...and they won't accept your renouncement unless you're square with the IRS. They're trying to discourage people from renouncing, as US citizens are taxed on WORLDWIDE income, e.g. if you're a US ex-pat living in Australia or the UK, you still need to file with the IRS every year as well as your local taxes, and potentially pay US income taxes as well as the local tax, particularly if you're self employed, or earn in excess of the "foreign earned income exclusion". Most tax treaties the US has signed doesn't cover self-employment - so start a sole tradership or partnership overseas as an American, and expect another 15% tax bill from the IRS on your non-US pre-tax profits. Should be noted than most renouncements are from people that "inherited" citizenship, or they left the country as a young child and have no intention of returning, rather than people fleeing the country.
I suppose most citizens born in usa have never lived outside usa so wouldnt renounce citizenship due to fear of being stateless? Still a huge hike in price over 5 years so they must be expecting it to get worse.
