逃离美国之谜

    放弃美国国籍的潮流在2010年首次抬头，当年有超过1,530人放弃了自己的美国国籍。此前一年，瑞士银行巨头瑞银集团（UBS）跟美国国税局达成了一项和解协议，内容包括向后者披露4,000多名美国客户的姓名，以及就提供违反美国税法的离岸银行服务而缴纳创纪录的7.8亿美元和解罚金。税务律师认为，这起事件对这种潮流起到了推波助澜的作用。

    今年1月，马哈茂德•卡尔扎伊接受了自由欧洲电台（RFE/RL）分支机构自由阿富汗电台（Radio Free Afghanistan）的采访。访谈转录文稿显示，他表示：“我放弃美国护照和美国国籍的原因是，过去12年我一直在阿富汗工作。”他补充说：“我可能会积极投身政治，所以我决定放弃自己的（美国）护照。”笔者暂未联系到卡尔扎伊就此事发表评论。

    根据3月份全球媒体的报道，卡尔扎伊是阿富汗最大银行喀布尔银行（Kabul Bank）的股东，这家丑闻缠身的银行几乎因欺诈行为而倒闭。而据伊莎贝尔•盖蒂的Facebook页面显示，她是纽约大学（New York University）的学生。笔者暂未能联系到她，发送给她母亲（一位身在伦敦的电影制片人）的电子邮件也未得到立即回复。（财富中文网）

    译者：王灿均

    Expatriations first picked up pace in 2010, when more than 1,530 Americans dumped their passports. Sparking that uptick, tax lawyers say, was a deal by UBS (UBS), the Swiss bank giant, the year before to disclose more than 4,000 American client names to the I.R.S. and pay a record $780 million for selling offshore services that violated U.S. tax laws.

    In January, Karzai told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's Radio Free Afghanistan that "the reason I gave up my U.S. passport and citizenship is that I have been working in Afghanistan for the past 12 years," according to a transcript. He added that "I might become politically active, therefore I decided to give up my [U.S.] passport." Karzai could not immediately be reached for comment.

    Karzai is a shareholder of the scandal-plagued Kabul Bank, Afghanistan's largest bank that nearly collapsed due to fraud, according to global media reports in March. Getty, a student at New York University, according to her Facebook page, could not be immediately reached, and emails to her mother, a filmmaker in London, were not immediately returned.