Michele Bachmann Withdraws Swiss Citizenship

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) has decided to withdraw her dual Swiss citizenship.

The conservative congresswoman addressed the matter in a statement on Thursday on the heels of news that she had been granted citizenship of the European country.

"I sent a letter to the Swiss Consulate requesting withdrawal of my dual Swiss citizenship, which was conferred upon me by operation of Swiss law when I married my husband in 1978," she said. "I took this action because I want to make it perfectly clear: I was born in America and I am a proud American citizen. I am, and always have been, 100 percent committed to our United States Constitution and the United States of America. As the daughter of an Air Force veteran, stepdaughter of an Army veteran and sister of a Navy veteran, I am proud of my allegiance to the greatest nation the world has ever known."

Had Bachmann not reversed course on the citizenship issue, it appears she would have been eligible to run for office in Switzerland. She laughed off a question on the political factor while talking with a Swiss television station earlier this week.

Below, a look back at some of Bachmann's most memorable gaffes and comments:

Comments

[RepublicanDepression]

10:14 PM on 07/23/2012

Censure McCarthy/Bachmann

[AdobePhsyko]

04:05 PM on 05/30/2012

This woman is living proof that , The ONLY requirement to run for President is to have a birth certificate.

[phaps]

12:13 PM on 05/18/2012

The Swiss can still have her

[BowlingForRevenge]

05:04 PM on 05/20/2012

Please and thank you!

[Tim VanZeben]

08:55 PM on 05/14/2012

Was this really a big deal and who was barking that it was?

[madupont]

10:49 AM on 05/14/2012

I am wondering now whether the way this started may have been more than a vacation in Switzerland and more of an opportunity to run out on the amount of money accepted from those who helped her run for office in the US although she is apparently quite non-Presidential material.

[ezer]

01:03 PM on 05/14/2012

At this point, this is not possible. US residents even if they are Swiss are persona non gratae in Swiss banks. Swiss citizenship offers no protection whatsoever as worldwide Banks have to disclose to the US gov. the identities of all US persons (meaning US citizens or US residents even if the residents are Swiss) if the banks want to conduct financial transactions with the US. The real evasion is via international trusts nowadays (Cayman, Jersey etc...)

[BowlingForRevenge]

05:05 PM on 05/20/2012

So have they made the worth of Romney's Swiss accounts public?

[Celebrindan]

09:58 AM on 06/05/2012

This law you quote is quite new, isn't it?

Since she's had her Swiss ID since 1978, your suppositions are somewhat inappropriately applied.

Is it perhaps the main reason she's found the passport of less value, and sought gain in it's public shredding?

[sabalure3]

07:43 PM on 05/13/2012

Well....at least SHE has a Birth Certificate.

[tacevad]

05:52 PM on 05/15/2012

have you seen it?

[BowlingForRevenge]

05:06 PM on 05/20/2012

Who says?

[Don Crois]

08:00 AM on 05/13/2012

I wonder if Michele knows how lucky she is? If Switzerland had the same rules as the US for expatriation, she would have to:

a) book an appointment at the Swiss Embassy (not just write a letter, way too easy!), go through a long process of telling the US consulate how sure you are you really do want to renounce (often split up into several appointments) and pay $450 dollars to renounce.

b) She would need to deal with the tax consequences. The US taxes its citizens worldwide (and ONLY the US + Eritrea do this) , so she needs to prove she has filed her taxes in the US and Switzerland (paying a double tax if she earns above 95K) for the last 5 years, even though she lives in the US. If her net worth is high enough (it is) she pays an "exit tax", ie, a hefty percentage of the value of her WORLDWIDE holdings as if she sold them the day before expatriation. Ouch.

c) She would be plastered all over the Swiss media as a "tax evader", "unpatriotic", etc. etc. (aka Saverin). How dare she leave Switzerland??? WE OWN YOU!!!!!

Yes, lucky for her, Switzerland doesn't behave like the US. In fact... no one else does, except.. Eritrea. However, the US denounced their worldwide taxation policy: http://isaacbrocksociety.com/2012/01/30/only-the-u-s-may-tax-its-citizens-living-abroad-u-s-condemms-use-of-disapora-tax-for-other-countries/

[ezer]

05:36 PM on 05/13/2012

Yes exactly. If she was Swiss and flipped flopped on US citizenship, a quick email to the US consulate in Switzerland would not suffice. She would have to go through a convoluted process ending by a stiff renunciation exit tax on unrealized capital gains and deferred compensation.

[Mithrall]

02:01 PM on 05/12/2012

Michelle must have found out Switzerland allowed gay marriage. Notice Marcus hasn't relinquished his Swiss citizenship?

[AdobePhsyko]

04:03 PM on 05/30/2012

"Not that there's anything wrong with that"

[Mithrall]

01:49 PM on 05/12/2012

This is what is required to run for office in today's Republican party. An unyielding and endless series of litmus tests. I wonder what level of documented purity you will eventually need and to which Master Race?

[My Mate Pat]

04:45 AM on 05/12/2012

As a European, this news pleases me a lot.

[BowlingForRevenge]

05:07 PM on 05/20/2012

See, even y'all don't want her...sigh.

[MikeyEditor]

02:42 AM on 05/12/2012

Congresswoman Kooky never fails to amaze. She thinks it is OK for her children to have dual citizenship in a nation where same-sex marriages (among other things) are legal, but not her own self. Imagine how her latest spokesman feels a day after issuing a "Nothing to see here" press release. And this woman believed she was capable of being president. Of course, the loony train in the GOP always does somehting silly, rides the free publicity fo all it is worth, and then reverses track and apologizes or "clarifies" and gets another pub ride.

[ezer]

04:34 AM on 05/12/2012

Of course the congresswoman was free to petition to change the Swiss healthcare laws. The right for a referendum is in the constitution and every Swiss can start one if he or she collects 100,000 signatures.

[jondoe888]

12:16 AM on 05/12/2012

My band played in Canada a few times, and a few years later, we all got Canadian SS cards. If I ever lose my health insurance, I'm headed north!

[CateManhattan]

09:18 PM on 05/11/2012

She wanted a Swiss bank account. But several months later she realized it was a Mittake.

[americanwhoserved]

11:34 AM on 05/12/2012

You betcha, she called Mittens and his lawyers for help on tax evasion with a swiss bank account. She was ecastic when she learned from mittens lawyers, she could double her tax evasion in the Cayman Islands. She immediately got a "Caymen tax evasion Tan".

[HowthCastle]

07:42 PM on 05/11/2012

Yodel, little lady who!

[Tracy Domenica]

06:56 PM on 05/11/2012

Below the snow-covered heights of the Alps, a nation of 8 million just let out a collective sigh of relief.

[CateManhattan]

08:59 PM on 05/11/2012

Awesome HP start!