As a US citizen living abroad, I have no representatives. This, as I am getting ready to file my US income taxes for which I receive no benefits or representation.
I have a part of my family that lived in pretty unstable foreign countries, and they were more than happy of being french when problems occurred because your country will make sure you're safe, so it's a little benefit (plus having one of the best passport in the world). But I find it strange that you don't have a "citizen abroad" representative, I don't know how many of US citizen live abroad but since, as you say i…
Enter your address and find out everyone who represents you in U.S. government
61–70 of 167 posts
Re: Enter your address and find out everyone who represents you in U.S. government
#62As a US citizen living abroad, I have no representatives. This, as I am getting ready to file my US income taxes for which I receive no benefits or representation.
I moved abroad in the middle of this year and cancelled my US health insurance when I became eligible for NHS care. I'm realising now that there isn't a way to get a 1095-B from a government-run healthcare system that isn't in the US. Should I just pay the penalty for not having health insurance in the UK?
Re: Enter your address and find out everyone who represents you in U.S. government
#63I really don't understand this. Is the point so that I can tweet or mail letters to my elected officials? Is tweeting at officials supposed to help my station in life? Just seems ridiculous to me that tweeting would be taken seriously. I suppose it could be taken seriously but that would actually scare me more. I always believed that if you want to make a difference than vote with your wallet and I don't mean to dona…
Source: multiple anecdotes from acquaintances and threads on /r/legaladvice
Re: Enter your address and find out everyone who represents you in U.S. government
#64Re: Enter your address and find out everyone who represents you in U.S. government
#65This website believes the Auditor-Controller for Santa Barbara County is Robert Geis, but he retired last March and was replaced by Theodore A. Fallati. I also wouldn't say that it is fair to say that this is "everyone": it is missing all of the local special districts (such as the Goleta Water District and the Isla Vista Recreation and Park District) that I would argue are much more important to my life than the per…
Re: Enter your address and find out everyone who represents you in U.S. government
#66As a US citizen living abroad, I have no representatives. This, as I am getting ready to file my US income taxes for which I receive no benefits or representation.
If you consider citizenship to be "no benefit" (you can still vote, collect Social Security, etc. overseas), you could always renounce your citizenship.
And as for voting, why? I have no representative to vote for.
Re: Enter your address and find out everyone who represents you in U.S. government
#67As a US citizen living abroad, I have no representatives. This, as I am getting ready to file my US income taxes for which I receive no benefits or representation.
Bullshit. How about maintaining the security of your assets held in US banks?
Re: Enter your address and find out everyone who represents you in U.S. government
#68Earlier quoted context omitted.
The taxes you owe take this into account, don't they? You have benefits of being a US citizen regardless of where you live. Some may value this more than others. Weighing your options, you may want to consider changing your citizenship.
The US is one of very few countries who collect income tax from their overseas citizens.
Re: Enter your address and find out everyone who represents you in U.S. government
#69I really don't understand this. Is the point so that I can tweet or mail letters to my elected officials? Is tweeting at officials supposed to help my station in life? Just seems ridiculous to me that tweeting would be taken seriously. I suppose it could be taken seriously but that would actually scare me more. I always believed that if you want to make a difference than vote with your wallet and I don't mean to dona…
If you have a problem like "the social security administration has been giving me the run-around and I can't get someone to actually look at my case", then your US Representative can in fact be super helpful. Unlike legislation, it is an opportunity for them to unambiguously help one of their constituents. Depending on the number of family/friends you tell about it, they can buy themselves 1-10 votes with probably ju…
Re: Enter your address and find out everyone who represents you in U.S. government
#70Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you consider citizenship to be "no benefit" (you can still vote, collect Social Security, etc. overseas), you could always renounce your citizenship.
Social Security is not a "benefit". It is getting money back that I have paid in to the system. And as for voting, why? I have no representative to vote for.
https://travel.state.gov/content/passports/en/abroad/legal-m...
If you honestly see no benefit of your US citizenship, or the costs outweigh the benefits, it sounds like you should change your citizenship status, perhaps to the country you're a resident in, or maybe move back to the US.