BrianGarst.com

I recently sent the following letter to the The New York Times. They indicated it would run, but I’ve given them enough time and it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen, so I’m publishing here.

To the Editor:

Roger Cohen offered a valiant defense for the United States’ global tax web (“Get Real, Boris Johnson!” Nov. 28), but in the end proved only that it is indefensible. In his effort to shame American expat and London Mayor Boris Johnson for rightfully defying Uncle Sam’s greedy fiscal imperialism, the strongest argument he could muster was that “it’s the law.”

Thankfully, modern man has long progressed past the stage of believing that questions of right and wrong, or moral and immoral, can be so easily dispatched through consultation with lawyers. Cohen is correct, to be sure, that Uncle Sam has proclaimed the entire globe his financial playpen, but that is to our shame, and not Johnson’s for daring to stand on the very same principle upon which this nation was founded.

It’s also true that Johnson could renounce his American citizenship, but Uncle Sam has thought of that too. Yet even double taxing through an exit tax on after-tax earnings, plus an outrageous $2,350 fee, has not prevented record numbers from saying enough is enough.

Brian Garst
Director of Government Affairs
Center for Freedom & Prosperity

Update 1/5/15: They ran it after all.