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As a non-citizen living in the US I am taxed on income I earn in my home country. This is literally taxation without representation!
by jitix 9y ago
As a non-citizen living in the US I am taxed on income I earn in my home country. This is literally taxation without representation!
- kspaans 9y agoCanada does the same thing: residents are taxed on their worldwide income while they reside in Canada regardless of their citizenship.
- TheOtherHobbes 9y agoIs this really true? When I worked for US corporates I had to get a US ITIN, and then fill in some paperwork annually and/or at the start of each job. The paperwork (W8BEN, I think) told Accounting not to collect tax in the US, because the earnings would taxed in the UK under a reciprocal treaty. The US is one of the very few countries to demand that US citizens pay tax to the US gov on all their earnings, and then pay tax again to whichever country they're resident in. This tragic/hilarious asymmetry between ordinary citizens and corporations says a lot about the balance of power in the US.
- parasubvert 9y agoIt is, but generally speaking due to tax treaty you're not double taxed. All your US taxes paid are credits in Canada. The old loop hole used to be that if you were (Or intended to be) non-resident for 2 years or more you didn't owe taxes to Canada (you would need to do a deemed disposition of all your assets for tax purposes though). But then you couldn't vote either...
- kspaans 9y agoI've had to fill in a W8BEN for my investment account in Canada (it would potentially allow me to buy US-located assets). And keep in mind that the vast majority of countries have tax treaties with the US such that you'll get tax credits for foreign taxes paid. You'd only pay taxes in both countries if you're living somewhere with lower taxes than the US.
- kec 9y agoYou're still entitled to vote as a nonresident citizen.
- barrkel 9y agoThat's heavily dependent on your citizenship. Some countries limit the right to vote depending on how long you've been out of the country.
- jitix 9y agoI cannot vote in the US while the US taxes my income earned in other countries. This is very weird.
- nikdaheratik 9y agoYou can vote using the last residence you lived at while in the U.S. Unless you've never lived there, then you have to use your parents' last address or something. Not that the tax system isn't terrible for other reasons.