Originally Posted by
Often1
If you don't pay, you will continue to accrue US tax liability and that can be chased down in most countries.
That is anything but certain.
There are going to be some cases outside of the US that may show how constitutional and other fundamental rights trump tax collection efforts by foreign sovereigns to which foreign persons may claim no willful affiliation. I doubt that the US Treasury wants to see its tax treaties end up like Swiss cheese due to overreach aimed at foreign citizens who claim to have relinquished US citizenship, if they ever even acknowledged having it.
An interesting byproduct of this kind of rip-off fee structure is that a growing proportion of US citizens abroad may choose to not pursue US documentation of their foreign-born children in such a way as to burden their children with potential US extraterritorial claims against them. That would not suit a UST interested in maximizing long-term revenue sources.