[lucasvo]

Most of you miss the point. I grew up in Switzerland and have a U.S. passport because my father is american. I know countless other people who have U.S. passports but haven't been in the U.S. for years. They will never be in need of medicare nor do they care what the americans do, never the less they have to pay US taxes to pay for politics that they don't neccessarily support in a country they have never lived in.

This has been accepted by the other nations and they have tried to comply with these rules as much as possible. Switzerland has stricter privacy laws which allows people to evade taxes easily. The problem is, the swiss still pay their taxes even though they aren't forced to – and there are numerous studies suggesting that not forcing people to do something actually works better. I can completely understand nations who want the swiss to close this loophole.

Recent events, this was confirmed a friend managing relations with the U.S. at a big swiss bank, made a lot of people rethink whether they still want to keep their U.S. passports and are getting rid of them. These people are have been living in Switzerland for years made their fortune in Switzerland and plan to retire here. Is there really any reason why they should pay taxes, just because they were born in the US?

However you should read the second part, in which they start talking about estate tax. In this example he talks about non-US citizens, people who have invested their money in the U.S. Obama now wants to make a law that will tax estate in the U.S even if the owner is not in possession of a U.S. passport or a greencard. Doing an MBA in the states is reason enough to being taxed. This means that a wealthy individual who owns US property or stocks & bonds and spent some time in the US now has to pay up to 45% of estate tax in the U.S. on his U.S. property. Just because you own German stocks, should Germany get access to all your financial accounts and be able to freeze the assets when you pass away to determine if you should be taxed in Germany? This is absolutely ridiculous and as they mentioned in the letter, the additional tax revenue will not create enough tax revenue to solve the problems of the U.S. That's why they are suggesting that their clients should withdraw from investing in the US, because that 2 month vacation in California suddenly means, that they'll take 45% of your Apple shares when you pass away.