"According to the latest Internal Revenue Service report, the number of Americans renouncing their U.S. citizenship (or terminating their long-term permanent residency) has increased nearly ninefold since 2008."Robert Frank @ the Wealth Report asks "Are Taxes Causing the Rich to Renounce Their Citizenship?"
“There is growing concern, particularly among the wealthy, about the future financial direction of the country,” said Paul L. Caron, Charles Hartsock Professor of Law at the University of Cincinnati College of Law. “This President constantly demonizes the wealthy, who undoubtedly are concerned about the tax policy that would emerge in 2012 if a re-elected Barack Obama, unconstrained by re-election concerns, finally confronts the budgetary train wreck that he has done so much to exacerbate.”While some use wealth envy and class warfare as political weapon, I see this as a disturbing trend. I don't know about you, but I've never been employed by a poor person. This type of exodus leaves a debilitating vacuum in its wake. It's akin to a nation's 'brain drain,' in which those who envision game change ideas or create new technology migrate to more inviting pastures, enriching their new host with their life's work.
And we are poorer - literally and figuratively - for it.