Expatriate?
I don't expect that this is advisable, but does anyone actually know if the government will come after you if you move to say, Thailand to escape your debt to the government?
An understatement, to say the least.
> but getting back into the US could be sticky to say the least
Really? They're not going to allow you back into the USA, or arrest you at the border for defaulting on a loan? That doesn't sound very credible at all. Any evidence to back that up?
Defaulting on student loans is a civil debt. Filing fraudulent tax returns is a crime. I have never heard of someone being extradited or having their passport cancelled for defaulting on a civil debt (probably because governments have no direct interest in civil debts per se)
http://www2.ed.gov/offices/OSFAP/DCS/treasury.offset.payment...
That said, I do know that your credit rating in one country is not currently linked to your credit rating in another. For example, it's possible to have sterling credit in America and abysmal credit in Canada.
However, the issue in your original country doesn't go away. It may stop impacting your credit, and the debt collectors may write it off and stop pursuing it, but the debt is never cancelled.