People are leaving the USA ''in droves''

Originally posted by Rockpuck
reply to post by sarra1833

 

Let's say I move to Great Britain, I still have to pay USA taxes as well as British taxes. Most people to become expats do so for business, and usually it's a high paying job so it's not the end of the World .. since the Depression began people are finding it harder to pay two nations taxes. "Renouncing" is one of the only ways to end the US taxation, and you have to have legal status in the host country, but it also means if you ever decide to move back to the US you need to apply for citizenship .. it also means you cannot stay within US borders for more than 6 weeks a year and you have to apply for a visa.

Where do you get that? Americans working overseas get a dollar-for-dollar credit for income taxes paid to foreign countries to offset their American income taxes. They also get to exclude $80,000 from the income they report to the I.R.S. The new law increased the exclusion to $82,400 this year.

Russia Today has been - lately- to my perception- in some kind of weird propaganda media war with the US.

I watch their broadcast daily but take it with a grain of salt as I do the US broadcast.

For years there has been a push to get more students in the US to study abroad. I know this b/c I used to work at a university and saw the pressure to get students to go abroad.

That was 2003-2004ish when that big, big push came. All sorts of funds came in and grants.

Part of it, I'm sure is intelligence- not just you know- spook type intelligence, but also corporate- after 2001 we realized hey, we need more people that know about other countries, that speek other languages and get other cultures. So some of the push was federal, some of it was corporate.

And now these programs are pretty big, so - I''m just thinking- that's what a lot of this increase is...with students. Then you get a lot of them say, fluent in Russian, and so they go to work for a corporation and live in Russia, because they loved it as students.

Yes i am leaving.

Leaving the Socialist State of Kalifornia

And going back to the Republic of Texas

Just as soon as i get a estate cleared up and sold and get gunsmith training.

I know Texas can always use another gunsmith.

reply to post by schuyler


Where do you get your information, because official government numbers and reports of increased renouncements tell a different story. While the changes applied by the IRS dictate that US expats do not pay a percentage tax on income but rather net holdings, including pension plans from foreign governments and or employers.

economix.blogs.nytimes.com...

With the $636,000 exclusion from the mark-to-market gain, many individuals can expatriate without paying any U.S. tax. It is important to note, however, that some individuals, especially those with assets in foreign pension plans, may unexpectedly pay more tax than they realize. The circumstances of each individual considering expatriation must be closely analyzed to determine the amount of U.S. tax that will be due upon expatriation.

The second reason for the increase in expatriations, I believe, is the recent publicity regarding the penalties and voluntary disclosures for failing to report offshore bank and other financial accounts. The U.S. tax rules for U.S. citizens living overseas can be quite complex. The increase in awareness of the penalties has caused many individuals with dual citizenship to conclude that their U.S. citizenship is not worth the stress and hassle of the U.S. tax filing rules. The U.S. is almost the only country in the world that requires its citizens that live permanently in another country to continue to file tax returns in the country of citizenship. Combine the U.S. tax return filing complexities with the potentially bankrupting penalties for failing to report certain items, and many individuals conclude that their lives would improve by shedding their U.S. citizenship.

www.nytimes.com...

“What we have seen is a substantial change in mentality among the overseas community in the past two years,” said Jackie Bugnion, director of American Citizens Abroad, an advocacy group based in Geneva. “Before, no one would dare mention to other Americans that they were even thinking of renouncing their U.S. nationality. Now, it is an openly discussed issue.”

The Federal Register, the government publication that records such decisions, shows that 502 expatriates gave up their U.S. citizenship or permanent residency status in the last quarter of 2009. That is a tiny portion of the 5.2 million Americans estimated by the State Department to be living abroad.

American expats have long complained that the United States is the only industrialized country to tax citizens on income earned abroad, even when they are taxed in their country of residence, though they are allowed to exclude their first $91,400 in foreign-earned income.

Like I said earlier most working expats (not students) are higher level business executives or other higher income professionals and as a result fall into the IRS tax system requiring them to pay more in taxes. Even for the middle income folks after a decade working for a corporation over seas with a good pension plan, you end up paying quite a bit in taxes.

Originally posted by ldyserenity

Originally posted by Char-Lee
reply to post by sarra1833

 

You know I was thinking about this the other day, and I concluded, if WW3 breaks out the USA is still probably going to be one of the safest places to be. No place will be safe now, but remember you have to be where there is still food and water available and civilized enough for help in medical care and such too.
It may be bad here but i think it is the safest bet.

Really? We have the best medical care? Are you sure?

31 Finland
32 Australia
33 Chile
34 Denmark
35 Dominica
36 Costa Rica
37 United States of America

38 Slovenia
39 Cuba
40 Brunei

List of Countries by Best Medical Care
World Health Organization

Ummm I didn't say we have the best medical care! i was SAYING that when TSHTF that this country has something in place already to help the citizens..yes they really do as i know half our town are volunteers for just such a scenerio!

If i get some money, i'm going to make a sea worthy house boat with sails and float around the ocean. All the essentials are there. Food and water. The salt in the water can be taken out, if you have the right equipment. If i want money, all i have to do is get people to go out and go fishing or cruising. There are thousands of small islands i can anchor by or on. I would have all the gear a boat would have in case of storms. I love the ocean, and i love to travel. What a great way to go.

reply to post by SuperSecretSquirrel


To echo that: consumerism is totally overrated. We are shooting ourselves in the foot by producing comodities made to break, made to be replaced, creating a massive refuse dump of old goods, and waisting precious recources, labour, and money. Eficiency is very low on our porduction priority. To further degrade our lifestyles, agressive advertising stimulates the greed which enforces comsumerism. What a crazy hamster wheel!

REcently on tv, was screened a very 'poor' area in Zanzibar. The presenter spoke in this doomed, sorry for living tone. The entire program was flavoured around the 'sad,poor people' who take no part in capitalism as everything is provided for by their own hand. They mostly live on fish which they catch daily. Money hardly exists. He actually said that there are no paid jobs, in it that people trade their goods by exchange for other goods amongst each other. Then he also went on and on about the poor health of the people and how the children are suffering. All this while showing healthy plump little children playing in the sand and enjoying life! GRRRRRR.... I felt very angry. There were no beggers sitting on the side of the road (as those which I have to face every day, begging for food or clothing or money, which breaks my heart). The people all appeared very relaxed and mellow. And most certainly healthy and happy!

The US is in extreme dangour at the moment. FEMA is getting ready for their disgusting agenda, and they are very in the face about it.

I would not want to live in the US. My heart bleeds for my American brothers and sisters.

Originally posted by sarra1833

Of course I'm terrified of giant spiders which Aussie and NZ have in droves. >_> I don't need to have tons of plate sized spiders hanging out in my adobe. But I dunno. Maybe a phobia of spiders could outweigh if things get more sour here.

Nothing a can of fly spray or a rolled up newspaper/magazine can't fix mate - or in the case of a Huntsman spider, getting him on a broom and politely turfing him outside (they are harmless to humans and also help to keep the insect population down).

I'm looking at a Redback spider right now actually, he's set up shop on the outside of the window I'm looking out of.

Seriously, if spiders is all you are worried about coming to Oz or NZ.....we have developed our ways of living with them!