I’m aware there’s no real way to say anything here without sounding like a pretentious snob, but those income limits aren’t exactly spectacularly high.
I work in tech in NYC and my income is around those limits. My boyfriend is from Switzerland and there’s a non-trivial chance that we’ll wind up there long-term. If I was from literally any other country in the world beyond Eritrea, I would file Swiss taxes and that would be that. Instead, I’ll have a direct financial incentive to give up my native citizenship because I’m from one of two countries that makes a claim to any income earned anywhere in the world, even if I don’t step foot in the country that year. This is particularly rough in Switzerland because average salaries there are quite high, and thus so are costs of living, and so surpassing those limits isn’t a particularly uncommon thing. (Edit: About one in four Swiss residents make more than $120,000 annually).
I know this won’t garner any sympathy at all, but a bad policy only affecting the relatively wealthy doesn’t change the fact that it’s a bad policy. It could even backfire from a financial perspective, since having renounced American citizenship, I’d be less inclined to spend time in the US and contribute to taxes while visiting, and I’d never move back long-term, cutting off a chance of the government getting full income taxes from me ever again, whereas a change of circumstances might have otherwise prompted me to eventually return to the US.
Please do explain then how literally every single other country in the world with a strong safety net and welfare system has managed to fund it without having to tax expats.
If you want all the benefits and none of the costs of being American…
Because again, in literally every single country except one African dictatorship, they interpret “the benefits” as things that you enjoy while actually being in the country, and therefore something you pay for while residing there. The ability to be a citizen of your native country is an assumed right everywhere else.
The only benefit I’d be enjoying is the right to return to my home country if I ever needed to. You don’t have to pay for that in practically any other country. And so, yes, I would have to seriously think about renouncing my citizenship since I’d be paying for essentially nothing. I think that’s rather unfortunate.
The people this law targets aren’t the ones committing tax avoidance. And the US social safety net isn’t fucked because of a lack money, it’s fucked because it doesn’t even exist in the law.
The exit tax doesn’t do shit to address that. It doesn’t pay for anyone’s healthcare or magically make the poverty cliff go away. It’s a tax on upper income workers. Meanwhile actual rich people get their money through capital gains or loans and don’t pay this shit at all.
Oh but I forgot that since I own a small house in a middle class rural neighborhood and drive a Subaru that I’m “rich” so my opinion doesn’t mean shit apparently.
Arguing that allowing the super wealthy to just take all their stuff and leave wouldn’t hurt the system we have now even more than it already does is one of the most asinine things I think I’ve read on the Internet. Congratulations.
I’m aware there’s no real way to say anything here without sounding like a pretentious snob, but those income limits aren’t exactly spectacularly high.
I work in tech in NYC and my income is around those limits. My boyfriend is from Switzerland and there’s a non-trivial chance that we’ll wind up there long-term. If I was from literally any other country in the world beyond Eritrea, I would file Swiss taxes and that would be that. Instead, I’ll have a direct financial incentive to give up my native citizenship because I’m from one of two countries that makes a claim to any income earned anywhere in the world, even if I don’t step foot in the country that year. This is particularly rough in Switzerland because average salaries there are quite high, and thus so are costs of living, and so surpassing those limits isn’t a particularly uncommon thing. (Edit: About one in four Swiss residents make more than $120,000 annually).
I know this won’t garner any sympathy at all, but a bad policy only affecting the relatively wealthy doesn’t change the fact that it’s a bad policy. It could even backfire from a financial perspective, since having renounced American citizenship, I’d be less inclined to spend time in the US and contribute to taxes while visiting, and I’d never move back long-term, cutting off a chance of the government getting full income taxes from me ever again, whereas a change of circumstances might have otherwise prompted me to eventually return to the US.
Not sure if you noticed, but the American social net is fucked. Mostly because of people who make a lot and not contribute back.
If you don’t want to pay taxes, you don’t have to participate in the American system.
If you want all the benefits and none of the costs of being American…
Someone in this thread mentioning offering violin recitials for free
Please do explain then how literally every single other country in the world with a strong safety net and welfare system has managed to fund it without having to tax expats.
Because again, in literally every single country except one African dictatorship, they interpret “the benefits” as things that you enjoy while actually being in the country, and therefore something you pay for while residing there. The ability to be a citizen of your native country is an assumed right everywhere else.
The only benefit I’d be enjoying is the right to return to my home country if I ever needed to. You don’t have to pay for that in practically any other country. And so, yes, I would have to seriously think about renouncing my citizenship since I’d be paying for essentially nothing. I think that’s rather unfortunate.
They tax their people more to pay for it.
It’s not rocket surgery.
The answer definitely wouldn’t be to tax the wealthy less…
The people this law targets aren’t the ones committing tax avoidance. And the US social safety net isn’t fucked because of a lack money, it’s fucked because it doesn’t even exist in the law.
The exit tax doesn’t do shit to address that. It doesn’t pay for anyone’s healthcare or magically make the poverty cliff go away. It’s a tax on upper income workers. Meanwhile actual rich people get their money through capital gains or loans and don’t pay this shit at all.
Oh but I forgot that since I own a small house in a middle class rural neighborhood and drive a Subaru that I’m “rich” so my opinion doesn’t mean shit apparently.
Arguing that allowing the super wealthy to just take all their stuff and leave wouldn’t hurt the system we have now even more than it already does is one of the most asinine things I think I’ve read on the Internet. Congratulations.
Don’t have much of an idea about how the tax system works, do ya?
You do pay taxes on capital gains. Just a small correction.
Either that or the IRS owes me some money