> I can 100% understand why very wealthy people hate this system, but as a software dev making a modest living it was not onerous or unfair or difficult to mana

> I can 100% understand why very wealthy people hate this system, but as a software dev making a modest living it was not onerous or unfair or difficult to manage. Okay, now apply your experience with this system but instead of being a salaried employee you run a <5 person LLC that is incorporated in the US that does the same work but on contract and has a small leased office. It goes from being one form and a simple exercise into a massive nightmare, even though the dollar amounts you are actually making in income aren't any higher (at the time I think my AGI was like $126K USD). Anything off the path of salaried employee stationary in a foreign tax residence exponentially increases the complexity involved and therefore the expense to file. Most years, my accountancy bill was actually higher than the taxes owed, and it would have saved everyone quite a lot of trouble for little gain to just do away with this archaic and pointless rule which no other civilized nation has. This is not just a problem for the very wealthy, it's a problem for anyone who does not fall in a very narrow bucket but happens to reside abroad while having US citizenship. Even in your case, where you found the process simple, you must admit it made it difficult to secure accounts and form business relationships abroad because of the tax implications and reporting implications for your possible business partners.