Extraterritorial Taxation #12: It's Not About Paying Taxes

Abstract

This is the twelfth in a series of sixteen papers about the U.S extraterritorial tax system.

Overseas Americans pay taxes in thecountries where they live. Most owe no U.S. tax.

The U.S extraterritorial tax system is not about paying taxes, not for overseas Americans and not for the United States. As this and the other articles of this series demonstrate, it is instead about a highly complex and penalizing system that prevents overseas Americans from living normal lives and subjects them to high levels of risk and stress. Objections to the system are about this.

Keywords: Extraterritorial taxtion, Citizenship-Based Taxation, Residence-Based Taxation, Emigration, Citizenship, Overseas Americans, IRS, Stress, Penalties, Foreign Tax Credit, Foreign Earned Income Exclusion, FATCA, FBAR

JEL Classification: D63, E62, F22, F54, G21, G23, G28, H24, H25, H26, H30, H87, J24, J26, J61, K34, K37