election disgust
I am so disgusted right now. Sure, Middle America gets what it wants (and maybe deserves) but why does that have to mean the rest of us (and the rest of the world) has to get dragged down?
I haven't felt better about living in Iceland than I do right now, this afternoon... maybe it was worth it coming here after all. In 2005, I will pay no US income tax. All my tax dollars can go to Baby Styrmir's education, rather than to the Iraq war.
I haven't felt better about living in Iceland than I do right now, this afternoon... maybe it was worth it coming here after all. In 2005, I will pay no US income tax. All my tax dollars can go to Baby Styrmir's education, rather than to the Iraq war.
posted by JB at 3.11.04
2 Comments:
hi jared, this is an archived blog post, but i am curious as to how the tax agreement between the US and iceland works. i read through the legalese of the formal agreements and couldn't honestly make heads or tails.
i have experience working in japan as an ex-pat, and as per the agreements there, i didn't pay japanese income tax (up to 3 years), but still was required to pay the US tax. i thought it was unavoidable to pay US income tax, unless in a special "tax haven" territory, i.e. monaco.
your insights would be wonderful!
Hi Kimberly,
Thanks for reading all this old stuff.
For the privilege of being a US citizen, one must file US tax forms on worldwide income every year until death, regardless of country of residence. Or that's how I understand it. The US is the only country in the world to tax its non-resident citizens in this way. The law isn't really enforced, though, so I know some US citizens here in Iceland who file every year and others who haven't filed a tax form since they left.
It's a terrible burden for the five million unrepresented Americans who live abroad. If one gives up US citizenship (increasingly common among ex-pats) the US reserves the right to tax the next 10 years of income, post citizenship renunciation.
Although one must still file each year, if one is an employee of a foreign government, that income is in most cases not taxable by the US. This is laid out in the tax treaties, and holds for US-Iceland, for example.
JB
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