There was some good news for liberty on Friday. That is when a roughly 80 percent reduction in the fee the United States government imposes on individuals giving up their US citizenship took effect. The fee was lowered from 2,350 dollars to 450 dollars.
The move toward implementing the fee reduction had been in progress for several years in reaction to a lawsuit against the US government.
For people with enough wealth or recent income, or who don’t adequately establish their IRS tax compliance, there remains yet another payment the US government demands — an exit tax calculated based on the value of their assets.
While the significant reduction in the citizenship renunciation fee is welcome news, it is disgraceful that the US government imposes any fee whatsoever. Back in August of 2017, I commented on the fee, stating:
Most people who are US citizens did not choose to be such. They had that citizenship thrust on them as a matter of law upon their birth. To make people pay to give up citizenship for which they never asked is an abomination.
It was only in 2010 that the fee on giving up US citizenship was introduced at 450 dollars, the same amount it returned to on Friday. Before 2010, individuals could renounce their US citizenship without the government demanding any fee. And the exit tax came into being just two years earlier — in 2008. How about next returning to the situation before 2008, when individuals could renounce their US citizenship without the imposing of either the fee or the tax?
