A decade ago, Bradley Krae left the United States to teach English in Shenzhen, China. He spends less money and says the has found his own version of the American Dream there.
The main barrier to people living cheaper lifestyles abroad is their obligation to continue to pay American taxes for what amounts to no benefit.
This is a myth perpetrated by rich people. It’s similar to the handwringing about the estate tax. It’s just rich people bitching. The first $133k of foreign earned income is completely tax free. And additionally, any foreign taxes paid can be deducted as tax credits. So if you would normally owe $10k in taxes to the US government, but you paid $8k in taxes while living abroad to a foreign government, you’ll only owe the IRS $2k.
The idea that this is a substantial barrier to middle class people moving abroad for a cheaper lifestyle is just fucking comical. It’s only a problem if you are very, very wealthy. And even the very wealthy don’t end up getting double-taxed. No one who moves overseas for cost of living reasons is going to have to worry about taxes being a problem.
Yeah, the people bitching about the tax obligation are basically just angry they don’t get to see their stocks grow tax free just because they happen to live somewhere else, and they try to get people on their side by misleading others about the way the US taxes citizens abroad.
This is a myth perpetrated by rich people. It’s similar to the handwringing about the estate tax. It’s just rich people bitching. The first $133k of foreign earned income is completely tax free. And additionally, any foreign taxes paid can be deducted as tax credits. So if you would normally owe $10k in taxes to the US government, but you paid $8k in taxes while living abroad to a foreign government, you’ll only owe the IRS $2k.
The idea that this is a substantial barrier to middle class people moving abroad for a cheaper lifestyle is just fucking comical. It’s only a problem if you are very, very wealthy. And even the very wealthy don’t end up getting double-taxed. No one who moves overseas for cost of living reasons is going to have to worry about taxes being a problem.
Yeah, the people bitching about the tax obligation are basically just angry they don’t get to see their stocks grow tax free just because they happen to live somewhere else, and they try to get people on their side by misleading others about the way the US taxes citizens abroad.