81–90 of 876 posts
By most western standards my family teeters on the line between middle and upper middle clas. We sold all of our US property last year; and now we are shopping for 4-6 unit buildings within 100km of Barcelona to get our Golden Visas. Our goal is to get citizenship and access to the EU then renouncing my US citizenship. It isnt about money, I am juwt ashamed to have an American passport and know my tax dollars are bei…
By most western standards my family teeters on the line between middle and upper middle clas. We sold all of our US property last year; and now we are shopping for 4-6 unit buildings within 100km of Barcelona to get our Golden Visas. Our goal is to get citizenship and access to the EU then renouncing my US citizenship. It isnt about money, I am juwt ashamed to have an American passport and know my tax dollars are bei…
If you oppose US wars and hegemony you should have followed Edward Snowden and moved to a country that actually oppose American influence in the world.
It's so irritating to be an American that has moved overseas. Basically the only country in the world that charges taxes on money you make and spend somewhere else, just because of where you were born. Thanks to IRS regulations, 90% of investment firms will just reject me outright rather than deal with the paperwork. Getting someone to help file my inordinately complex taxes costs thousands of dollars more than I act…
It's so irritating to be an American that has moved overseas. Basically the only country in the world that charges taxes on money you make and spend somewhere else, just because of where you were born. Thanks to IRS regulations, 90% of investment firms will just reject me outright rather than deal with the paperwork. Getting someone to help file my inordinately complex taxes costs thousands of dollars more than I act…
They’ve been allowed for decades to avoid paying for the infrastructure and management of the country while simultaneously holding most of the influence. “Renouncing citizenship” means they’ll give up none of the influence, lose the taxes, live how and wherever they want. The best thing to do is forbid them re-entry into the country nor to hold controlling interest in any company in the US. Faced with actual conseque…
Forbidding them reentry on what basis that you can legally uphold vis a vi their being a foreign citizen from another country we are friendly with? Controlling interest in any U.S. company... chances are their company is already by accounting principles registered somewhere else internationally, or they might move asset ownership to some sort of family trust, or form shell companies to hold US Stock that you'd never…
The billionaires can just dock their yachts in international waters.
They’ve been allowed for decades to avoid paying for the infrastructure and management of the country while simultaneously holding most of the influence. “Renouncing citizenship” means they’ll give up none of the influence, lose the taxes, live how and wherever they want. The best thing to do is forbid them re-entry into the country nor to hold controlling interest in any company in the US. Faced with actual conseque…
Maybe people no longer want to live in US and it is wealthy that have it easier to actually go through with this?
Or maybe they actually live somewhere else and don't like paying their taxes TWICE. Almost every country in the world (except US) requires taxes based on residency, not citizenship.
For example, being Pole, if I spend more than 180 days in Sweden, I now owe taxes in Sweden but no longer owe them in Poland. That is because Poland recognizes that, while I am Polish citizen, I actually was Swedish resident during that tax year. And have an agreement with Sweden so that it is clear where I have to pay my taxes.
The US doesn't want to play nice and will only provide you with a little bit of credit for the tax you had to pay in another country. But if you earned a lot, you now have to pay it twice.
I actually know 2 or 3 people that work here in Poland that resigned their US citizenship for exactly this reason. Because IRS will hunt you down and demand your taxes even if you don't set foot in US for decades. It has been a topic in our newspapers couple of years ago when we still looked up to US as better place to live and people would need explanation for why somebody in right mind would want to resign US citizenship in favor of Polish.
I have even heard of a person that had to US citizens as parents but never set foot on US soil, that was hunted by IRS to pay taxes.
It is not like people don't have to pay taxes in other countries, though some have smaller rates. To get better picture you would have to look at where they actually went.
By most western standards my family teeters on the line between middle and upper middle clas. We sold all of our US property last year; and now we are shopping for 4-6 unit buildings within 100km of Barcelona to get our Golden Visas. Our goal is to get citizenship and access to the EU then renouncing my US citizenship. It isnt about money, I am juwt ashamed to have an American passport and know my tax dollars are bei…
I'm not sure this is what upper middle, much less middle, class is.
A family that can pay several millions for houses abroad just to get a visa to change citizenship is way above middle class, or even upper middle class for that matter.
Pew Research defines middle class: $53,413 - $106,827 year, and upper-middle class: $106,827 - $373,894.