I'm a CPA. I have been doing taxes since I graduated in 1984.

[DFW]

139. At least the Germans and the USA have agreed that Social Security is subject to residence-based taxation

Supposedly, anyway. The USA will not tax any of my SS payments, and the Germans will tax 100% (not 85% like in the USA, if the German accountants are correct) of them at 50%. Theoretically, the top rate here in Germany is 42% (kicks in at about $85,000 gross income, by the way), but they have add-ons that bring the true rate to more like 50%, plus they have a 19% value-added tax on everything here, so the government gets way more than just income taxes.

There are two countries in the world that do NOT recognize residence-based taxation: Eritrea in Africa and the United States of America. If you have US citizenship, you must file a U.S. tax return no matter where you live. This gets really complicated when you have US income that is taxed by law in the USA, but your country of residence refuses to recognize the US taxes paid, and wants to tax the same income. I get five figure bills from both KPMG in Dallas and PWC in Düsseldorf for trying to keep my taxes legal and in order, and they still have a twelve year ongoing dispute with the German government, who wants to tax American income that has already been taxed in the USA (40% in the USA plus 50% in Germany doesn't leave much to play with). There is a double-taxation treaty between the USA and Germany. There is no high authority that compels either country to respect what's in it.

I've pleaded with all sorts of Congresscritters to get this looked into and maybe fixed. Russ Feingold was sympathetic, but Wisconsin opted for Ron Johnson instead (nice move, Wisconsin). I've talked to Sherrod Brown from Ohio, Jon Ossoff from Georgia, Angie Craig from Minnesota, Colin Allred from Texas, a wide geographic range of members of Congress. I get it, they all want my contributions, but they all have bigger fish to fry. Most of them have no earthly clue how many of us there are. I asked Sherrod Brown point blank--this was less than four weeks ago--"do you know how many Americans abroad there are?" He didn't, but guessed, "maybe two or three hundred thousand?" Try again, Senator. There are NINE MILLION Americans abroad. I gave him my contribution anyway, but his guess was off by a factor of thirty, and he is supposed to be one of the good guys.

Maybe certain propagandists can make some hay yelling about some billionaire living off the grid on a yacht moored in the harbor of Monte Carlo, but so what? There are NINE MILLION of us who are not. We are teachers, business reps, security specialists, retired persons, medical specialists, engineers, geologists, researchers, editors, architects, writers, whatever. That's the population of a mid-sized state. If we WERE a state, we'd be close to the middle of the 50 states in population, somewhere between #25 and #27, last I looked.

I'll tell you one group who loves us and doesn't ignore us: the accountants!