Comments on: Facebook Co-founder preps for IPO by renouncing US citizenship

By: $8290949

$8290949 — Mon, 14 May 2012 03:20:00 +0000

What a dick.

By: Wanderinglex

Wanderinglex — Sun, 13 May 2012 14:48:00 +0000

Well, you get thrown in jail if you don’t pay taxes – that’s a fact. So it doesn’t really matter what’s written as law in this case…

By: Wanderinglex

Wanderinglex — Sun, 13 May 2012 14:47:00 +0000

International taxation is a b**ch, yes, but in this case, he’s renouncing the citizenship of the country where his income is coming from. That’s a bit unethical. It’s like marrying a citizen of the country to get the citizenship, then dumping him/her once you have it.

Heck, with anti-double taxation treaties, paying the US tax is better than the foreign tax a lot of times – ask the poor citizens of Belgium, for example: they pay 50-35% personal income tax + 21% VAT on everything – I don’t know whether to laugh or pity them…

By: Wanderinglex

Wanderinglex — Sun, 13 May 2012 14:43:00 +0000

Yeah, it’s a pretty sad thing – I mean, without all the business opportunities the US offered him, it would’ve been very hard to make it (ask any British, Australian or German Internet entrepreneur – 99% of the time they’re using some US service for payments or are selling their stuff to US citizens). And when he strikes it rich, he just abandons it? Then again, $3 billion is enough to retire in any country…

By: Wanderinglex

Wanderinglex — Sun, 13 May 2012 14:37:00 +0000

Well, to be fair, the US has treaties with most countries to avoid double taxation, so they only pay one income tax (local or US). Even if they’re in a country without such a treaty, they’d have to be pretty stupid to pay taxes in both countries – usually, it’s pretty easy to hide the foreign income (won’t be that way for long, though)…

By: Two187pac

Two187pac — Sat, 12 May 2012 16:58:00 +0000

There is no law that says anyone has to pay income tax’s, I know what happens if you don’t and we all do (well most of us) but look it up, there is no law that says anyone has to pay income tax. There’s some interesting documentrys that even grill some of the top people at the irs and they can’t name the statute.

By: HAL2012

HAL2012 — Sat, 12 May 2012 16:30:00 +0000

It is sad when a tax system is so bad that it is more profitable to leave this country than stay.

By: Kals

Kals — Fri, 11 May 2012 21:02:00 +0000

Facebook is wast of time and over stated IPO. It will go in the same path of My Space…
Unfortunately few scammers will get rich at the cost of small investors.

By: Me

Me — Fri, 11 May 2012 20:59:00 +0000

He got a good amount of Bush Tax cuts…now he is booking. Good thing the tax cuts for the job creators worked.

By: willbradley

willbradley — Fri, 11 May 2012 19:51:00 +0000

Actually you do; if you live abroad, it might be a good idea to switch citizenship, because even money you make in another country is taxable under US law if you’re a citizen. Expats pay double taxes.

By: NonFool

NonFool — Fri, 11 May 2012 19:11:00 +0000

Who asked you to pay anything for facebook?

By: Chuck_Woolery

Chuck_Woolery — Fri, 11 May 2012 19:11:00 +0000

You must live in some sort of fantasy world to believe that’s a reasonable thing to say or think.

By: Nobody

Nobody — Fri, 11 May 2012 19:07:00 +0000

You already pay — with your attention. Welcome to ad-supported, “free” internet products.

By: Johnny King

Johnny King — Fri, 11 May 2012 19:00:00 +0000

Hense THE reason I will never pay FACEBOOK anything!

By: Jmac1209

Jmac1209 — Fri, 11 May 2012 18:58:00 +0000

Give him his money and deport him. I have a hard time understanding how people can use our country to get rich then run to “tax haven” countries to be a little richer when the taxman comes to collect. I know they are exploiting loopholes but why have we not closed those loopholes. I hearby renounce my Facebook citizenship and all the daily update on people I don’t talk to for a reason!

By: Lisa Smithsonigerlyteman

Lisa Smithsonigerlyteman — Fri, 11 May 2012 18:56:00 +0000

It’s nice that he’s doing all he can to avoid taxes while people that make 50k (you know, the ones that would have to work for 76,000 years to get what his IPO will earn him) have no means of avoiding taxes.

By: Jeremy Herring

Jeremy Herring — Fri, 11 May 2012 18:44:00 +0000

If he renounces his citizenship, shouldn’t he forfeit all his IPO earnings? Just saying, that’s $3.8 billion the government could apply to the deficit.

By: Joemonroe

Joemonroe — Fri, 11 May 2012 18:26:00 +0000

That’s not entirely unusual. It was very common for english musicians to do back in the mid60′s-mid70′s wasn’t it?