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Comment by blinkingled | Hacker News Reader

> Additional reasons for me included visa uncertainty

> I moved to the US in 2006

So that very likely means Brendan continued to be on visa by choice? Given AU has dual citizenship that's certainly an interesting choice to not pursue US permanent residency or citizenship, former of which would have addressed the visa issue and latter the voting rights. (However, this would have still left open the dual taxation issue which can be a substantial problem for high earners.)

Anyway it's 2021 and remote work has come farther along and one should work wherever they like. The pandemic helped fix the trust issue and remote work is more or less going to be a norm going forward.

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If you become a US citizen you have to pay US tax for the rest of your life regardless of where you live.

If you don't feel committed to the US, then why would you put up with such a thing?

What happens if you move and simply ignore US taxes?

Only works if the country doesn’t have a tax agreement already. Here in Singapore the forms have a box to state if you’re from the US. You can’t dodge it here. And apparently people here have given up us citizenship in favour of Singapore citizenship and tax was one of the reasons.

Oh yes I forgot that case as well.

Depends. If you have assets in US the Automated Collection System may be able to take part of what is due. If you want to go back to US depending on the amont you owe, it can be taken from property sells and can go up to US taking your passport (the US one only obviously), thats a recent rule and applies only if you owe more than $50k.

Only on earnings above 80k and foreign taxes are deductible. You can also funnel income through puerto rico and legally avoid US taxes.

In 1999 I was earning $135k from a US-based job while I lived in Italy. Thanks to the tax treaty, I did not pay US income tax on the first $85k of that, but I paid Italy for it. I paid BOTH COUNTRIES on the remainder. Lost over 55% of my income to taxes that year. I was not thrilled that a lot of it was going to the Berlusconi government.

I'm told (by tax specialists) that nowadays the situation is that you pay the taxes in whichever country has the higher taxation rate, but nothing in the other country. That will be fine - I'm ok with paying higher taxes when I'm getting better services, like a good public health system that works for everyone.

You have to report taxes. Whether you pay taxes depends on whether there's a tax treaty with your residence to avoid double taxation. Australia and the USA have such a treaty.

A note: reporting applies to tax residents, not just citizens. Brendan will be reporting to the US for some years to come, simply by virtue of his long time spent in the US.

(Of course, I am not a tax lawyer, etc)

> If you don't feel committed to the US, then why would you put up with such a thing?

For the protections of citizenship and the right to vote. If you have made a life in the US that's worth having.

Sure. And if you live in the US, you'll have to pay US taxes anyway. The parent's point is that, if you think you'll permanently move out of the US in a few years anyway, you should probably think hard about whether you really want US citizenship.

Many countries have higher tax rates than the US. Australia is one of them

Permanent residency does not address voting rights in the slightest. Permanent residents may not vote in federal elections or most state elections, and despite a proposal to allow voting in the New York City mayoral election made at the start of 2020, it does not appear to be the case even for that.

Remote work is indeed the new norm though.

I am well aware that PR doesn't provide voting rights - I just worded that sentence wrong - I meant to say former (PR) addresses VISA issues and Citizenship which basically requires 5 years residency on PR - addresses the voting part. Reworded.

> that's certainly an interesting choice to not pursue US permanent residency or citizenship,

Why this presumption? I have a gc and have for many years with no interest in changing passports. I have friends who have lived in the US for decades on investor visas.

The US has been good for me but I’ve definitely been good for it so it’s a fair exchange. It’s not the kind of place that encourages me to “join” though.

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