A Landscape PAINting Of The Effects of US citizenship-taxation On US Citizens Living Outside The US

Superb article by @RTMitchell is the equivalent of a landscape PAINting of the lives of #Americansabroad. As Paul Atkinson of @AARO implies, it's actually US @citizenshiptax that has made #FATCA #GILTI #PFIC impediments to Americans living outside the USA in the 21st Century. https://t.co/ZvYK82EB2p pic.twitter.com/MGTrRocO0r

— John Richardson – lawyer for "U.S. persons" abroad (@ExpatriationLaw) September 23, 2021

Rick Mitchell describes himself as a journalist, writer and cyclist living in France. His recent blog post “FATCA to Expats: You’ll Never Have Paris or Anywhere Else” reminds me more of a painting than a blog post. They say “a picture is worth a thousand words”. In this case, Rick’s post is actually worth a museum of paintings.

At first blush it could be seen as just one more post about FATCA. But, it’s actually much more. Mr. Mitchell has written a post that describes how US citizenship taxation has created tremendous problems for Americans abroad and is contrary to the values that American is supposed to stand for. Without directly saying so, his post also explains the burdens that come holding a US passport.

If the US were to cease its policy of citizenship taxation, all of the FATCA related problems would go away.

I highly recommend this post and suggest that you pass it on to others.

The post starts with:

A long time ago I met some French tourists on a boat on Lake Titicaca, fellow trekkers headed from the Peruvian town of Puno for an overnight visit to the island of Taquile. They said their trip was about to end. Capital controls set by their Socialist president had limited how much money they could take out of their country.

I remember thinking, as I hiked the paths of that rocky island, looking across that lake toward Bolivia, that I was lucky to be from a country where the government doesn’t tell you what to do with your money, as long as you follow the law.

You can read the complete post here.

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John Richardson