The following is a guest post by reader Ross Thomas.
"Is the rich world aware of how four billion of the six billion live? If we were aware, we would want to help out, we’d want to get involved." "“ Bill Gates
Dear Eduardo Saverin (if I may call you that),
You were, as I'm sure you're aware, born in Brazil to a wealthy family, and were moved to Miami when you were a child. To America, the land of opportunity. And boy, did you ever have a lot of opportunities. Your parents sent you to Harvard, where according to Wikipedia you "took advantage of Brazil’s lax insider trading regulations and made $300,000 via strategic investments in the oil industry". Well played! I bet that made your parents proud. In 2004 you were vaguely instrumental in setting up Facebook "“ a thriving startup which you helped turn into the world's most overvalued company "“ and in 2009 you moved to Singapore. In 2011, just before Facebook's IPO, you renounced your US citizenship, once again to exploit loopholes in international law for your own personal gain.
You are the worst kind of capitalist. You're the kind of capitalist who shows up in a new country and sees only spoils to be pillaged, other people's property to make your own. The opportunity you see is for yourself and yourself alone; you fail to realize that every opportunity comes with a cost. Your goal "“ as Marx observed of the obnoxious pseudo-capitalists of his own day "“ is to accumulate, accumulate, accumulate. But you don't even have the chutzpah to stick around: you run away with your loot to a rather dull little tax haven in the South China Sea, sticking your former countrymen with your bills.
Real capitalists build nations. They understand they can only profit if society does too: that society enables them to profit in the first place by providing political stability, a system of finance for raising capital, security from our enemies, courts of law in which to settle disputes, roads on which to transport goods and workers, Internet links through which to channel data, and on and on. Real capitalists tend, nourish, and grow their communities so that they may reap an even greater harvest of profits next year, to everyone's mutual benefit. You raided the vegetable garden.
You give capitalism a bad name, and I no longer wish to be associated with you or your company. Thus I have deactivated my Facebook account and switched to Google+. I hope your American customers understand that because of your oh-so-clever legal maneuverings you will be paying less tax on your billions, and they will have to make up the difference. And I hope next time you visit America you're made to feel as welcome as you deserve.
You, Mr Saverin, are no Bill Gates.
Ross Thomas
This story is authored by a guest and its content is not necessarily endorsed by Pragmatic Capitalism nor are its views representative of other authors on this site.
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Frankly, Americans such as author need to have tone down their rhetoric since they have clearly no personal experience with the issue. US is the only country in the world ( well, maybe there a couple obscure ones) that taxes world-wide income. I have Russian and American citizenships. I live in the US and pay US taxes. I pay nothing to Russia since I don’t use their services. If they wanted me to pay taxes and comply with difficult filing requirements while I don’t use their services I’d be upset. But if I wanted to go back and live in Russia, I would have to pay not only their taxes but also disclose all my accounts, all my transactions and pay US taxes on top of it. And good luck getting documents that would be recognized by US authorities from a country such as Russia. They could care less about US requirements. In fact, they would think it is a good sport to defy Americans since they would rightly think that US has no business meddling into other soverign country affairs. And you see nothing wrong with that? Well, I do. And every American expat I know feels the same way.
Saverin is not an expat. He did not choose to leave his home country to work in a foreign country where he could make a greater income. He chose to stay in the USA. But he bailed when the tax bill came. It’s not the same as being an expat or having dual citizenship. This scum bag set up dual citizenship in advance so he could keep more money. That’s all. He played the system, benefited from the system and when the system asked for something in return he stiffed it.
As I understand he got his citizenship through parents who applied. Then how is his case different from all other Americans born in the US denouncing their citizenship because it is too hard to maintain while not living in the US? How is he more of a scumbag in your view than the rest of them. Because he is richer?
I was born in the USSR, where we couldn’t live the country at all. Not only that we couldn't actually move to another city without a permission. We were supposed to stay and work where the party felt we are the most useful. I am very sensitive to the issues of freedom and as far as I am concerned everyone should be able to chose their citizenship as long as they are following the laws. He didn’t break any laws so I honestly don’t understand what everyone is mad about. That he dared to take his money out of the country? Isn’t is his money?
“Isn't is his money?”
Not all of it. That was my point.
Ross Thomas-
Man your blowing up the thread! Seems you hit a nerve. Wait until Fox News get’s a hold of this. All you need now is a good Conservative leaning libertarian and one of those good hollywood/ New York City Hampton Housewife liberals to get into it and I say you break the TPC all time thread. I know how to get the minyans on the left and right worked up. So let me help and play devils advocate.
It’s his money what do you care? Why should he use his wealth to finance our wars?(that should do it)
Haha. Thanks! I think this topic needs more attention.
“It's his money what do you care? Why should he use his wealth to finance our wars?”
Well, I don’t agree with everything the govt does, by any means. But as I said above, only *most* of it is his money. A portion of it is supposed to be set aside for reinvesting back into the country. Taxpayers don’t get to pick and choose what they fund (though perhaps one day they’ll be able to, using the Internet), but they do get to choose their govt. If you don’t like how the people’s representatives are spending your money then vote them out. You can’t just not pay taxes because you disagree with how they spend it, no more than you can demand to pay 20% lower service fees at your bank because you think their executives are overpaid.
Ross-
I see both sides of this argument. My father would say..”your hearts in the right place”. That’s my take away from your letter.
Wouldn’t it be nice if more people’s were?
Why do we have to sit back and say “well, that’s just how it is”?
The author is a citizen of the EU and Canada.
+1. Well done Ross!
Where does the author resides – in the US or Canada? If the author resides in the US, then he only needs to file US taxes the same way I do. But in case of living in Canada I’d be intrested to know who prepares the US tax returns as TurboTax is no longer an option. And how does the author feel about the Canadian VAT taxes not being dedutable on the US tax return.
The author resides in Canada.
But the author is growing tired of referring to himself in the third person
Lol. Ross, then who files and figures out the US taxes and what Canadian taxes are deductable or not?
I’m not sure what you mean. I only pay tax in Canada
You don’t file a US tax return? Well, you are supposed to as a US citizen. You must be joking.
I think you might need to read over my comments again.
He is not a US citizen. As he said….
I misread it, – you said EU and Canada. I read it as US and Canada. If you are not a US citizen, then you don’t have the experience with the US double-taxation laws, just as I suspected orginally.
This is not a case of double taxation. He did not reside in Singapore prior to making his billions. He moved to Singapore specifically so he could establish citizenship and the avoid the US taxes which he would owe. If he’d been a dual citizen BEFORE making his billions in Facebook then I doubt Ross or I or anyone else would have a problem with what he’s doing.
Right.
He has every right to flee the US with his money. Pay those extra money in taxes for what? Fighting wars? food stamps? Spying on US Citizens? Besides, he has made it clear enough that it was not a tax move. If you think it was tax evasion, try going after him!! Who’s stopping? If Singapore/HongKong were not the place to be in the coming decades, he would have certainly stayed. Entrepreneurs think ahead. Today’s news is already old stories for them. The real loss is not the tax dollars. It’s that an co-owner of a $100B phenomenon will be launching his next venture elsewhere. The fact that he decided to do so.
Of course he has every right to leave. But he wouldn’t have built that $100B phenomenon if his family hadn’t moved him to the USA where they took advantage of the advanced legal system and development to avoid Saverin’s potential kidnapping in Brazil (he had been placed on a kidnapping list by local gangs – the reason for his family’s move). He also wouldn’t have met Zuckerberg had he not benefited from his American education at Harvard. But as soon as it was convenient for him to shun the nation that potentially saved his life and gave him everything he has, he got out of dodge. Of course that’s his right. He might not think he owes anything to the USA. And he doesn’t have to stick around to pay his dues and give thanks to a country that gave him a lot. But he certainly doesn’t deserve admiration.
Maybe he’s riding the next economic wave in Singapore. Personally, I find it a little hard to believe that it’s not a tax move when he just built a $100B company here and happens to be saving 75MM or so from this maneuver. Does he seriously think he’s going to do the same in Singapore where the resources are far from comparable? That’s like leaving the NY Yankees for the Miami Marlins because they’re the “team of the future”. Come on. Be honest, you left NY because you didn’t like the taxes and the weather. Same difference with Saverin!
What about all the people who take advantage of the US’s great education system and then leave the country to do business or public service work in developing nations? Should they be criticized for leaving the US?
Is the difference that Eduardo helped make Facebook and reap a profit? Well he left the US a sustainable business. Why is it his duty to continue leaving the US with real resources?
Any student who graduates from a US institution should be granted immediate citizenship. It’s a stupid policy to educate these kids and send them packing.
This is a Brazilian living in Singapore. Why should he pay taxes to the US and not to Brazil or Singapore?
If I, as a Norwegian, buy Facebook shares and sell them with a profit, I only have to pay taxes to Norway. Dividends is another matter, because of US withholding taxes.
A good capitalist always try to make himself as large as profit as possible – after tax. If this Saverin guy have found a way to save taxes, good for him. Then he don’t support the criminal activities done by the US government.
Yes, it’s the governments of the world that are our enemies, not capitalists like Saverin. The governments, sponsored by the corrupt financial system, keep it’s people down in powerty by taxing them more and more and more.
Singapore is an excellent country by the way, and not dull at all.
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