It gets even worse if you are a US citizen abroad. The amount of financial clout means the US can bully other countries into bending to their laws (FATCA) and c

It gets even worse if you are a US citizen abroad. The amount of financial clout means the US can bully other countries into bending to their laws (FATCA) and citizenship-based (global) taxation means I have to shill out several hundred bucks to some specialized accountant just to avoid spending several weekends tabulating things and staying up-to-date on the law changes of the US and my current country :( If the US wants to improve its image abroad, joining the rest of the world (well, except Eritrea....) and doing residency-based taxation would mean that whenever a US expat is asked what they think about the US (e.g. by someone looking to go there for work opportunity, education), they wouldn't unleash a littany of dire warnings about the pesky taxation issues. My answer is always "yeah if it'll help your career I guess get in the H1B lottery, but be very careful to not pick up that green card or you'll be royally screwed for a looong time to come".