Facebook co-founder renounces citizenship ahead of IPO

Facebook co-founder quits U.S. citizenship.

The news was reported by Bloomberg, based on an IRS notice from late April that contained a list of individuals who have chosen to expatriate.

Eduardo Saverin has sold off some of his Facebook stake, and does not appear in IPO filings that list shareholders with more than 5 percent of the company. Still, Saverin's holdings are believed to be substantial, especially as Facebook's IPO values the company at up to $96 billion.

The IPO could leave Saverin with a hefty capital gains tax bill. In the United States, for those in the higher income bracket, there is a minimum 15 percent rate for long-term capital gains. Saverin lives in Singapore, where there is no capital gains tax.

Renouncing citizenship of the United States is an irrevocable act, according to the State Department, and it is a lengthy process that includes an appearance before a U.S. diplomatic official.

Written by: James Delahunty @ 11 May 2012 21:37

RichardvonBacon

greed, what's it good for...

11.5.2012 22:00 #1

jackalguy

Wow, what a greedy little (insert expletive).

And these are the patriots we're suppose to cut the upper tax rates and leave our loopholes open for? He's taking the step of renouncing citizenship to this country for 15% of how many millions of dollars? How many millions does one need? What a greedy sleeze. Such a patriot!

"The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one"

-George Bernard Shaw

11.5.2012 22:11 #2

Blessedon

I can't blame the guy; If I worked hard to found a business, and that business - whatever it may be; oil, shoes, software - made me wealthy, and the government decided to confiscate my earnings to give to whiners who thought they were "entitled" to it,
I'd leave too!
It is happening in all socialist countries; keep taxing the rich at high rates and they will go elsewhere, leaving behind the poor. And I have noticed something; The poor don't do a lot of hiring.
Even though I'm not rich - I'm just a poor slob who barely makes the mortgage - I'm not so stupid as to be mad at them!
Socialism is a failure everywhere it has been imposed.

12.5.2012 07:28 #3

jackalguy

Originally posted by Blessedon: I can't blame the guy; If I worked hard to found a business, and that business - whatever it may be; oil, shoes, software - made me wealthy, and the government decided to confiscate my earnings to give to whiners who thought they were "entitled" to it,
I'd leave too!
It is happening in all socialist countries; keep taxing the rich at high rates and they will go elsewhere, leaving behind the poor. And I have noticed something; The poor don't do a lot of hiring.
Even though I'm not rich - I'm just a poor slob who barely makes the mortgage - I'm not so stupid as to be mad at them!
Socialism is a failure everywhere it has been imposed. People have no sense of a social contract or decency anymore. If it helps you wrap your brain around it, think of the taxes as being paid for being allowed to become that wealthy in the first place, of which the U.S. is one of the few countries that allows that -- and our top tax rates are some of the lowest in the developed world. The taxes he would have paid would go back into the social pot for things like defense spending (R&D, not just war) and social programs for those that aren't fortunate enough to be multi-billionaires. Keep thinking that you and everyone around you can one day become a millionaire, see how that scenario plays out in reality.

Social systems aren't what ruining society, it's greedy, self-interested people like this guy and your sentiment as well. By your logic, we ought to be slashing blue collar worker's wages to those levels of China in order to compete globally, which is of course absurd. We have taxes because we like to think that as the U.S. -- like other developed nations -- our citizens have developed certain liberties over time in the form of social programs and as a nation we have the wealth to even pay for them.

But I hear countries that don't partake in taxes are fantastic places to live, rife with high quality roads, law enforcement, strong militaries (if you like that kind of thing), and great education!

The idea that people don't hire because of high taxes is absurd and a fundamental misunderstanding of basic economic principle; companies don't hire because of low demand, and they hire when demand justifies more manpower. Some of the wealthiest business owners around have admitted to this even.

"The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one"

-George Bernard Shaw

12.5.2012 13:40 #4

LordRuss

Originally posted by jackalguy: Wow, what a greedy little (insert expletive). Nah... live a little... practice that 1st Amendment (if you're from the US) & fill in the blanks for us. Some of us like that 'artistic license'.

Originally posted by Blessedon: I can't blame the guy; If I worked hard to found a business, and that business - whatever it may be; oil, shoes, software - made me wealthy, and the government decided to confiscate my earnings to give to whiners who thought they were "entitled" to it,
I'd leave too! That's the problem... he DIDN'T work THAT hard for it. The company made the money for him & he sucked up the gravy. So like every other elitist rich prick in this country that doesn't want to pay their share (which is exactly 17.3% of your wages off the top, before you start playing games at the end of the year), they start spouting elitist legislation (that doesn't exist) or run off to another side of the globe to avoid taxation, prosecution or lynching. All of which they probably deserve for one hidden reason or a another.

So even at the 15% quoted that he would be projected to pay upon renouncing his citizenship, he'd still be getting off easy.

Originally posted by jackalguy:
People have no sense of a social contract or decency anymore. Our country may be in social decay, but I can say from first hand experience that there seems to be something in the water over in the Singapore water system that's causing some of the youth to think they can try outrageous business idea to get rich & then not be held accountable for their f*k-ups.

This one just seems to be working in reverse.

As for your analogy on taxation... well, I have to humbly disagree. In that the taxation of our wages are the lowest in the word & your analogy would therefore be correct. But our taxation "doesn't" stop there & that's what the problem is.

http://onlyinrussellsworld.blogspot.com

12.5.2012 14:03 #5

Blessedon

Originally posted by jackalguy: ...and social programs for those that aren't fortunate enough to be multi-billionaires. Being rich is not "fortune". It is education, sacrifice, entrepreneurism, devotion, etc.
Besides attributing to me assumptions of things unsaid, and, that none of the "basic" economics ou cite are based on empirical fact, much of what remains contradicts history.
Therefore, let me say that my experience with the wealthy has found them to be, mostly, wonderful people - with the occasional one that should be shot thrown in. I am qualified in this, having spent much of two decades contracting custom remodeling on their Gold Coast homes (some truly palatial!), and was greatly enriched with the crumbs they gave me as opposed to having none at all.
Where the rich are is where the money is, and when they leave it is gone. Capitalism creates wealth, socialism destroys it.
Nothing I say here will induce you to learn otherwise for you were schooled in Marxism - possibly without foreknowledge. I could ask you to read Thomas Sowell's Basic Economics...
...but you will not.

12.5.2012 17:36 #6

Mrguss

I do not blame this Facebook co-founder, because our U.S. Govt. always miss-use our tax-money and out Tax System is not fair.
The U.S. Govt. give most of our Taxes to Contractors [like: 54% of all our taxes goes to keep the U.S. army, air-force, supply's, etc. going] If only Half of this money goes to Education. Every U.S. Citizen had a University Career for free.

Our Taxation System sucks big time. Poor and Middle Class (Working Class) we pay an average of 29% on taxes and the Rich get away with everything the most some pay is around 15% and the more money they make, they pay less money on taxes. Like the super Corporations: The get money back after make billions on profits & they are creating Jobs overseas, not here in USA.
The U.S. Govt. and the IRS they all are a puppets of the elite class:

The Top 30 Corporations in U.S. remained negative (NO-TAXES), despite $205 billion in pretax US profits:
http://www.ctj.org/pdf/notax2012.pdf

America�s Corporations Made A Record $824 Billion Last Year:
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/0...fits/?mobile=nc

+4000

12.5.2012 18:03 #7

Blessedon

Where to begin...Originally posted by Mrguss: [like: 54% of our taxes goes to keep the U.S. army, airforce, etc. going Percentages are manipulated. In fact, in 2009, 33% of income taxes went to the military, and 24% of total taxes.
Originally posted by Mrguss: If only Half of this money goes to Education. Every U.S. Citizen had a University Career for free. So much here is propaganda that it is sad that it is still spouted. First, not everyone wants a degree. Second, those who qualify for scholarships can get educated for practically free. Lastly, universities don't teach students to work, they teach them how to think. 80% of professors are leftover 60's radicals teaching Marxism, and disgorging drones of "grievance" politics that few want to hire (hence the influx of foreign students who actually want to work)

Originally posted by Mrguss: Our Taxation System sucks big time. Amen! Shut down the IRS!
Originally posted by Mrguss: Poor and Middle Class (Working Class) we pay an average of 29% on taxes and the Rich get away with everything the most some pay is around 15% Pure BS.
Originally posted by Mrguss: they are creating Jobs overseas, not here in USA. Which part of "quit overtaxing the corporations" did not make sense? America has the highest corporate tax rate in the world. I'd leave too!!!
Originally posted by Mrguss: The U.S. Govt. and the IRS they all are a puppets of the elite class: mmmmmm, yeah, mostly, but don't forget that foreign governments and billionaires are trying to eliminate the U.S.

Rebuttal finished, comment now: it is irrelevant how much a corporation makes; huge companies have huge profits. Oil companies do, yet as of 2009 netted about 8 cents a share and paid billions in taxes, while Obama's politically favored GE (Immelt) paid none. Warren Buffet owes over a billion in taxes.
Trust me; you are being propagandized.
Either listen to Rush Limbaugh, or continue knowing only one side of the issues.

12.5.2012 18:54 #8

Azuran

Effective corporate tax rates seem low over the past few years due to temporary changes in the tax law. The Jobs and Growth Tax Relief and Reconciliation Act of 2003 increased Section 179 expensing (allowing to expense assets immediately compared to over several years) from $25000 to $2500000 and then $500000. This year it drops down to $150000 and expires next year. The Tax Relief Act of 2003 increased bonus depreciation to 100% on new assets purchased in the later end of of 2010 and before the end of last year. That reverts to 50% this year and expires next year. So obviously businesses are going to purchase and write off a ton of depreciation in these years. Unless Congress reinstates these laws effective corporate tax rates will start to climb back to normal.

12.5.2012 19:47 #9

jackalguy

Quote:So much here is propaganda that it is sad that it is still spouted. First, not everyone wants a degree. Second, those who qualify for scholarships can get educated for practically free. Lastly, universities don't teach students to work, they teach them how to think. 80% of professors are leftover 60's radicals teaching Marxism, and disgorging drones of "grievance" politics that few want to hire (hence the influx of foreign students who actually want to work) Careful, your tinfoil hat is falling off. I'll tell you right now, I'm an economics major, and the information you're spouting off is not at all based in reality. Furthermore, I promise that university students nowadays are not "indoctrinated" with "Marxist" economic values like you think. I attend arguably one of the most liberal universities in the nation, and the economics department here embraces the Chicago and Austrian schools of economic thought, largely taking a Hayekian approach and discrediting Keynes wherever possible. Universities aren't these liberal indocrtination camps your heroes like Limbaugh profess that they are, such statements are simple used to polarize the right against those of us that actually are educated and hold differing viewpoints; it's a way for people like yourself to assert that those of us who actually look at the data and theories in an academic setting are fundamentally flawed, and you thus perceive yourself as being more "right," regardless of your own qualifications.

Quote:Either listen to Rush Limbaugh, or continue knowing only one side of the issues. This says it all. You appeal to one of -- if not the -- most polarizing figure in punditry as being a one-stop-shop for fair media, and expect to be taken seriously?

I guess when it comes down to it, I wasn't aware that expecting someone to pay 15% tax on millions of dollars was Marxist, or Socialist. But then again, such words are just inflammatory rhetoric used to break down any civil dissension from the other side.

"The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one"

-George Bernard Shaw

12.5.2012 19:48 #10

Mrguss

@ BLESSEDON
Percentages are manipulated.....
This is what The U.S. Govt. using the Mass Media want you to believe. Do you really trust them?
http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=1258

I agree: "Not everyone wants a degree".

Foreign Govts. do not want and never did "The Dollar" to be the Master Money for the whole world and actually billionaires are living the U.S. [like this guy form Facebook] and ready to scum others countries like Goldman Sachs did with Greece.

After UK. USA has the highest corporate tax rate in the world. but the Tax System is not equal for all of us in the USA.
We, The Working Class are the ones that are carrying the U.S. expenditures, while the millionaires & billionaires are getting a Free Ride using the U.S. Govt. to make Laws that favor themselves.

I do not follow R. Limbaugh or any other similar clown....

+4000

12.5.2012 20:14 #11

Azuran

Not everyone deserves a degree. When I was an undergrad I was appalled at how many idiots I had to share classes with.

12.5.2012 20:16 #12

Semperfipal

What would be his share after being taxed? He still has enough money to live the rest of his life in the lap of luxury, with not a care in world. What a greedy little SOB! His decision is irrevocable once done, that to me is at least some consolation that will never be a U.S. citizen again.

12.5.2012 20:40 #13

Mrguss

Originally posted by Semperfipal: What would be his share after being taxed? He still has enough money to live the rest of his life in the lap of luxury, with not a care in world. What a greedy little SOB! His decision is irrevocable once done, that to me is at least some consolation that will never be a U.S. citizen again. If he was the owner of 5% of 96B.
Around 1B on taxes and around 4B left for him alone after taxes. But he took the whole money and run away since he was not even a natural born American Citizen. No bad for a small Brazilian investor in a company created on feb. 2004.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eduardo_Saverin

+4000

12.5.2012 21:13 #14

Blessedon

Originally posted by jackalguy:
This says it all. You appeal to one of -- if not the -- most polarizing figure in punditry as being a one-stop-shop for fair media, and expect to be taken seriously? You are lying; I never said he was "a one-stop-shop for fair media".
I said he was another side of the issue.

@Mrguss, No, I'm sure you don't. I sure you follow the clown you are told to follow, not the one you choose.

12.5.2012 21:19 #15

molsen

Originally posted by jackalguy: Originally posted by Blessedon: I can't blame the guy; If I worked hard to found a business, and that business - whatever it may be; oil, shoes, software - made me wealthy, and the government decided to confiscate my earnings to give to whiners who thought they were "entitled" to it,
I'd leave too!
It is happening in all socialist countries; keep taxing the rich at high rates and they will go elsewhere, leaving behind the poor. And I have noticed something; The poor don't do a lot of hiring.
Even though I'm not rich - I'm just a poor slob who barely makes the mortgage - I'm not so stupid as to be mad at them!
Socialism is a failure everywhere it has been imposed. People have no sense of a social contract or decency anymore. If it helps you wrap your brain around it, think of the taxes as being paid for being allowed to become that wealthy in the first place, of which the U.S. is one of the few countries that allows that -- and our top tax rates are some of the lowest in the developed world. The taxes he would have paid would go back into the social pot for things like defense spending (R&D, not just war) and social programs for those that aren't fortunate enough to be multi-billionaires. Keep thinking that you and everyone around you can one day become a millionaire, see how that scenario plays out in reality.

Social systems aren't what ruining society, it's greedy, self-interested people like this guy and your sentiment as well. By your logic, we ought to be slashing blue collar worker's wages to those levels of China in order to compete globally, which is of course absurd. We have taxes because we like to think that as the U.S. -- like other developed nations -- our citizens have developed certain liberties over time in the form of social programs and as a nation we have the wealth to even pay for them.

But I hear countries that don't partake in taxes are fantastic places to live, rife with high quality roads, law enforcement, strong militaries (if you like that kind of thing), and great education!

The idea that people don't hire because of high taxes is absurd and a fundamental misunderstanding of basic economic principle; companies don't hire because of low demand, and they hire when demand justifies more manpower. Some of the wealthiest business owners around have admitted to this even. You never been to New York State. Trust me the roads are horrible, so too is living standards. But this state spends a touch less than Texas and California does COMBINED in social programs. Yeah that is where I want my tax dollars not in developing jobs and getting business to come into the state.

This guy is greedy though, hope Singapore does you well.

14.5.2012 13:12 #16

AfterDawn: News