
Pot, meet kettle...
I'd guess that the US is the world's #1 hoarder of personal information and the associated metadata of non-citizens.
For me, the US is a "country of concern".
US President Joe Biden is expected to sign an executive order today that aims to prevent the sale or transfer of Americans' sensitive personal information and government-related data to adversarial countries including China and Russia. In addition to the executive order, the White House will propose regulations that prohibit …
Entirely agree. It is very rich to hear this coming from the White House, when the US is a country which has already been subject to privacy treaties and addendums, just to try and keep the data slurping slightly in check.
If it wasn't for Max Schrems, the US would still be the black hole hoovering every single bit of data it wants to be. And I'm not sure that the valiant efforts of Schrems and company have really put any sort of dent into that practice.
The hypocrisy of the U.S. government is breathtaking. If, like me, you're a non-American married to an ex-pat American, living outside the United States, then the U.S. Treasury Department demands access to details of any joint bank accounts that you and your American spouse hold in non-U.S. banks if the balance ever exceeds $10,000. Many non-American financial institutions now refuse to take on ex-pat Americans as customers, because the U.S. government threatens non-compliant banks with severe penalties.
No, this the Reporting of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts law, commonly known as FBAR. It is mandatory for any U.S. citizen who has a bank account in a non-US bank with a balance of $10,000 or more during each calendar year, and is independent of any liability to pay US income tax.
As for your 'life hack', the US government has made renunciation of citizenship extremely difficult. And in any case, why *should* a US citizen have to renounce their citizenship?
As the owner of a handful of ancient shares part of which appear to generate minimal returns in the states - I've just had to fill out a US infernal revenue form to account for automated withholding. It delights me to realise that the costs of posting the form to me significantly outweigh any tax due on a 40c dividend...
Except they do derive benefit. The US Department of State will go to quite extreme lengths to rescue even non-resident citizens from various worldwide perils. It's also a right to a relatively safe place to reside if your preferred home country goes tits up.
Whether it's worth it depends heavily, I suppose, on your income and how much you care about losing some of it, or in practice how much you care about submitting lots of paperwork to some of the world's most anal tax officials to prove you don't need to lose some of it.
The US Department of State will go to quite extreme lengths to rescue even non-resident citizens from various worldwide perils
It's well known that you have to pay back the rescue costs, as we've seen recently in Afghanistan and elsewhere. If they decide you're worth rescuing, they don't do it for free. Even if the US government organises for another country to evacuate a citizen, the citizen still gets a bill.
Generally, individuals evacuated on a U.S. government-coordinated transport, including charter and military flights or ships, even if those transports are provided by another country’s government, must sign an Evacuee Manifest and Promissory Note (Form DS-5528) note prior to departure. The Department of State uses the Form DS-5528 to document who got on which transport, and it lets us know how to contact evacuees for billing purposes.
It's also a right to a relatively safe place to reside if your preferred home country goes tits up.
lol no. Now I know you're having a laugh... Somalia's safer than the US.
Almost 5,000 people have died in U.S. gun violence so far in 2024
1. Good for the US government. Citizens pay taxes. No free rides just because someone's living in Paris or the Bahamas.
2. It's not hard to renounce US citizenship. (And I shudder at that phrase...) Just head to the nearest consulate and say you'd like to. The instructions are in the passport.
"Poor old BoJo had to pay $2350."
The real fucker is that because he's renounced his US citizenship, the UK government can't revoke his UK citizenship. I know the shallow cowards never would, but the idea of offshoring Johnson just like we have Harry the Waster* does appeal.
* Yeah, he could come back, but lets hope not.
> prevent the sale or transfer of Americans' sensitive personal information and government-related data
At this point I suspect the baddies are either climbing back into their chairs after a good ROFL, or scratching their heads in confusion.
In both cases wondering why anyone would go to the expense of buying this data when it is easier to simply take it, for free, from unsecured sources.