The top destinations for U.S. exiles are Britain, Canada, Costa Rica, Israel, Italy and Mexico. Mr. Gallow lives in Panama. A quick check can be done thanks to the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, whose on-line Factbook gives brief reviews on the state of telephony in most countries, including such information as what undersea cables link with the rest of the world and whether there are earth stations for satellite communications systems. The Bahamas, for example, has a highly developed domestic system, an Intelsat earth station, three coaxial submarine cables and direct link to Florida. The Seychelles, by contrast, relies on radiotelephone links with adjacent island countries and the African coast, although it too has an Intelsat station.
Tax is a big reason for calling it quits.
The outcome of the tax-cut proposals now under discussion in the U.S. Senate will not change the fact that the United States, like almost all industrial countries, has a much higher tax rate than those in most developing countries. More importantly, U.S. officials make much more of an effort to collect their revenue. American citizens living outside the United States are supposed to file income tax returns each year. But, according to Mr. Gallow, remarkably few of them do. He reckons, therefore, that the number of Americans leaving the United States each year to settle in other countries is two to three times the U.S. State Department's recent estimate of 2.5 million people.