it is time to press your government for Resident based taxation and join the rest of the very world

[DFW]

6. I very much agree!!!!!!!!!

It is often said (correctly) that a US passport is one of the most expensive passports in the world.

I have been living in Germany for years now, but still receive all my income in the USA. German taxes are higher than in the States, but I knew that when I moved here, and accepted it as an unfortunate fact of life. The accountants' fees are horrendous, as I get hit for them on both ends. Plus, certain kinds of income are only taxable in the States. These are supposed to be covered by the Double Taxation Treaty between Germany and the USA. My German accountants have been in constant touch with the German Tax Office to make sure all this is addressed correctly. And yet: after agreeing that my tax burden in Germany for my first residence year was around 52%, when the written decision came back, the Germans demanded taxes for income that is designated as only taxable in the USA, and was already. For a good portion of my income, between the two countries, I have been ordered to pay, between Germany and the USA, around 98% in taxes.

This is aggravating bullshit that I don't have the time or competence to deal with, and governments are excruciatingly slow in responding to issues not in every how-to manual.

The USA should absolutely go after billionaires with fictitious residences in tax shelter countries, but how many of them are there? Fifteen? There are tens or hundreds of thousands of us normal mortals living and working abroad, perfectly willing to pay taxes in accordance with local laws, often higher than what we'd pay back home, and in countries with higher costs of living. It's no luxury living in Germany for someone in my income bracket. I resent having the additional burden of the time and money spent to get a bunch of nameless, uncaring bureaucrats to get off their asses and figure out what laws legitimately apply to my situation, and then apply them justly. It is high time the USA adopted the same stance on this issue as most of the rest of the world.

Here in Germany, it actually WAS the position of the government that certain people of means should leave and give up their citizenship, but leave their personal wealth behind. That stance was abandoned, though, around 1945--not entirely voluntarily, I would point out. They have taken a somewhat more liberal approach to the question since then.