Some people may worry that, if New Hampshire peacefully secedes, they will lose their Social Security. What about all of those paycheck deductions over the years? How will they fund their retirement? This is a reasonable concern!
Fortunately, there is an easy answer to this. Social Security is already paid out to individuals who live in other countries (except for Cuba and North Korea). There are currently over 400,000 U.S. retirees living abroad and collecting social security benefits, according to U.S. government data. So if New Hampshire became an independent nation, its citizens could still collect their payments.
Even Americans who renounce their U.S. citizenship continue to receive their payments. The money you pay into the system is yours, and you have the legal right to collect it once you reach an eligible status. Numerous websites discuss this topic. Here’s one example:
If you are eligible to collect Social Security and your renunciation process is done properly, it will in no way affect any payment or collection entitlement after expatriation. Your Social Security number will remain in place; you’re just not taxed as a US citizen any longer. Keep the good and get rid of the bad cross-border tax problems.
Moody’s Private Client Blog
Going directly to the source, the U.S. Social Security Administration, note that in answer to the question “If I decide to give up my U.S. citizenship, what are the U.S. tax consequences of my expatriation?”, their response doesn’t say anything about losing your social security funds. It only discusses the fees and exit tax you must pay as part of the renunciation process.
What about an Exit Tax?
This raises a secondary question: if New Hampshire regains the sovereignty it originally had (note that the New Hampshire Constitution dates back to Oct. 31, 1783… four years before the U.S. Constitution!), does that mean that every New Hampshire citizen will have to pay the U.S. Federal government an exit tax? We can’t say for sure, but we assume not. Obviously, the New Hampshire and U.S. governments will need to work out the details.
Taking BREXIT as a recent, real-world example: UK citizens paid no exit tax when the UK left the European Union.
