At least that’s what the popular opinion is!
Remember the guy Andrew Garfield played in The Social Network? He’s causing all sorts of outrage right now!
Eduardo Saverin, a co-founder of Facebook, renounced his U.S. citizenship last fall and the government thinks it’s to avoid paying taxes on the billion dollar fortune he accumulated as an American.
Since he owns about 4% of Mark Zuckerberg‘s company, his stock is estimated to be worth $3 billion to $4 billion as of today and he won’t have to pay $600 million in capital gains tax in the future.
In response to what many consider a slap in the face of America, two senators have proposed a new bill that would slap him back with a mandatory 30% tax on future capital gains AND bar him from reentering the country.
Senator Chuck Schumer of New York told sources:
“This is a great American success story gone horribly wrong. Eduardo Saverin wants to defriend the United States of America just to avoid paying taxes. We aren’t going to let him get away with it.”
The young billionaire swears he didn’t renounce his citizenship for any reason other than moving to Singapore. He released a statement reading:
“My decision to expatriate was based solely on my interest in working and living in Singapore, where I have been since 2009. I am obligated to and will pay hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes to the United States government. I have paid and will continue to pay any taxes due on everything I earned while a U.S. citizen. It is unfortunate that my personal choice has led to a public debate, based not on the facts, but entirely on speculation and misinformation.”
We’re not tax experts and we can’t read minds either, so we really have no idea what he was thinking. Maybe he’s telling the truth and government officials are overreacting. Or maybe they caught on to his scheme and he’s just trying to play it off.
Do U think the senators’ reaction is appropriate or should they wait to see if Saverin will pay the tax he owes?