Ok, ok, first the House GOP speculates about scaling back the Senate bill on deductions for charitable giving by non-itemizers (aka, my friends, you and I). Now, in order to support the FOLLY of a dividend tax cut, they’re talking about ridding the exclusion on income tax for overseas workers?
Ok, so here’s the deal. You live in the US. You get the benefits of the US medical system. You get the benefits of the school system (of which, though limited, federal funding does play a part). You have the benefit of a fine transportation grid, emergency services, social services, and many, many other government programs. And, you pay income taxes for them.
You live overseas. You don’t enjoy the transportation network, the schools, the benefit of massive agricultural subsidies that keep farmers in business when there’s no true demand for their product, the police services, and all those other services and programs the government provides. Right now, the first $80,000 of your income is excluded from taxes. You don’t benefit, you don’t pay. This, somehow, seems fair to me. After all, you’re already paying income tax in the country you’re living in. Why should you also have to pay tax to a government whose services you aren’t taking advantage of?
Don’t impose a double taxation on expats all for a scheme to ensure tax-free largess for the already rich!