What does that fellow want from me now? He says in the article that the first 100 kUSD of foreign earnings aren't taxed, and to fix this he wants to end taxation of expatriates altogether.
It's reminiscent of Prop 13 in California. It was sold as a means to keep the elderly on fixed incomes in their homes, but it also applies to commercial real estate, and that was the purpose of the execrable thing.
The argument here is mostly NOT about paying tax. There are exemptions that cover that. He wants to not pay $5K a year to an accountant and have his bank accounts closed by banks afraid that the US government will confiscate 20% of all money transfers if don't report US expats' accounts correctly.
Because it is a marginal tax rate on everything if you have to pay an accountant to prove to the IRS you don't owe anything. Plus in most instances that income will be being taxed in another country - the author is in Britain and we definitely have tax here!
So not only is it double taxation but it is taxation without representation, something that's generally considered bad...
He can vote. He just doesn't know how. The only Americans that can't vote are in the non-state regions within the territory of the United States. I live overseas and have no problem voting in every election held in Massachusetts. Your district where you vote is the place you last held residency.
> Your district where you vote is the place you last held residency.
As an American abroad, this makes little sense to me.
Rather than spread our votes out across the country by forcing us to vote where we last held residency, why not allow Americans abroad to elect their own representatives?
I have more in common with other Americans abroad than I do with the average voter in the state where I last lived nearly 20 years ago. We wouldn't expect a former New Yorker, now Texan to continue voting in New York's elections. But if someone moves from New York to, say, Mexico City, that's exactly what happens.
While representation is certainly an issue, many expats with two nationalities get to vote twice; in both their countries. Double representation isn't exactly fair either.
It would be nice if people simply voted and paid taxes where they live, and moving to another country was easy, removing the need to hold on to previous nationalities.
It's reminiscent of Prop 13 in California. It was sold as a means to keep the elderly on fixed incomes in their homes, but it also applies to commercial real estate, and that was the purpose of the execrable thing.
Pass the bucket, I'm going to throw up.