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Why Americans Are Going Abroad

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Re: Why Americans Are Going Abroad

#13

Post by deciplex »

reuven wrote: post #4
davidw wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except that you have to pay taxes in that foreign country. Many of them have higher taxes than the US, and in any case, having to file taxes twice is not fun.

Many countries (including Israel, where I live) have tax treaties with the US. You still need to file US taxes every year, but any money you pay toward your country of residence counts toward your American taxes, up to a certain ceiling. The fact that US income tax is lower than those in most other countries means that such people will almost never paying any actual tax -- and, believe it or not, are even entitled to…

> The fact that US income tax is lower than those in most other countries means that such people will almost never paying any actual tax -- and, believe it or not, are even entitled to a tax refund from the US government.

After you exhaust the foreign-earned income credit (which is roughly 90K), you're basically paying the higher of US and local tax. And it's not always lower e.g. Americans in Hong Kong will end up paying tax.

I've never heard of anyone getting a refund from this.

Re: Why Americans Are Going Abroad

#14

Post by dataker »

> Italy makes it remarkably easy for descendants of Italian emigrants to claim citizenship, for example

Hm... No.

It took me 4 years to obtain my Italian citizenship(from my mother). We almost had a court battle for them to accept a missing letter(literally).

Re: Why Americans Are Going Abroad

#15

Post by bruceb »

Immigration is complex but what I hate is the BS and half lies that are told like this author does. "We debate immigration and border controls for Mexico ad nauseum, yet, on the whole, the typical immigrant isn’t Mexican."

Like many newspapers the author is trying to blur the line between legal and illegal immigrant. The reason we are talking about border controls is because yes most come from Mexico. The typical person who is here illegally is Mexican, over 60% are from Mexico. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illegal_immigration_to_the_Unit... Add in central America and around 75% of people coming illegally are from southern border. I can understand their motivation. What I can't stand is trying to present BS.

When they author is trying to obscure facts one must wonder what other stats he is omitting or only half presenting.

As for taxes. Yes taxes suck. They also fund a ton of things that make American #1 in many areas. Should Americans abroad pay as much as American at home, of course not. But they clearly should still pay. You have a great passport and can come back to a country that has a wealth of opportunities that are not available in most other places and in some cases no where else. Why should you get to pay nothing while the rest of Americans maintain the great country for you to come back when you please? Maybe we should make it cheaper for people to renounce their citizenship, they are not needed.

Note: I should have made two post splitting comment on the immigration stats and taxes in to two posts to see the up/down vote difference based on the issues.

Re: Why Americans Are Going Abroad

#16

Post by davidw »

dataker wrote: post #14

> Italy makes it remarkably easy for descendants of Italian emigrants to claim citizenship, for example Hm... No. It took me 4 years to obtain my Italian citizenship(from my mother). We almost had a court battle for them to accept a missing letter(literally).

> It took me 4 years...

As a resident of Italy, I'm going to say: yes, that was easy by Italian standards :-)

Re: Why Americans Are Going Abroad

#17

Post by dataker »

lotsofmangos wrote: post #5

For comparison, when asked in the UK Parliament, the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs gave an estimate for the number of British nationals living abroad of around 13 million people. http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200506/cmhansrd/v... Which given the UK population of 64 million, is a massive diaspora and completely dwarfs the 7.5 million foreign-born residents in the UK. edit - these…

Wow. Do they count UK population as unclaimed UK citizens(sons, grandsons,...) ?

I had no idea there was such a massive diaspora going on.

Re: Why Americans Are Going Abroad

#18

Post by icebraining »

sschueller wrote: post #9
davidw wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can vote from abroad, so that's not the problem, really.

Other than president who can you vote for? Who represents a US citizen's interests when living abroad? Some never have been to the Unites States and have no home state. Yet they are required to file and pay taxes.

Many states allow you to vote from abroad if your parents and/or legal guardians are eligible: http://www.fvap.gov/citizen-voter/reside
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