| Citizenship-based taxation was brought in as a way of punishing deserters during the civil war and simply never dropped. It doesn't make sense to tax citizens who aren't resident when you are also taxing residents who aren't citizens. That's having your cake and eating it too - which I can only imagine is part of the reason no other country on Earth does this (except Eritrea, who obviously cannot enforce). If resident aliens have to pay taxes while resident, and can stop when they leave - doesn't it also make sense for resident citizens to be afforded the same luxury? The state department operates on a cost-recovery basis anyways so if you avail yourself of emergency or consular services you get mailed a bill no matter what. [edit] Remember if you live abroad you have to pay taxes to that government too! So the question is why is it a fair impingement on your freedom to live abroad to have to pay taxes to two different governments simply because you're an American? You're being punished as a de facto civil war deserter! The war is over, friend. The North won! Let freedom ring! lol. [edit2] As @drewcoo pointed out I used the term 'deserter' inappropriately in context, I should have said 'deadbeats.' I was in fact referring to citizens who left the United States around the time of the war and the way they were viewed by congress as not paying their fair share while retaining a vested interest in the outcome of the war. It was a colloquialism used as flourish that was wrong in context. h/t. |