I have been trying to gain residency in another country for around 4 years now I’m still a few years away from being able to gain it.
To leave the US on a permanent basis I have to pay taxes to the US on my income that I earn while living elsewhere until I gain my residency, pay a several thousand dollar fee to renounce my US citizenship to gain citizenship where I’m living and because I’m over 40 and have been working in the US for 20 years, sacrifice almost 100k worth of social security insurance payments I made and will never be able to collect. Social Security is not an entitlement, it is an insurance program I will be denied my rightful remittance from.
If you don’t think this is a barrier to labor moving to where opportunity is, then you are the one who is saying things that just aren’t true.
have to pay taxes to the US on my income that I earn while living elsewhere
You do an FEIE deduction on your 1040. If you’re earning less than $120,000 in a year and live more than 330 days outside of the US during a tax year, you thus don’t need to pay a single dollar to the IRS.
(I agree it’s messed up that US citizens have to file taxes, but you don’t need to resign your citizenship to avoid paying US taxes - as long as you’re a bona fide resident of a foreign country and earn less than $120k.)
I have been trying to gain residency in another country for around 4 years now I’m still a few years away from being able to gain it.
To leave the US on a permanent basis I have to pay taxes to the US on my income that I earn while living elsewhere until I gain my residency, pay a several thousand dollar fee to renounce my US citizenship to gain citizenship where I’m living and because I’m over 40 and have been working in the US for 20 years, sacrifice almost 100k worth of social security insurance payments I made and will never be able to collect. Social Security is not an entitlement, it is an insurance program I will be denied my rightful remittance from.
If you don’t think this is a barrier to labor moving to where opportunity is, then you are the one who is saying things that just aren’t true.
You do an FEIE deduction on your 1040. If you’re earning less than $120,000 in a year and live more than 330 days outside of the US during a tax year, you thus don’t need to pay a single dollar to the IRS.
(I agree it’s messed up that US citizens have to file taxes, but you don’t need to resign your citizenship to avoid paying US taxes - as long as you’re a bona fide resident of a foreign country and earn less than $120k.)
That sucks, but it’s not responsive to my argument.