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 f

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.