A "True cost" estimate of untaxed money

[Number Six]

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/16/opini ... .html?_r=2

In this article economist Gabriel Zucman claims that over 7 trillion in income evades taxation, conservatively.

In a weird twist many the number of Americans who have given up citizenship in order to avoid future tax liabilities has gone up quite a bit: http://online.wsj.com/articles/more-exp ... 1402972439

[Kestrel]

No surprise, really, considering they were already living overseas. The effective tax haven they were enjoying for so many years (US Citizen with unreported income) has been shut down. Time to move on.

[Burnaby49]

No surprise, really, considering they were already living overseas. The effective tax haven they were enjoying for so many years (US Citizen with unreported income) has been shut down. Time to move on.

I wouldn't call it a tax haven being enjoyed by evaders in most cases, at least the ones I'm aware of. I know a number of people in this situation and they have, effectively, no more links to the United States than I do. I have an acquaintance whose mother is Canadian, father American. He was born in Texas but family moved here when he was a child. He has lived here since. Educated, married to a Canadian, and employed, and residing in Canada. His income is not "unpreported", he is a Canadian citizen who has always reported and paid taxes here. Considering our income tax rates I doubt he feels he is enjoying the benefits of a "tax haven". Now he finds himself liable for American income tax although he has never (apart from a brief childhood period) lived in the United States or earned income there. I believe he is also going to renounce his American citizenship. Fair enough I suppose but the tax rules forcing this seem stupid to me.

Canadians, and anyone residing in Canada, are taxed on income earned while they are deemed resident here. If they move out they don't fall under Canadian tax law even if they are citizens.