Apparently the 47th POTUS has floated the idea of charging $5 million for wealthy foreigners to get US citizenship, with a view towards using that money to pay off the $36 trillion in national debt. My my math, it would require 7.5 million people taking himj up on the offer.
That would increase the overall population of the country by approximately two percent, if y math is correct. Significant, but not alarmingly so. But mainly I’m concerned about the overall effect on the country economically. Certainly they wouldn’t tax (so to speak) our social infrastructure (Social Security, Medicare, etc.), being wealthy enough to not need to worry about societal support. If you believe in trickle down economics, there would be more wealth in the population which would, theoretically anyway, equal more money spent on this and that, more jobs created, etc. Ideally. But what I don’t know about economics could fill several libraries, and AFAIK, the whole trickle down thing is a pipe dream.
I also don’t get the benefit to the buyer. With US citizenship they can live here and vote here, but so what? With that kind of money you can basically live anywhere, so effectively they’d be paying for the right to vote here. Big whoop. Which brings me to my next point:
Where are these people going to go? The most desirable real estate in this country, as far as wealthy foreigners are concerned, is likely the Florida coast, the California coast, and maybe places like Vail, the Hamptons, NYC, Beverly Hills, etc. Excluding Florida, most of that real estate is in Blue states, and I don’t see an influx of 7.5 million wealthy foreigners changing that. Unless I’m vastly misreading this situation. Am I?
Under existing programs, foreigners can acquire permanent resident status in the United States by investing at least eight hundred thousand dollars in a new American business. So why would somebody pay five million dollars?
My understanding is that 47’s plan includes citizenship, not just permanent residency. Citizenship also confers the right to vote, to not be deported, and … I’m not sure what else.
The same is true of permanent residents. They pay tax based on worldwide income. I guess they might not pay as much to the US if they pay to their original country and get a credit for that.
Numbers like 7,500,000 people are dreams. The Gold Card would be replacing the EB-5 card. That brings in about 8,000 people a year. About 3,800 millionaires entered separately in 2024.
America has the largest number of millionaires in the world, at 22,000,000. An influx of 3,800 would not register. Both numbers are fairly meaningless. The number of wealthy immigrants fluctuates greatly from year to year, presumably because of conditions outside the U.S. The 22 million includes mostly middle-class households whose wealth is the accumulation of pensions and 401Ks. Most do not have a free $5 million because their millions will get transferred to kids or nursing homes, not gold coast houses.
Those percentages may not hold worldwide, but nevertheless the number of people with $5 million they can toss aside is relatively small.
Undoubtedly a Gold Card program will attract some of the wealthy, seeking the safety of U.S. civilization. How many? That’s an uncertainty. Not mentioned by Trump is that about 100 other countries also offer similar programs. How much more does the U.S. offer than the rest of the world combined? That’s an uncertainty.
Certain is only that the numbers are too small to move the needle.
Exactly. I expect the US laws on income taxation to discourage anyone wealthy enough to afford this offer. Surely there are other, stable countries in which one could acquire citizenship that don’t have such draconian income tax rules?
I suspect very wealthy people can often open doors in the US in cheaper ways. I doubt many are lining up for the privilege of additional taxes.
I’ve read this new scheme also might displace another system where very wealthy people essentially provide cheap capital to wealthy American developers. In that case, these powerful people are likely to oppose this idea.
I think there isn’t a difference between how citizens and permanent residence are treated by the IRS, including getting foreign tax credits for income in other countries.
According to Google, there are 58 million millionaires in the world. The vast majority of them must be in something like the $1-6 million range. I do wonder if there are 7.5 million - doubtful. And even then, perhaps half would have zero interest in US citizenship.
If you think about it, most people with wealth don’t obtain that wealth from being entrepreneurs, and among those who do, there aren’t that many who want to move to another country to start again.
Twelve answers so far and already three spot on correct answers. Shows you how dumb the temper tanTrump in the White House is. He looks around himself, sees people who pretend they are rich (some even are) and concludes that the world is full of multi-millionaires who want to give 5 million US$ away for practically no gain.
Economic effects? Zero, it is never going to happen.
Actually according to Forbes, 88% of millionaires own their own business. And most studies seem to indicate only about 20% inherited their wealth. So I think it’s fair to say that most wealthy people became that way through entrepreneurial ventures or successful professional careers.
But in any event, there aren’t 7.5 foreign millionaires chomping at the bit to become US citizens for $5 million dollars. That’s a number the OP created to show how many millionaires it would take to cover the entire 36 trillion debt.
The New York Times has an article on that. The existing program of providing Green Cards for investing in real estate projects is called the EB-5 visa, and those developers who use it for cheap financing do not want to see that program end or be threatened.