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Doesn't US have bilateral tax treaties with (at least) Western European counties? And shouldn't such a treaty strive to protect American citizens from paying do
by toni 11y ago
Doesn't US have bilateral tax treaties with (at least) Western European counties? And shouldn't such a treaty strive to protect American citizens from paying double taxes?
- masklinn 11y agoThe problem isn't citizenship-based taxation, it's an odd concept but it's been there for a very long time, there's a relatively high standard deduction and IIRC your local income tax is also deductible. Expats have dealt with that for more than a century. As the article points out, the problem is FATCA which doesn't come close to fixing the issue it's supposed to fix (income tax evasion) and completely breaks expats under the standard deduction limit.
- toni 11y agoLet's say I am an American citizen living in France. Why US government doesn't close a tax treaty with French and demand 20% of the total amount I pay for all the taxes annually in France?
- k-mcgrady 11y agoWhy would the French agree to that?
- xxs 11y agoCause that's robbery.
- masklinn 11y agoBecause that makes no sense? Why would the french state give part of its (perfectly normal and standard) income tax back to the US for no reason?
- gutnor 11y agoIt makes sense if it is bilateral ( US giving money to France for French people working there ) and common enough that both countries don't want to deal with the hassle. The real problem is that the US is the odd one here. Every other country save 1 or 2 tax people income based on residence . So there is a legal clash that probably prevent any kind of sane and simple bilateral agreement like the one most of the first world countries have between themselves.
- grimman 11y agoWhy would France ever pay for the "privilege" of having US citizens living in France?
- mike_hearn 11y agoThe size of the limit falls every year as it's not inflation linked or FX adjusted. When it was first set it was truly very high and over time it's fallen to the point where now a pretty typical skilled job in a place like Switzerland will immediately push Americans over the limit. Also, tax is complicated. Other countries often have mandatory pension or savings schemes for unemployment and these are not always recognised as such by the US tax code, meaning you can get taxed on your pension twice, etc.