German exclaves in Belgium separated by a bicycle path from the rest of Germany

Re:German exclaves in Belgium separated by a bicycle path fr... by gnulinux on Sunday December 16, 2018 @01:55PM (#18694486)

This strikes me as a naive, European way to understand borders (governments are services, you get to choose who to pay your taxes to). Most of the world's people are born to governments they do not endorse, and do not want to pay taxes to, yet they still have to. I was born in a shitty country and even though I've been living in the US last 5 years, I still have duties to my home country such as taxes, military, community service etc... And since I'm not a US citizen yet -- even though everyone I care and my life is here -- I cannot reject these duties to my country since I need its services such as providing me with a passport, an embassy (for legal help) etc. Besides US can randomly throw me away any time it feels like, and the one country I can always go is my home country.

I love how these sort of bureaucratic things are so simple in the EU. For the rest of us, it is much more complex, and for most of us living in a country we like is a dream that can hardly be achieved. Nearly all my childhood friends living back home are trying to escape their country but it's not that easy (you need to find a job that accepts H1B for US, or equivalent bureaucratic mambo jambo for the EU).

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Re:German exclaves in Belgium separated by a bicycle path fr... by wongarsu on Sunday December 16, 2018 @02:22PM (#18694661)

But you did decide that you didn't like how your original government runs things, and you switched to a different government. That's very much in line with the European understanding of government. Your only problem is that the US is extremely picky with accepting new customers.

Also note how many of your problems are exceptional. Few countries raise taxes from money that never enters or leaves their country, and military service requirements are often paused while you are abroad. You have it harder than most.

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Re:German exclaves in Belgium separated by a bicycle path fr... by AdrianB1 on Sunday December 16, 2018 @08:56PM (#18696421)

USA is an example of raising taxes from money that never enters or leaves the country, I think. US citizens pay taxes from income abroad when they live abroad and non-residents pay taxes for money earned from US companies (like I do).

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