. Nobody wants a US client for that reason. They\u2019re unprofitable liabilities.<\/p>\n

International Man<\/strong>: Bankrupt governments always try to control money with capital controls and individuals with people controls.<\/p>\n

Take Cuba, for example. After Castro came to power, his government made Cuban citizens apply for exit visas before they left the island. They were not easy to get. The Soviet Union, North Korea, and others have also used similar restrictions.<\/p>\n

Preventing people from leaving has always been a hallmark of authoritarianism.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hardly shocking that productive people are fleeing the US tax system. It\u2019s also clear the window to leave is closing.<\/p>\n

What does all this signal for the future of the United States?<\/p>\n

Doug Casey<\/strong>: The US is on the way to becoming an actual police state. The\u00a0US government is bankrupt, and the situation is getting worse every year<\/a>, with minimum annual deficits of a trillion dollars going to two trillion dollars.<\/p>\n

The prime directive of any living thing, whether it\u2019s an amoeba, a person, a corporation, or a government, is to survive. And in order to survive, the US government needs more tax revenues. It\u2019s going to make more efforts to keep its milk cows from leaving the country and escaping its tax net.<\/p>\n

I have no doubt that the US is behind the various UN efforts to \u201charmonize\u201d the world\u2019s tax system, so there\u2019s really no place that you can run. And if they move to a completely digital currency, it\u2019s going to be almost impossible at that point to evade their grasp. Using digital national currencies and eliminating physical cash, they\u2019ll know exactly how much you\u2019re earning, how much you\u2019re spending, how much you have. The trend is very bad.<\/p>\n

The US government, however, is unique in being able to enforce its will almost anywhere in the world. If you leave a European, Asian, or South American country, there\u2019s really nothing your country can do about it. But the US has actually turned into a global empire\u2014which they\u2019re trying to hold together by force at this point.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, it\u2019s in process of flying apart through centrifugal force. I don\u2019t doubt that within the next 50 years, probably much less, the US is going to break up into autonomous regions or even separate countries. An Hispanic Southwest is certainly going to be one of them. Neil Stephenson\u2019s book,\u00a0Diamond Age<\/em>, spells out some possibilities along those lines.<\/p>\n

Every day the US Congress is in session, new laws are passed\u2014and every law they pass imposes something else you either must do or must not do. Enforcing that law takes more tax revenue. So of course the beast is going to get bigger and uglier as time goes on.\u00a0Until it collapses<\/a>. But that will bring on chaos for at least a while. Which is unpleasant and dangerous.<\/p>\n

International Man<\/strong>: Given what we have discussed, what do you suggest people do?<\/p>\n

Doug Casey<\/strong>: Your options are becoming more limited all the time.<\/p>\n

You could renounce your citizenship, but for purposes of convenience, you\u2019ll need a second citizenship\u2014everybody needs a slave card in today\u2019s world.<\/p>\n

I think it\u2019s prudent on the part of anybody, not just Americans, to have a second or third citizenship as a backup, because your passport is not your property\u2014it\u2019s the property of your government, and they can take it away from you.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nYou\u2019re going to want to have at least one backup. That\u2019s number one.<\/p>\n

Number two, while it\u2019s still possible, you\u2019re going to want to diversify your assets to another political jurisdiction. The best way to do this is to buy real estate in a place that you like to spend time in, and have gold or other financial assets put aside in that country or a third country.<\/p>\n

But act now and beat the last-minute rush. There are no disadvantages and lots of advantages to doing these things.<\/p>\n

Editor\u2019s Note: The political and economic climate is constantly changing\u2026 and not always for the better. Obtaining the political diversification benefits of a second passport is crucial to ensuring you won\u2019t fall victim to a desperate government.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why Doug Casey and his team just released a new complementary report, \u201cThe Easiest Way to a Second Passport.\u201d It contains all the details about one of the easiest countries to obtain a second passport from.\u00a0Click here to download it now<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Doug Casey on Why Having a US Passport Is No Longer an Advantage by Doug Casey                       International Man: In recent years, record numbers of Americans are renouncing their citizenship. What is going on here? Doug Casey: Well, it used to be that having a US passport was a tremendous advantage. But over the years, it’s turned into an albatross around the necks of the people who own one. America is the only major country in the world that taxes its citizens no matter where they live. Even if an American moves abroad—he never returns or even sets foot in the US again—he’s obligated to file taxes and, at best, can get a $100,000 or so exemption on earned income. That makes it extremely costly to be an American. But on top of that, the US government forces Americans to file many forms having to do with their foreign financial dealings. And they’re precluded from buying various assets or investing in various countries. There are other disadvantages too because of the aggressive foreign policy stance that the United States has taken, certainly since World War II: invading numerous countries. If a terrorist takes over an airplane or hotel, it’s unlikely that they’re going to want to execute all the Mexicans or all the Latvians; chances are they’ll want to single out people who carry US passports. Actually, there are no longer any advantages to being an American and lots of disadvantages. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":50,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[372,777,3797],"tags":[149,159],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1156931"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/50"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1156931"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1156931\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1156932,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1156931\/revisions\/1156932"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1156931"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1156931"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1156931"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}