[ryukafalz]

American here, I’d disagree about Hawaii and Alaska but agree about the non-state territories. The non-state territories being unable to vote and not having representation in the legislature means that they don’t get as much attention in national politics, so they’re less top of mind. (Yes, both of those situations suck and I wish we would change them.)

[hunterb123]

They don't have representation (in the US) and are unable to vote (in US elections) because they aren't US citizens and don't pay (US) taxes.

But if you're a US citizen living over there and you made money from sources other than from that territory, you would have to pay US taxes.

[mrgriscom]

Residents of the US territories are US citizens with the exception of American Samoa

[hunterb123]

Technically yes by the Jones Act, in a very limited sense... there are restrictions as well as tax exemptions.

So I wouldn't really consider citizens of US territories full US citizens.

So maybe it's more appropriate to say they aren't Americans, but they are US citizens.

But that is all semantics. My main point was the reason they don't have US representation is they don't have US taxation.

[SllX]

The restrictions are tied to geography not persons.

A Puerto Rican in California is entitled to all the benefits of US Citizenship whereas a Californian in Puerto Rico is not. Mostly these are related to welfare and elections. This would be the case for the Californian or Puerto Rican living anywhere in the world outside the US.

[niij]

You retain voting rights of the last jurisdiction you lived in within the US (states or territories) after moving abroad.

So a Californian that moves to, say, Germany can still vote by mail as though they were in California.

---

You're mostly correct about the loss of welfare benefits, though. The only exception being that you do remain eligible for Social Security retirement, although some people may not consider that "welfare".

[thaumasiotes]

> My main point was the reason they don't have US representation is they don't have US taxation.

The District of Columbia has to pay US taxes without being allowed any US representation.

[SllX]

A situation that could be happily resolved by returning the remaining DC territory to Maryland. I would be all for it.

[samatman]

It's remarkable that you said all of this, I'll be generous and say that someone else completely made up the part about the Jones Act and you just heard them and repeated it.

[nautilius]

I would think many people on HN have US taxation without US representation. A bit ironic, really.

[davchana]

So a regular (ie mainland) US citizen has to file taxes (& pay if earnings 108k+) of living anywhere in world. Does this stay true if same citizen lives in these territories you refered?