resinman
07-24-2006, 01:42 AM
Picture this...You are a united states citizen living and working in another country,,,living the american dream,,,
I thought bush lowered taxes,,,,hmmmmm,,,somebody has got to pay for the cuts????
Until you file this year's U.S. taxes.
All of a sudden living or working abroad, doesn't look so juicy for an American.
Out of the blue, the recent imposition by the U.S. Congress to implement higher taxes on those Americans who are residing abroad has really put a damper on the situation.
I mean, really, are we Americans being unknowingly trapped in this country? Hey, what about "liberty" and "freedom?"
Here's the deal: There was a $69 billion tax cut approved on May 17 which raises tax on Americans who live abroad. In effect, raising taxes on those adventurous folks by $2.1 billion over the next ten years.
So, with the over-arching immigration issues and this new tax law, America is essentially being walled off by its own government. So what's the ultimate goal here: To make certain that no one's coming in or coming out.....?
Does this sound familiar?
Honestly, I'm more than a little concerned with the state of affairs in this country right now.
By making it financially impossible for the average person to live abroad, we are not just losing our rights, we are losing our freedom. With money being the trump factor in freedom these days, the big boys know just how to keep the masses under the reigns:
They just simply make it cost too much to leave. By placing the option of ultimate mobility out of the public's reach, it keeps the public under wraps and locked down.
The New York Times gives us the skinny:
"The law effectively forces many overseas Americans into higher tax brackets by imposing complex new requirements for calculating the value of housing allowances and then taxing the allowance at the lowest rates. Americans in no-tax or low- tax jurisdictions with high housing costs, like Bermuda, the Middle East, Singapore and Hong Kong, will be hit hardest, partners at two major accounting firms said.
"Last year the law allowed most overseas Americans to exclude $80,000 of foreign earned income from income taxed in the United States. The new law adjusts the exclusion for inflation to $82,400, but it raises taxes by adding complex new provisions on how the exclusion is calculated. The changes are retroactive to the start of this year. "
"The new law does nothing about the hundreds of thousands of Americans living overseas who have stopped filing income tax returns, even though Congress taxes Americans on their worldwide income regardless of where they live.
"This law is targeted at those who are filing tax returns, not those who have stopped filing," said Peter Merrill, a partner in the national economic practice of PricewaterhouseCoopers in Washington.
"Merrill also said that he could "see no deep tax policy reason for this change," which he characterized as a way to raise money from one group of taxpayers to offset cuts for others. Other tax experts said they concurred in that assessment. "
So as Bush signed into law a bill named the Tax Increase Prevention and Reconciliation Act of 2005, a new world order was subtly set into motion.
Let's face the facts:
America is virtually the only country in the world that taxes its citizens who reside outside the country's borders. And now-can you believe it?-they are raising the taxes that shouldn't be imposed in the first place. For instance, one high paid individual working or living outside the U.S. could potentially owe tens-of-thousands of dollars more each year under the new legislation.
The 6 million + Americans living outside the country must be angry. They might even be forced to return. Or they may choose to simply Drop-Out, duck under the radar and forget filing with the IRS at all.
The IRS said in 2004 that U.S. taxpayers abroad reported $27.4 billion in foreign-earned income in 2001. And our government taxed every bit of it. But that's just what goes down in the books...
We really don't know how many Americans work abroad.
And I get this sneaking suspicion that soon enough, we'll know even less.
Tax evasion probably looks like a viable alternation to people working abroad and, hey, that's not good.
On top of it, this new law will no doubt discourage entrepreneurs to invest outside the growing walls of the U.S.
In my book, we ultimately want citizens of our country (even the not-so-wealthy ones) to have a choice where they want to live and where they want to put their money. I mean, we work hard for the dough we earn, shouldn't we be able to control what happens to it?
Maybe I'm wrong, but building walls around our country that works to both keep others out and keep us locked in may put us on a pedestal....but isn't the prize atop the pedestal also a target?
Here's some food for thought: Should we allow ourselves to be so easily separated from the global community? Don't we want to work well with others? Isn't this the first lesson in kindergarten?
I thought bush lowered taxes,,,,hmmmmm,,,somebody has got to pay for the cuts????
Until you file this year's U.S. taxes.
All of a sudden living or working abroad, doesn't look so juicy for an American.
Out of the blue, the recent imposition by the U.S. Congress to implement higher taxes on those Americans who are residing abroad has really put a damper on the situation.
I mean, really, are we Americans being unknowingly trapped in this country? Hey, what about "liberty" and "freedom?"
Here's the deal: There was a $69 billion tax cut approved on May 17 which raises tax on Americans who live abroad. In effect, raising taxes on those adventurous folks by $2.1 billion over the next ten years.
So, with the over-arching immigration issues and this new tax law, America is essentially being walled off by its own government. So what's the ultimate goal here: To make certain that no one's coming in or coming out.....?
Does this sound familiar?
Honestly, I'm more than a little concerned with the state of affairs in this country right now.
By making it financially impossible for the average person to live abroad, we are not just losing our rights, we are losing our freedom. With money being the trump factor in freedom these days, the big boys know just how to keep the masses under the reigns:
They just simply make it cost too much to leave. By placing the option of ultimate mobility out of the public's reach, it keeps the public under wraps and locked down.
The New York Times gives us the skinny:
"The law effectively forces many overseas Americans into higher tax brackets by imposing complex new requirements for calculating the value of housing allowances and then taxing the allowance at the lowest rates. Americans in no-tax or low- tax jurisdictions with high housing costs, like Bermuda, the Middle East, Singapore and Hong Kong, will be hit hardest, partners at two major accounting firms said.
"Last year the law allowed most overseas Americans to exclude $80,000 of foreign earned income from income taxed in the United States. The new law adjusts the exclusion for inflation to $82,400, but it raises taxes by adding complex new provisions on how the exclusion is calculated. The changes are retroactive to the start of this year. "
"The new law does nothing about the hundreds of thousands of Americans living overseas who have stopped filing income tax returns, even though Congress taxes Americans on their worldwide income regardless of where they live.
"This law is targeted at those who are filing tax returns, not those who have stopped filing," said Peter Merrill, a partner in the national economic practice of PricewaterhouseCoopers in Washington.
"Merrill also said that he could "see no deep tax policy reason for this change," which he characterized as a way to raise money from one group of taxpayers to offset cuts for others. Other tax experts said they concurred in that assessment. "
So as Bush signed into law a bill named the Tax Increase Prevention and Reconciliation Act of 2005, a new world order was subtly set into motion.
Let's face the facts:
America is virtually the only country in the world that taxes its citizens who reside outside the country's borders. And now-can you believe it?-they are raising the taxes that shouldn't be imposed in the first place. For instance, one high paid individual working or living outside the U.S. could potentially owe tens-of-thousands of dollars more each year under the new legislation.
The 6 million + Americans living outside the country must be angry. They might even be forced to return. Or they may choose to simply Drop-Out, duck under the radar and forget filing with the IRS at all.
The IRS said in 2004 that U.S. taxpayers abroad reported $27.4 billion in foreign-earned income in 2001. And our government taxed every bit of it. But that's just what goes down in the books...
We really don't know how many Americans work abroad.
And I get this sneaking suspicion that soon enough, we'll know even less.
Tax evasion probably looks like a viable alternation to people working abroad and, hey, that's not good.
On top of it, this new law will no doubt discourage entrepreneurs to invest outside the growing walls of the U.S.
In my book, we ultimately want citizens of our country (even the not-so-wealthy ones) to have a choice where they want to live and where they want to put their money. I mean, we work hard for the dough we earn, shouldn't we be able to control what happens to it?
Maybe I'm wrong, but building walls around our country that works to both keep others out and keep us locked in may put us on a pedestal....but isn't the prize atop the pedestal also a target?
Here's some food for thought: Should we allow ourselves to be so easily separated from the global community? Don't we want to work well with others? Isn't this the first lesson in kindergarten?