422% Fee Increase To Renounce Citizenship Yields Millions, With Exits Up 560%

Forbes: It is odd that the U.S. is making millions from Americans tossing their passports. The government has collected about $12.6 million in fees just since the fall of 2014, after hiking its fee to renounce citizenship by 422%, according to CNNMoney. The fee to renounce is now $2,350. Even so, Americans are expatriating in record numbers. There are now 18 times as many renouncers as in 2008. Some write why they gave up their U.S. citizenship.

In all, the number of Americans renouncing U.S. citizenship has gone up 560% from its Bush administration high. In 2015, there were approximately 4,300 expatriations according to the published names of individuals who renounced. The name and shame list is published quarterly, with the most recent three-month total being 1,058. That brings the total to 4,279 for 2015...

Previously, there was a $450 fee to renounce, and no fee to relinquish. But the precise difference between the two procedures was often confused. Presently, the $2,350 fee is supposed to apply to both. That was a hike from $450 to $2,350 for renouncing, and an even steeper hike–from zero to $2,350–for relinquishment. The U.S. State Department said raising the fee was about demand and paperwork, but American expatriations are still growing after the increase.

If the administration thought a fee avoidance would decrease the amount of tax payers leaving, the raising of the fees has not worked.

Meanwhile a student changed his name to avoid an airline change booking fee.

Armstrong... changed his name to West for free and drove to Liverpool to rush through a new passport for £103... Armstrong said: “Her stepdad got my name from Facebook but I had put it as Adam West as a joke, because he was the actor who played Batman on TV. 

“Ryanair were not helpful at all. We showed them we were not trying to change the person, just the name, but they wouldn’t back down.

"Bill would prevent airlines from imposing bathroom fee"

Travel Pulse: As crazy as all that might seem, it’s not exactly far-fetched. Five years ago, European low-budget carrier Ryanair first proposed such an idea.

"By charging for the toilets we are hoping to change passenger behavior so that they use the bathroom before or after the flight," Ryanair spokesman Stephen McNamara told London's Daily Mail at the time.

That idea was quickly abandoned over several concerns, not the least of which was passenger outrage and a very simple way around it – one person pays to use the loo, and then pays it forward as each subsequent lavatory user simply holds the door open for the next person so they don’t have to pay.

"More and more, when airline passengers get on a flight they expect to suffer from uncomfortable conditions; as a frequent flyer I understand this,” Lipinski said in a statement. “One thing they should never have to worry about is access to a bathroom. Unfortunately, commercial flights are not required to depart with a functioning bathroom, sometimes forcing passengers to endure a trip without this basic necessity. Moreover, as ancillary fees continue to grow, the specter of an in-flight bathroom fee continues to loom in the background since first being broached in 2010.”

Lipinski said his bill was to ensure basic rights for passengers traveling on U.S. commercial airlines, including lost or delayed baggage.