[tlb]

If you can't live with the IRS or other parts of the US system, there are 194 other countries out there. Many of them are good places for English speakers to live and work. Vote with your feet, not with violence against helpless government workers.

[splat]

Unfortunately that solution doesn't work so well in practice. The United States is one of the few countries in the world to tax income earned by US citizens in other countries. (The only other ones of which I am aware are North Korea and, while it was in existence, the Soviet Union.)

Furthermore, any US citizen who decides to renounce his or her citizenship is assumed to have expatriated for tax reasons if the tax liability is over $127,000 or the individual's net worth is at least $2 million. (Though those, of course, are not the only reasons that an individual will be assumed to have expatriated for tax purposes.) An individual who has expatriated for tax reasons must pay US taxes on all US-derived income for 10 years and if the individual returns to the US for 30 days in those ten years, all income earned abroad is taxable by the US government. If such an individual has the misfortune of dying during any year in which he or she spent at least 30 days in the US, the entire estate is taxable by the US government.

I'm not sure Stack's tax liability was $127,000, but given his problems with the IRS, I wouldn't be surprised if the IRS would have declared him expatriated for tax reasons had he tried to leave the country. Escaping the long arm of the IRS can be easier said than done.

[tlb]

An individual who has expatriated for tax reasons must pay US taxes on all US-derived income. True, and they're fairly effective at collecting it too by withholding at the source. So if you don't want the IRS in your life, you can't get paid by US companies. Billions of people manage to do so.

[DenisM]

10-year rule was replaced in 2008 with "exit tax" - you have to pay taxes on all gains (realized and unrealized) and then you can go about your own business. Realizing gains to pay tax is a pain, but it only gets unbearable if your assets are illiquid.

[mattm]

Not being American, this is incredible for me to hear, especially since the Boston Tea Party was staged over a tax of just 2%.

[danek]

easy to say, not so easy to do. for an american to legally live and work in another country is not trivial unless you have citizenship in that country. trust me, i would have been out of here years ago if it were less complicated.

[furyg3]

Errrrmmm. If you're an American with a degree, it's pretty trivial. It's certainly trivial when compared to what people have to go through to get into the US.

I know a lot of people who have relocated to NL (me), UK, DE, or FR.

1. Americans can travel freely to most countries in Europe, for business or vacation, no visa required. Once there, you can go on job interviews, and firms with many internationals will have no problem arranging a work visa for you. Alternatively, you can arrange the work visa yourself, which is also pretty easy.

2. Many countries (Holland, for example) have agreements that American entrepreneurs can start their own businesses. You just have to show that you will not be a drain on society (i.e. you buy health insurance and have some money in the bank), and that you will be making a 'substantial investment' in your company (usually less than $10k)

3. I studied here, a one-year M.Sc. (which cost less than $15k and was of a surprisingly high quality), and they gave me a green card for a "job-seeking-year", during which I can work anywhere... but have switch my visa to a normal work permit before it expires. It took me 5 days from getting the permit to switching it to a regular permit.

4. Or you can just find a foreign partner, you don't even need to marry them in some countries. Sometimes that's enough, other times they need to show that they earn enough to take care of you both (in case you can't find work), but the threshold is so low it's a joke ($30-35k yearly salary).

Bad news is: Americans living abroad still have to pay US-income tax, if you make a lot of money. You'll have to stay in your new home for a while and get citizenship (5+ years), renounce your US citizenship, and even then they can come after you for a while...

I know so many US expats over here, and only a few have had visa-related issues (all resolved well). Most of those were because someone didn't do their homework, or didn't take it seriously. All of them pale in comparison to the visa-issue that I've heard from expats living in the US.

[DenisM]

I know so many US expats over here, and only a few have had visa-related issues (all resolved well).

survivorship bias

[furyg3]

Funny, but no. :)

I met most of my expat friends at the beginning of their visa processes (vacationers or students who want to stay, or fell in love with someone here), so I don't think survivorship bias plays a role in my own observations.