So, Cecil (or whoever), here’s a question for you:
After all the inanity and bulls**t exhibited by my so-called “representatives”, I’m thinking of throwing in the towel… in fact, if Shrub actually does get re-elected, I might just up and expatriate! But, as usual, there’s the rub…
See, I want to go somewhere where the government will leave me alone, and where I can be assured that my tax money won’t be used for something idiotic or oppressive. I want to be able to bitch at both the US and the government of wherever I am, I want to be able to hear about anything and everything I need or want to know, and I want to be able to follow my own path in life. (I’d also kinda like decent access to stuff, of course, but in theory the internet will help there.)
So, tell me… where can I go? Is there anyplace in the world that fit these criteria, or would I have to find some uninhabited Pacific atoll? In a similar vein, would it be possible or feasable nowadays to be a “man without a country”?
I await your answer with interest…while hoping I won’t need it.
(PS: Don’t print my name or location, no sense giving Ashcroft and his goons another target…) :dubious:
Sadly, there is nowhere on earth that you can be assured of this.
It’s difficult but sometimes possible to become stateless. But it’s rarely a good idea. In any event, it won’t acheive your objects. It will limit dramatically, rather than increase, the number of countries you can visit, much less settle in, and it won’t buy you any kind of exemption from the taxes of the country you do end up living in.
Well, it’s been a while since I’ve cruised the boards and I happened to find a question I know something about.
I’ve been living in Japan for ten years, don’t pay taxes, and can bitch about anything I want to my little heart’s content.
How do I get away with the tax thing? Easy. All us ex-pats do. We still have to file, mind you, but we simply claim foreign earned income and walk with our dough.
It’s kinda like heaven, except people seem to think I have something to do with the actions of our prez.
Anyway, toss in the towel, move ANYWHERE, and claim Foreign Earned Income.
Problem solved.
Move to Australia: we’re getting closer and closer to the USA every day so you’ll feel right at home, but we use the British (Westminster) system of government so you won’t be stuck between a choice of two (Don’t blame me, I voted for Kodos). You do pay taxes but you won’t be earning much money so you won’t have to pay much in tax. Hardly anyone has a gun. No-one cares about what you do unless maybe it involves them. We have all your USA TV shows. Oh wait, is that a good thing?
So how does that work? Are you an American citizen getting your paycheck from a Japanese company, or what?
As long as I’m replying, let me clarify one thing: taxes aren’t the main issue, though I’d like to pay less, just like everyone else. The thing is what the money’s used for. See, I can’t shake the feeling that by paying taxes without complaining, I’m supporting, and by extension condoning, the idiotic things the gummint does–you know, the war in Iraq, making rich bastards richer, sending jobs overseas, that kinda thing. I don’t support that, but since I don’t have the energy to actively protest against it (or the wish to wind up on an Enemies List somewhere), I want to pull my support.
I know, I know, go out and vote. I do that. It doesn’t help much.
IIRC, if you live 330 consecutive days of each calendar year outside the US, you are then legally considered a non-resident, and have a $70,000 tax exemption on foreign income earned (though I think it’s actually more than $70K now.)
As for paying local taxes, well, when I was working as a freelancer for three plus years in Hungary, most of my income came from both outside Hungary and outside the US, so I didn’t have to pay taxes either way. (But, technically, you are still supposed to file with the US.)
Can’t speak for Hungary specifically, but *most[/] countries
(a) would regard you as a resident for any year in which you spent more than half your time there, and
(b) as a resident, would seek to tax you on your worldwide income, subject to any relief you might get under any applicable double taxation agreements.
There might be a relief from tax if you could show you were a temporary resident (and it was the policy of the country to encourage temporary residents) but you would probably have to apply for it.
Which means that if one meets the IRS’s requirements, one can earn up to $76,000 abroad before being required to pay US income tax. Any earnings made in the States are taxable as usual.
Oh, yeah… the above does NOT apply to US military personnel abroad. Sorry, chumps!
If MarkyDeSade is living legally in Japan, and earning money in Japan, then of course MarkyDeSade is liable for Japanese national and regional income taxes, which are nearly equivalent (well, if you don’t include Japanese National Health Insurance and Pension taxes) to what you’d probably pay in the States, figuring a working-class to middle-class income. Some foreigners living over here do their damnest to dodge Japanese taxes by doing things like moving every year or living anonymously at their Japanese girlfriend’s house. Of course, they’d be the first to scream and holler and vote Republican if they heard about foreigners doing that in the US.
You can do almost everything the OP desires without leaving the States if you don’t earn more than about $5,000 (your individual deduction will leave you with an earned income of $0).
For the record: I’m not an ‘ex-pat’. You have to be a patriot in the first place to be an ‘ex-patriot’.
“Expat” is short for “expatriate”, not “ex-patriot”. It refers to someone no longer living in their native country, and has nothing whatever to do with their feelings toward that country.
RE: Foreign Earned Income
My husband and I are moving to Australia in about 6 months. I’m an American citizen, he’s an Australian citizen. I am also a stay-at-home mom (and will be for the next 5-6 years). For tax purposes, will my income be $0? I know I need to file, but will I have to include my non-American husband’s income? The question will probably end up being irrelevant because I don’t think it’s likely that he’ll be making more than US$76k.