Friday, January 25, 2013

GOING GALT: Tina Turner to drop U.S. Citizenship.

Tina Turner is one of the most inspirational, talented (and sexiest) women in the entertainment industry. As a black woman who was physically abused by her much less talented late ex-husband, and who worked very hard over decades to get what she was due in a merciless industry that forgets one even exists if you aren't feeding it with money.

Today we learn that Tina Turner is on the verge of severing her relationship with the country of her birth. In news fresh off the virtual press, it appears that Tina Turner will soon surrender her U.S. citizenship. Although I don't know her underlying reasons, it could be due to the extraordinary burden imposed by the U.S. Government on U.S. citizens who live abroad to pay U.S. income tax even though they do not live in the United States.

What's the big deal? Well, nearly all the countries in the world (excluding the U.S. and a handful of others) tax people on the basis of their primary residence. The basic logic of this is if one benefits from the services provided by the government of the state in which one lives, then one should contribute to the cost of providing those services. If not, no tax is properly owing.

Time will tell if Tina is vilified and pilloried for her decision to cut her ties to the U.S. in the way some French and their crazed government went after Gerard Depardieu.

Anyway, here's the story, not that there's much of it...


2 comments:

  1. Tina lives in Switzerland. I think that she feel safer an better served there than she does under the shards of what used to be the US Constitution.

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  2. This is being discussed further here:

    http://isaacbrocksociety.ca/2013/01/25/tina-turner-to-become-swiss-give-up-us-passport/

    ReplyDelete