The Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin, portrayed as the loyal friend who was taken advantage of by Mark Zuckerberg in the movie “The Social Network,” is being cast as something of a villain on Capitol Hill.
As Facebook goes public, handing Mr. Saverin an unimaginable windfall, two Democratic senators, Charles E. Schumer of New York and Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, unveiled legislation on Thursday to sic the Internal Revenue Service on him, wherever he may live.
Mr. Saverin, a Brazilian-born immigrant to the United States, now lives in Singapore, which has no capital gains tax. He renounced his United States citizenship in September. With that act of antipatriotism, Mr. Saverin stands to avoid at least $67 million in United States taxes.
“Mr. Saverin has decided to ‘defriend’ the United States of America just to avoid paying his taxes. We aren’t going to let him get away with it so easily,” Mr. Schumer said. “It’s infuriating to see someone sell out the country that welcomed him and kept him safe, educated him and helped him become a billionaire.”
Under the legislation, expatriates with either a net worth of at least $2 million or an average income tax liability of at least $148,000 over the last five years would be presumed to have renounced their citizenship for tax avoidance purposes. If expatriates can prove to the I.R.S. that they have a legitimate reason for turning their backs on the country, they would be left alone. If not, the I.R.S. would prospectively impose a tax on future investment gains, at 30 percent. The expatriates would also be barred from visiting the United States.
According to Mr. Schumer, a record number of people — 1,780 — gave up their United States passports in 2011, up from 235 in 2008.
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