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Comment by throw63738 | Hacker News Reader

》This misses the point in that the US is the _only_ developed country to impose worldwide taxation on its citizens regardless of where they live

Not really. Norway does that for 3 years after leaving. Australia is very opinionated and may not allow people to change tax residency, even after physically moving out...

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Norway and....Maryland. I've lived abroad most of my career and unwisely lived in Maryland for a short time. When I left to go abroad again, Maryland insisted on taxing my earnings, despite the overseas domicile. I found trying to fight Maryland over taxes was exasperating and futile.

protip: if you live in Maryland, and plan an overseas life, establish a domicile in a tax friendly state beforehand. Then leave. Otherwise, Maryland will own you. A pox on Maryland.

That's also true for California. I established tax domicile in Nevada before expatriating.

You can renounce your statehood without renouncing your citizenship. Former Virginian here and I renounced my Virginia statehood for the same reason. It's common for American states to continue to tax their citizens after they leave. And there aren't really any downsides to not being a resident of any state.

Of course, nowadays Australia won't even let people physically leave at all!

I thought leaving was easy, but returning was the complicated part.

Nope:

> If you are an Australian citizen or a permanent resident you cannot leave Australia due to COVID-19 restrictions unless you have an exemption.

You can leave at will if you're not an Australian citizen or a permanent resident. If you are, then you currently need an exemption, e.g for work or business, or you're going to live in another country.

Does this seem... reasonable? Citizens aren't allowed to leave unless they have 'compelling reasons' and provide evidence.

People used to escape communism for such reasons.

It probably cuts down on the number of citizens who wish to enter from covid land.

3 years seems reasonable. The USA does it forever.

There’s no if ands or buts for the US citizen though, other than the normal ones like making less than $10k a year or whatever.

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