Beckett G. Cantley, Taxation Expatriation: Will the Fast Act Stop Wealthy Americans from Leaving the United States?, 36 Akron L. Rev. 221 (2003).
Summary. This article analyzed the recently enacted legislative solution to the problem of wealthy American citizens expatriating to a foreign nation to avoid taxes. The article also discussed the last major attempt to prevent tax expatriation through the enactment of IRC Section 877 and the fact that Section 877 was being easily circumvented by tax expatriates and their advisors. To stem the tide of tax expatriation, certain tax provisions were added to the Foreign and Armed Services Tax Fairness Act (“Fast Act”) that would bolster the previsions existing under Section 877. Under the draft Fast Act, two of the ways tax expatriates will be punished are by (1) treating all of the tax expatriate’s holdings as if they had been sold the day before expatriation, thereby triggering all inherent capital gains on the holdings and (2) requiring that estate taxes due from the death of a tax expatriate be collected against a domestic heir of the tax expatriate, rather than the tax expatriate’s estate. The article analyzes the operational and policy implications of the FAST Act, and concluded that while it adds additional deterrents to tax expatriation, it cannot eliminate it.