| There are multiple issues here, and maybe one real but complicated solution besides getting rid of US Citizenship: US Citizens are taxed on their income by the US regardless of where it was sourced and regardless of where they live. There are exclusions for foreign earned income up $97,600 in 2013 [1], but that does not exempt you from FILING the 1040 and whatever else. In addition the US has tax treaties [2] with various countries that dictate who gets first right to tax, based on various criteria. Remember treaties trump internal law. None of these exempt you from filing a return, even if you owe no tax to Uncle Sam. Then there's the FBAR[3], which is actually a US FinCen form that is administered by the IRS and must be filed by June 30 of each year. It's for people who either have or maintain "signature authority" on bank accounts with a combined value of over $10,000 in the previous year. Finally there is now FATCA [4], which imposes new reporting requirements on both US persons and Banks. If you live overseas the amount required to report is quite high, but it's still more reporting. For banks it's a royal PIA and many banks will not turn you away if you are a US Citizen (this is anecdotal, I Don't have numbers). The problem is that the affected parties, US Citizens living abroad, have no real franchise in congress. That's because you vote in Federal Elections based on your last state of residence, which means that your Senator could care less about you. The solution: We need about 300,000 expats to move back to Wyoming for a while. Once they decide that they no longer like Wyoming and want to move back overseas, they will vote in Federal elections in Wyoming. The expats will then have a voice in congress and be able to have some influence.. [1].http://www.irs.gov/Individuals/International-Taxpayers/Forei...
[2]http://www.irs.gov/Businesses/International-Businesses/Unite...
[3]http://www.irs.gov/Businesses/Small-Businesses-&-Self-Employ... |
Could care less means they care some, and theoretically could care less than they already care. Couldn't care less means they already don't care at all.