DiamondDave
Army Vet
Step 1: Seek political asylum in the US, and be granted citizenship when you're 18.
Step 2: Go to Ivy league school and invent a computer social network and call it Facebook.
Step 3: Move to Singapore (because they don't charge capital gains taxes).
Step 4: After finding out that you're going to be fabulously wealthy from your internet endeavor, renounce your citizenship and remain in Singapore.
EDUARDO Saverin, the billionaire co-founder of Facebook who fled to the US as a teenager to escape the threat of kidnapping, has renounced American citizenship to avoid millions of dollars in taxes when the company goes public this week.
The Brazilian-born Mr Saverin, 30, who has lived in Singapore since 2009, joins a growing number of people giving up US citizenship before a possible increase in tax rates for top earners, putting fresh pressure on President Obama to extend expiring tax breaks for the wealthy.
Mr Saverin appeared in a document published by the Internal Revenue Service on Friday listing Americans who had renounced their citizenship. His spokesman said that he made the move last September.
Mr Saverin is one of several students who helped Mark Zuckerberg to start Facebook at Harvard University ten years ago, putting up the cash to launch the fledgling social network. He acted as its first chief financial officer but was squeezed out of the company after an escalating fallout with Mr Zuckerberg.
His original wealth came from his father, an industrialist who fled to Miami with his family in 1993 after discovering that his son's name had appeared on a list of targets for gangs specialising in kidnap for ransom. Eduardo was granted US citizenship at the age of 18.
Facebook's offering values the company at $US96 billion. Mr Saverin's stake stands at 4 per cent, making it worth nearly $US4 billion and leaving him liable for as much as $US600 million in capital gains tax were he to remain a US citizen.
Mr Saverin's spokesman played down the timing of the move, suggesting that it had more to do with geography than any efforts to dodge taxes. Singapore has no capital gains tax, although US citizens are liable for the levy wherever they live.
Cookies must be enabled. | The Australian
Not to mention, the other co-founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg is already working out a way to ALSO avoid paying his fair share of taxes.
And all this is happening just before Facebook goes public with it's IPO.
Yawn... another lefty and the use of SUBJECTIVE 'FAIRNESS'
Seems that fair is always someone else having more taken to get you what you want