As I was reading Peter Spiro’s excellent article this morning (many thanks to Just Me for this one) and after I had written my own post on recent Dutch efforts to restrict dual citizenship, I had a new (for me anyway) insight into this debate we are having with the home country.
Author Archives: Victoria
You Want Taxes? I Want Services…
Some Americans in the home country have expressed a commitment to forcing American expatriates to file and pay taxes not only in their host countries but taxes at home as well. Without going too deeply into the basic fairness issue which others here have talked about so eloquently, I would like to talk about services.
Dual Citizenship and National Laws
I have been hearing here (and elsewhere) that the American IRS has said that it might be inclined to treat dual US/Canadian citizens a bit more leniently. I imagine this is in response to the concerns that have been publicly raised by the Canadian government in response to the FATCA and the FBAR requirement.
I do not begrudge one whit this good news (if it is indeed true) but it does raise questions for us overseas Americans who are not residents of Canada and who are (or wish to be) dual-citizens (or who have family members who already are dual citizens) of another nation-state.
Hard Times for the American Diaspora
Cross-posted from the Franco-American Flophouse.
The relationship between the American diaspora and the home country is a strange one. There is no official recognition of its existence. Since the early years of the last century, efforts to track the number of Americans civilians leaving the U.S. and living abroad has been half-hearted at best. When asked, the U.S. government replies that it simply lacks the means to conduct a census, which is a rather odd response when you consider that U.S. government is publicly committed to enforcing taxation of American citizens abroad. If you can’t count them and you don’t know where they are, how in heaven’s name are you going to send them a tax bill?
