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There is a parallel for US persons living abroad. The US is one of the few countries in the world which expects to collect income tax from its nonresident citiz

by jzwinck 11y ago

There is a parallel for US persons living abroad. The US is one of the few countries in the world which expects to collect income tax from its nonresident citizens. As in the corporate world, this makes Americans less competitive in the global marketplace, because people from almost any other country take home a greater fraction of their income. To some people in the US this is a desirable outcome, because anyone doing business overseas is a dirty tax dodger and ought to come back home.

tzs 11y ago
> There is a parallel for US persons living abroad. The US is one of the few countries in the world which expects to collect income tax from its nonresident citizens. As in the corporate world, this makes Americans less competitive in the global marketplace, because people from almost any other country take home a greater fraction of their income In countries with higher incomes taxes than the US (which seems to be most first world countries...), how come the foreign earned income exclusion and the foreign tax credit do not result in US workers in such countries paying the same total income tax as that country's native workers?
- jzwinck 11y ago
  In some scenarios you're right, for people who live in countries with higher income tax than the US. But there are several first-world countries which do not fit that description, which if you make 200K USD in 2015 probably includes Switzerland, Japan, Oman, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Russia. That's ignoring a huge number of not-so-first-world countries which are nonetheless nice places to work, plus countries like Greece where the actual income tax paid by local people is much less than the official rate.
- AndyMcConachie 11y ago
  When I lived in NL I rarely had to pay anything to the USG. The problem was in creating the 70+ page document that the IRS required every year. For that I had to hire someone and pay them close to 1000eu every year. The problem for US citizens in developed countries WRT to the US taxes is not the taxes themselves. Rather it is the burden of complying with the law, and the cost of finding competent tax preparers knowledgeable in both US tax law, and local tax law. Everyone's circumstances are different. So there is no single/repeatable method for resolution.

by jzwinck 11y ago

tzs 11y ago

> There is a parallel for US persons living abroad. The US is one of the few countries in the world which expects to collect income tax from its nonresident citizens. As in the corporate world, this makes Americans less competitive in the global marketplace, because people from almost any other country take home a greater fraction of their income In countries with higher incomes taxes than the US (which seems to be most first world countries...), how come the foreign earned income exclusion and the foreign tax credit do not result in US workers in such countries paying the same total income tax as that country's native workers?

jzwinck 11y ago
In some scenarios you're right, for people who live in countries with higher income tax than the US. But there are several first-world countries which do not fit that description, which if you make 200K USD in 2015 probably includes Switzerland, Japan, Oman, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Russia. That's ignoring a huge number of not-so-first-world countries which are nonetheless nice places to work, plus countries like Greece where the actual income tax paid by local people is much less than the official rate.
AndyMcConachie 11y ago
When I lived in NL I rarely had to pay anything to the USG. The problem was in creating the 70+ page document that the IRS required every year. For that I had to hire someone and pay them close to 1000eu every year. The problem for US citizens in developed countries WRT to the US taxes is not the taxes themselves. Rather it is the burden of complying with the law, and the cost of finding competent tax preparers knowledgeable in both US tax law, and local tax law. Everyone's circumstances are different. So there is no single/repeatable method for resolution.