As my patient readers know, I prefer to write about why I am here and not still living in the United States. I write these tidbits seldom, and try to write them without venom lest I turn this blog into a battleground (even if it would be one more akin to Manassas/Bull Run where the confederacy won, that Gettysburg where we did not).
As most of the world celebrates Easter today, I let my thoughts flow freely, which is always interesting, sometimes dangerous, more often humorous and occasionally actually worthwhile.
I hope that today’s thought falls into the last of those categories.
US expatriates will know that there is an increasing attack on us by the new US Congress and Administration and, many of us believe that the US$87,000 annual earned income exclusion may be repealed. If that happens, I believe the majority of the expatriates will simply not pay. They will never return to the US again, and, in effect, become criminals in their native land.
Then, a clear thought, like a thunderbolt on a moonless night flashed through my mind. We are a politically persecuted minority because we choose to live outside the USA! Moreover, being taxed by the USA at all violates the very principal on which the American Revolutionary War was fought: “No taxation without Representation!”
The American colonists were not represented in Parliament, hence, under the Common Law, Parliament had no right to tax them. As non-residents, WE ARE NOT REPRESENTED IN CONGRESS! Therefore, Congress does not have a right to tax us.
Further, the US is the ONLY major nation that taxes non-residents and further punishes expatriates–taken together, this makes us a politically persecuted minority.
Think about it! I will be writing more about this.
Southron, can you tell us more about this bombshell? I have heard grumblings over the years, but from you, it sounds serious. I depend on this exclusion.
>>There are several reasons why I believe this will move forward:
1) The very people who hate the US$87,000 exemption ( Levin & Wrangle) are now in charge of tax committees in Congress and they have a friend in the The White House that will not veto what they ate doing.
2) As the socialist system that has destroyed the free market and caused the the world-wide financial crisis deepens, the US Government will be looking for new places to get money–this is an obvious choice as: a) some people will “pay up”, 3) and others will return to the US having lost one of the (perhaps) main reasons they will have left the US.
Unfortunately, the majority of the people who have left the US simply are doing so to save money–secret courts, warrant less searches and unfettered unconstitutional government mean little to them. I am afraid that George Washington’s warning to “bind the government with the strong chains of a constitution” has been forgotten.
One can probably live in small town America nearly as cheaply as in Uruguay–but not a freely!
The Southron
Left by gitano on April 13th, 2009