As I've matured and times have changed it's been impossible to miss other parts of America grade schools don't teach -- increasing division between rich and poor, decreasing social mobility, corporate control of the government, entrenched racism, sexism, jingoism, needless wars based on lies, ... I could go on. Anyone could.

I haven't lost faith in my country -- such vague words could mean so much in this context -- but I don't like how the powerful are influencing the processes that led to it flourishing so long, even taking into account its colossal mistakes (Prohibition?), nor how those without power aren't taking responsibility to gain power like they (we) could. I'm impressed with the love many foreigners have for much of our freedom, which I share.

I tell myself living in Manhattan is like living outside any country. Legally New York City may be part of the United States, but culturally it's its own world.

Still, I find it valuable to look at where you live sometimes with rose-colored glasses because life feels better when you love your home, but regularly to evaluate it warts and all. How else can you change it if you feel you can, or escape before the need becomes desperate, should the need arise?

(Here is where people often ask where it's better or point out places it's worse. I don't argue against asking those questions, but we don't have to jump to comparisons with others, which distracts from evaluating it from what it could be. Or once professed or aspired to be.)

There is a system of tax exemptions and credits within the code to offset the double taxation this would imply when living in a jurisdiction which imposes its own income taxes, as most countries in fact do. The difficulties arise in reconciling the US tax liabilities with those owed to the foreign country, calculating the applicable credits, etc. In practice this requires expensive tax professionals in most cases - and they get really expensive if you're an entrepreneur with an overseas corporation, which is pretty much a nightmare to deal with on several levels - different accounting standards, controlled foreign corporation tax reporting, paying estimated taxes when having no clue what the result of a complex tax calculation process will be, etc.

Besides income taxes, there are also bank account reporting requirements (TDF 90-22.1 form) which have made many people's lives difficult. The penalties for not reporting any foreign bank account are draconian even if you live overseas and need an account where you live (you will). Even worse, foreign banks are reluctant to deal with US citizens because of the reporting they in turn are required to do on their behalf, resulting in frequent difficulties opening and maintaining bank accounts overseas if you are a US citizen.

Finally, as a US citizen overseas you are still entitled to social security payments from the US government, but get no benefit from your contributions to Medicare, which only covers you within the USA proper. For that matter you also get no benefit from most of the residual income taxes you pay to the USA that you can't offset with tax exemptions/credits. It's not like those taxes will be used for any of the infrastructure etc. you use overseas.

My situation was pretty complicated on the US side, so I enlisted the help of a professional to get everything kosher on my US return. I have never seen such a complex tax return in my life. In the end, it was 40 pages long, and that is not including the FATCA I did seperately. And all that just to show that I owe $0 for US taxes.

However, we are considering moving back to the US, if even for just a year, so I keep my US citizenship for now.

( Specially if they are already covered by their host country healthcare system. )

I'd be inclined to say "well if you left, then fine", but with the dual taxation and the inability of Congress to pay their bills (it is not just Democrat money, by a long shot)...what exactly are we paying for and why should everyone be responsible for it?

The United States have been around for centuries, and each elected governments and congresses have their own idea about how the tax code should look like. Probably that's why now we have very complicated system, because it's the aggregation of centuries' worth of ideas.

The logical step is to simplify it, but I don't think it's really possible with the current US political system. Each part of the complexity benefits some group, and every group will influence the lawmakers to keep their benefit/loophole.

I'm so much happier here in Paraguay (even with all the cultural differences), instead of the US. I also can't say I feel happy about how things have progressed in the US over the last few years - regarding politics and economics. I really expect that Paraguay is the country where I will build my family and my future.

She had to divest some interests when she took up residence here, if we decide to go back over there (likely in the next 3-5 years), we will look carefully at whether or not staying in vested in the US makes sense. The US feels like it is trying to turn every benefit into something akin to a 401k -- HSA accounts, etc. Which isn't ideal, but they still aren't separating things from the employer based healthcare model...so in a sense many are getting the worst of both worlds.

Healthcare may actually be the motivating issue for us.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=DKFE...

1/ A willingness to accept loophole losses. I have almost nothing I can really claim on as a salaried employee - childcare and charitable donations are about it. There used to be more. I certainly can't claim deductions for "having a mortgage", for example. If I was a lot poorer or had a lot more children (7+) I could get a tax redution for that, but nothing like as generous as the US rates are.

Most of the loophole reduction went hand-in-hand with tax cuts, but we're talking dropping from a top rate of >60% by the end of the Muldoon government down to the 30s for the top tier.

2/ Much of the compliance burden and risk falls on employers, so business groups tend to support simplification, because it mitigates risk and reduces costs for them.

3/ There's more a perception of getting value out of taxes paid in New Zealand than the US. Mainstream political dialogue tends to be around fixing perceived problems in government, not nuking it to a smoking hole, pissing in the hole, and sowing the ground with salt.

Many US progressives/lefties I've spoken with seem to react with suspicion and horror at the idea of being able to have the IRS estimate your taxes on your behalf in case they swindle them out of their tax breaks, which is both a nice combination of 1) and 3), and illustrates the gulf operating. Mainstream left/progressive voters in New Zealand are not commonly of the opinion that accepting the IRD's estimate on owed taxes is going to stiff them out of thousands of dollars in loopholes.

You can't just do it in Turbotax for 50 bucks, you need a qualified tax professional to help you. Good luck finding one familiar with the latest US regulation when you're abroad. The fees will be in the thousands, every year, for the rest of your life.

The financial toll and mental stress all adds up and I guess at some point people just give up. It's a shame that the burden of paperwork results in people giving up their citizenship.

It is as though your 'home state' continued to tax you (or make you file paperwork) long after you've moved to California. Nobody else (worldwide) does this. It doesn't make any sense.

This is a primary motivation people have for renouncing U.S. citizenship.

The US system seems to guarantee you need an accountant.

"survivor" bias? Maybe those are the only kind of people who want to give up their U.S. citizenship?