American Expatriation Guide

amat said:
I agree with Rad. I have US citizenship as a second citizenship (not by birth, through naturalization) and I don't think it's fair to have to potentially have to pay taxes to a country where I don't live and will most likely never live in again. No other first world country has this requirement..

Then renouncing your US citizenship might be an idea, to free yourself from the burden of US taxation.
 
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gouchobob said:
Actually, I was being kind, I could have said the guide is crap as it's central premise is completely wrong, I was able to determine this in about 30 seconds, apparently the author didn't, makes me think the whole thing might be better used as toilet paper than as a guide.
As I said, if you don't like it, don't read it. The guide is about steps to expatriation. The personal reasons someone may have for this are not important.

gouchobob said:
You never answered my question why you feel a country enforcing its laws on taxation can be considered harassment or oppressive?
I am not sure what you don't understand? I already told you that if you like paying taxes to a country where you don't live, you are free to do so. Someone else may think that the US policy is oppressive. It's a personal opinion. The same as when people in communist countries thought that the iron curtain preventing them from leaving was oppressive. If someone tried to cross the border without the blessing of the communist party, he was breaking the law. Of course, there were also people who liked it that way. Nobody is perfect.
I have a question for you: Do you believe that something is not oppressive just because it is a law?
 
bigbadwolf said:
Then renouncing your US citizenship might be an idea, to free yourself from the burden of US taxation.

yes true. But I don't make enough for it to even matter! :D It was just stating my personal opinion. I'm not a USA-hater - I love a lot about the US, have very dear friends and family there, so renouncing citizenship is a bit drastic. I just think it sucks that non-resident citizens have to even deal with the US tax system when they are not living there.
 
Whether you are Us born or naturalized citizen, you can renounce to it. It is a
process that can only be done inside the US though(see the WWW.LEWROCKELL.COM site).
In general, we must agree that taxes are the price goverment extract from its citizens due to the services it renders to them, so if you live outside the country, no services are rendered to you, ergo no taxes should be due.
But laws are made by self-serving politicians, for their own benefit, I am afraid.
 
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amat said:
I agree with Rad. I have US citizenship as a second citizenship (not by birth, through naturalization) and I don't think it's fair to have to potentially have to pay taxes to a country where I don't live and will most likely never live in again. No other first world country has this requirement..

In the unlikely event you made a enough money to pay any taxes( there's a 90k exemption), you could always renounce your citizenship. Very, very, few people do. I remember another thread recently where only something like 509 people in Q4 of 2009 renounced out of an American expat population of 5.2 million people. In 2009 744,000 people became naturalized citizens of the U.S.A. Doesn't look like the country is going to empty out anytime soon, although it's horrible and repressive country to some.
 
amat said:
yes true. But I don't make enough for it to even matter! :D It was just stating my personal opinion. I'm not a USA-hater - I love a lot about the US, have very dear friends and family there, so renouncing citizenship is a bit drastic. I just think it sucks that non-resident citizens have to even deal with the US tax system when they are not living there.
Renouncing your citizenship does not mean that you hate the country.
 
Taxes are nothing more than membership fees for club services. Everyone complains about them incessantly, insisting that they're not getting their money's worth. But I have no doubt that these bitchers and moaners would leverage US Consular services to the hilt if they ever found themselves in a jam and in need of help. And at that point would they then turn around and say gee, I'm so glad I paid for these excellent services all these years? Doubtful. If they possessed that level of self-awareness they wouldn't be such bitchers and moaners in the first place.

We maintain a ridiculously low tax rate in the United States, especially given the services our chronically deficit-ridden nation provides to its citizens at home and abroad. Those of us who have American citizenship are lucky to have it, especially at such a low price.
 
Choripán said:
We maintain a ridiculously low tax rate in the United States, especially given the services our chronically deficit-ridden nation provides to its citizens at home and abroad. Those of us who have American citizenship are lucky to have it, especially at such a low price.

My point was that it's great if you live there and taxes are low - sucks if you don't live there and pay taxes for nothing. It may be a "low price" if you are living abroad, but on that same line of thinking, citizenship for other countries (like in Europe) are "free"!
 
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Lee said:
I didn't join the club...that would have been a choice. I was born into it.

You whine as if you're somehow special in this regard. Poor you! Forced to be an American citizen! Your life must be unbearable! We have it so much worse than everyone else in the world!

Of course you always have the option to quit - now THAT would have been a choice! But choice is beside the point. The fact is that even as an expatriot you continue to consume U.S. Government services. And, again, I have no doubt that if ever it were necessary you would leverage the U.S. government for every bit of assistance it's able to provide. Later, when you're done fooling around in the third world you'll no doubt make all sorts of claims on government services.

Like everyone else in America, you want something for nothing. The U.S. government wisely rejects that desire for the obvious reasons.

And so you pout.
 
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