After more than $18,000 I am finally not a US citizen

[Deleted User 876]

Take that up with your parents! lol

There are plenty of more fucked up places than the US.

Truth.

[CandTmom]

$18,000 on mom confessions is chump change

[Pjmm]

$18,000 on mom confessions is chump change

I dropped that just on my work clothes yesterday lol.

[SisterSomeone]

Are you the poster who already talked about trying to renounce your US citizenship before? If so, I remember your woes with it. You applied several times, didn't you?

In any case, I'm happy that it worked out for you, even if it was expensive. It's really fucked up that we've made it so ridiculously difficult to give up your citizenship if you don't want it. There is NO reason for it to cost any more that the fee for processing the paperwork. Congrats.

[Anonymous 9]

I agree. But since America is one of the handful of countries that taxes its citizens living abroad, of course its going to make giving up citizenship hard and expensive.

It's fucked up that Congress has made it that hard to give up your citizenship. It shouldn't cost any more than the fee required to process the paperwork.

Yep those who make over a certain amount and pay taxes are the ones who have the more trouble with giving up citizenship. When over half of Americans pay very little to no taxes overall they want to keep those paying taxes any way they can.

[PoplarGrove]

Why?

Because you don’t think you should have?

Did your parents not do some research or something? Why do you think you’d be entitled to not paying taxes?

It is not normal to pay taxes to a country you dont live in. As far as I know it is only the US that does that. My parents did not know that. They had no problem giving up their citizenships more than 20 years ago .

Why should you have to pay taxes to somewhere you have never been? Please explain that to me.

Because you are a citizen. You choose not to live here, but the way the US sees it, that’s just your choice and doesn’t excuse you from not paying taxes to a country IN WHICH YOU ARE A CITIZEN. When I choose to send my kids to private school, I still pay taxes that fund local public schools. That’s kind if the way it works, you don’t nearly get to pick and choose. No, the US is not the only country that charges its citizens taxes even if they live abroad.

Your anger is misdirected here. Like I said originally, take it up with your parents. Its a foreseeable consequence that they should have taken into consideration, and it was foolish to assume that governmental procedures wouldn’t change over decades. They knew you’d owe taxes.

She didn't choose to be a US citizen. Her parents made that choice for her when she was born. She told America she wanted to renounce her citizenship and was denied the ability to do that. This isn't an uncommon thing for non residents who were given US citizenship at birth. They spend 10s of thousands of dollars to have the right to not be an American.