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> I already pay income tax in the UK, so paying it twice sounds absolutely ridiculous. You aren't paying twice. That's the point. Assume the US has a 30% tax r

> I already pay income tax in the UK, so paying it twice sounds absolutely ridiculous. You aren't paying twice. That's the point. Assume the US has a 30% tax rate in your bracket. Poland has a 35% rate for that same bracket. Then as an American expat, you would pay 35% in taxes. If Poland had a 25% rate, you'd pay 30% (25 + 5) in taxes. You aren't paying 65% of your income in taxes. You aren't paying twice. > On the most basic level - Poland has absolutely no "right" to any of that money. Then Poland has the right to say you are no longer a Polish citizen that can take advantage of Polish embassies or move back to Poland at any time as a full citizen. It seems perfectly sensible to me.

nikdaheratik 11y ago
Except that's not what the law actually states. If you make over a certain threshold you have to pay income tax on it to the U.S. even if the income is from working in an overseas company, paid in a different currency, and stored in a bank in that country and you don't spend even a single minute of your time in the U.S. for that year. It's not sensible if none of your other coworkers have to worry about this and they're all foreign citizens as well. It's a stupid tax policy that is basically a shakedown.
gambiting 11y ago
So basically "you will always pay us a bit of your income,no matter where that income comes from, or you are no longer our citizen"? That's a bit of a mob mentality, and in general, not how countries work. You don't need to pay taxes to be a citizen and enjoy protection of the law, otherwise what would we do with people who really don't earn anything? Kick them out? I'm perfectly happy to pay income tax on the money made in Poland. But I see no reason to pay income tax on the money made elsewhere. And yeah, I'm not totally sure about your example. I'm quite certain that I would pay 30% of my income in Poland, and then US would want a further 30% of the remaining amount, IRS would not care that I have already paid income tax in Poland.

nikdaheratik 11y ago

Except that's not what the law actually states. If you make over a certain threshold you have to pay income tax on it to the U.S. even if the income is from working in an overseas company, paid in a different currency, and stored in a bank in that country and you don't spend even a single minute of your time in the U.S. for that year. It's not sensible if none of your other coworkers have to worry about this and they're all foreign citizens as well. It's a stupid tax policy that is basically a shakedown.

gambiting 11y ago

So basically "you will always pay us a bit of your income,no matter where that income comes from, or you are no longer our citizen"? That's a bit of a mob mentality, and in general, not how countries work. You don't need to pay taxes to be a citizen and enjoy protection of the law, otherwise what would we do with people who really don't earn anything? Kick them out? I'm perfectly happy to pay income tax on the money made in Poland. But I see no reason to pay income tax on the money made elsewhere. And yeah, I'm not totally sure about your example. I'm quite certain that I would pay 30% of my income in Poland, and then US would want a further 30% of the remaining amount, IRS would not care that I have already paid income tax in Poland.