Quote:
Originally posted by SinEmpire
Who fucking cares... it sounds like they've been getting a break for a long time, didn't you all read this excerpt?
"would end a 57-year-old exclusion, known as the Section 911 exclusion. It allows Americans living and working abroad to exclude $80,000 in income, plus housing costs, from federal taxes"
and from that the average tax bill for expats will raise $1000.
You think that because they live overseas they should pay less taxes? I think that's absurd. If they want their citizenship, they can pay what the rest of us do.
Brad
|
Here's the problem - America is one of the only countries in the world that nails their expat citizens for taxes even if they already have to pay taxes in the country they live in. Many Americans living abroad have to pay taxes twice. There are some treaties, but even so, expat Americans are getting fucked over by their government compared to the citizens of most other countries in the world.
You might look at this exemption as some people getting a bonus, but it's not true. It doesn't even level the playing field compared to what most other countries do for their citizens living abroad. Americans who live overseas are already getting screwed by the U.S. government, and now they will get more screwed.
In the end, it's punishing a small group of people who politicians think are least likely to hurt them in an election. Think about it, they're fucking over people who don't even live here, who don't take much out of the system, who are less likely to be politically active. Even these politicians probably know it's wrong, they just think they can get away with it.
I'm not an anti-tax fanatic, I just see this move as poltical opportunism. Rather than be straight forward and add taxes to people who actually use the sytem, they are going after those who are least likely to cause them problems at the next election, even if it's wrong.