The Taxman: You Can Run But You Can't Hide

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Mention the word taxes and some people slip into instant disdain mode. Others pop their eyes like a deer caught in headlights, afraid that the tax boogeyman has found them at last. Still others are just fed up with the complex taxation laws of this country.

Count rock star Tina Turner in with this last bunch. Ms. Turner has always been known as a world class jet-setter; hitting far-flung spots on the globe like most of us would hit the corner deli. Well Ms. Turner has finally made it official.

She has lived in Switzerland since 1995, and the U.S. Embassy has confirmed that she has voluntarily given up her U.S. Citizenship and all rights thereto affixed. While love moved her there to be with her then-boyfriend, now husband Erwin Bach; it turned out to be the tax system that is keeping her there.

Not just regular taxes, but the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). Enacted by the IRS in 2010, FATCA has been slowly rolling out under the radar and is just now becoming a force to be reckoned with. Read here to see how the feelers FATCA has been putting out are finally coming to fruition and causing a ruckus among many that once placed their security in offshore accounts.

What then shall we say? Good riddance if someone doesn’t want to be a citizen? Bad on the IRS for running people away, including American Icons? We would all escape taxes if we could? Or we are proud to pay our taxes because it keeps the country running? I tend toward the latter group, however I do think the system needs to be revamped because they take entirely too much out of every dollar earned. What say you?