Re: Really?
Why ungrateful? Others will still be in the USA. Others will pay a tax.
(Note in advance: I think my arguments/position can be seen as wishy-washy, maybe equivocating...)
And, let's be honest. There are many entrepreneurial types who create something that doesn't have much of a government "thank us" foot print, other than national security and local police, firefighting and similar. If someone toils in the night, is not a criminal, and sources knowledge from the very same sources available to anyone with ambition, then a government is greedy to impose a HUGE tax or one that is more than a few percentage points. It's a cash land-grab.
And, anyone creating a land-free business should be able to travel and work or toil on his or her own hobby, tax exempt, and if it produces occasional income but nothing stable or sustainable, it should be exempt from taxes so long as the toiler keeps meticulous, honest, furnished records for tax exemption qualification purposes. If a person travels to another land and is taxable there, then ONLY that land should receive the taxes until the toiler sets foot back home -- ESPECIALLY if back "home" there is no corporation, sole proprietorship, or other business entity type functioning or registered and owing local, unpaid taxes.
I realize that the USA may have the lowest taxes of industrial/advanced countries, but that is no excuse to tax citizens worldwide. I also understand that if a person is aware of his or her travel plans to be out of the USA for the minimum qualified tax-exemption period, he or she need only declare (in writing?) to the IRS that he or she will be OUTUS and is requesting formal exemption from the taxes. I realize, too, that a person who chooses to allow him/herself to be subject to USA globe-spanning taxes, he/she might find an enjoyable, lower tax option.
However, moving is not a small choice. It could be for a number of reasons, and affinity is likely one of them. If one is not actively using the embassy, consulate, or other resources available to qualified/verified citizens, and one is abroad and interacting extensively with a new local community, that community may be what the person wants to support. Forking over money to back home just deprives that individual of what he or she otherwise to CHOOSE to commit locally.
Don't mistake me: I'm not making a "down with the USA" statement. I'm talking about what is emotionally irritating to some: being forced to renounce or keep paying -- unless playing dangerous games hopping around the globe and avoiding stepping foot in the USA or suddenly being taxed much much higher than in certain countries where the tax may be zero or astoundingly puny. To me, taxes I pay are for MY existence/footprint and the time I was THERE, not the future. Of course, it is a difficult position to take when some of us have had the government (federal and state) safety nets keep us out of the gutter. OTOH, there those who will insist that that social safety net was paid for by taxes one already forfeited from payroll and services and sales taxes. But, even then, there are times when plenty of people have taken out of the system more than they put in, and until they have effectively "restored the balance from imbalance", it is a dangerous or precarious argument unless careful accounting was done to at least nullify the $$$$ portion of the argument.
Sadly, an individual can figure out how to build or buy a self-supporting dome home for living on the Moon, or Pluto, and eventually, governments will change the word "Global Taxation" to "Solar System Taxation", even if said governments didn't explicitly play a role in the conveyance and protection of the individual. Of course, they could act like cement and breakers/demolition mobsters and pierce one's dome, and then say, "NOW you need our protection"....
Anyway, wealth and entrepreneurship MUST circulate, and MUST be free to move to and operate where they will reach their best potential from the entrepreneur's perspective. From the USA, we're free to move, and if we plan carefully, there is little the government can or will do to assert against some people. But, other countries will definitely actively seek to prevent "capital flight" (unless the right officials are paid off)...
Sigh...
Biting the hand that feeds IT
