This is in stark difference to countries like the UK, where MPs have to vote on the party line unless it's declared a conscience vote by the party leader [2]. Voting across party lines in Westminster system parliaments will get you kicked out of the party.
Which is also the case in the US, the party could run a primary challenger to them in the next election.
It's the same case in most parliamentary systems, it's usually right of MPs guaranteed in a constitution. Tradition and procedures, however, tend to ensure party line votes, but there are no legal ramifications, if an MP rebels against the party line.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constituencies_for_French_resi...
"The constituencies for French residents overseas are eleven French constituencies, each electing one representative to the National Assembly."
Election results for French expats are typically very different from those back home. LePen was not even close to be qualified for a second turn in the last presidential elections in London. Unless you live in France you would typically not be subject to any of the laws the new government would enact, so part of me thinks “why should I have a say in this?”
On the other hand, LePen proposed to strip French expats of their citizenship if they hold other nationalities, so I suppose having a say in the matter was only fair.
But if they're taxing me, I deserve a vote at the federal level 100%.
I think it would be fair to be able to opt out of tax filing obligations in the US and for that give up the right to vote until you return.
Do you qualify? Then you are exempt from such a ridiculous amount that it is hard to argue this.
Or maybe you visit the USA too much to qualify? In which case you do have enough ties that I think tax makes sense.
If you buy a house, things are going to be complicated.
If you have a workplace pension from your job, you're probably screwed. State pensions have screwed people too.
If you invest in stocks, or mutual funds, you'll pay more in tax preparation than you'll make.
If you set up your own company and are not paid as an employee but as the owner, you will be screwed.
Rent out a property, screwed.
Fail to declare every account that you're a signatory on? Prepare to pay up to 125% of the contents.
If you're children are beneficiaries of a trust set up by their non-american grand-parents? Totally screwed.
You might also think it is "ridiculous" because you only earn money from a paycheck (e.g. you are an employee). For the self-employed things look very different: your revenue might easily be $200k, while your actual income is half that. Your foreign business pays taxes on income, but claiming the same deductions in the US might be difficult or impossible, so you might end up paying taxes on your $200k of revenue.
More importantly, though, the amount of paperwork that the US requires (FATCA and FBAR reporting) is ridiculous. And preparing your US taxes if you are an expat is a minefield, there is no way you can do it yourself. You need help from experienced tax accountants. All in all, it is a significant burden.
> If the Department of Homeland Security determines that the renunciation is motivated by tax avoidance purposes, the individual will be found inadmissible to the United States under Section 212(a)(10)(E) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(10)(E)), as amended.
[1] https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/legal/travel-lega...
If your income is above $100k, you also have to fill out the AMT worksheet, which may result in you needing to calculate everything to deduct the foreign taxes you've paid.
If you have US stocks and sell them, you have to worry about paying capital gains taxes to the US (they consider this US income, regardless of if you received the stocks as part of your employment), and you generally have to pay taxes to the country you're living in for that as well. If you're lucky you might be able to deduct the US taxes or expected taxes, otherwise you might not be able to do so or might not be able to do so until the next year.
You also have to report your overseas accounts every year.
When I first moved overseas, yes, it was pretty simple to just fill out my 1040 and my form 2555. Last year I needed those plus the 1040 Schedule B and form 1116. Next year things will get even more complicated since this year I bought an apartment, so there's a mixture of rent deduction and mortgage deductions, plus a significant capital gains tax burden due to selling stocks for my down-payment on the apartment.
Though, I am curious, since my wife is a US citizen, and we are living in my home country; does the 200k if married limit count, if your spouse is a foreign citizen (like say, me)?
That the U.S. government makes demands of people living outside its borders is preposterous.
There are enough in Mexico, and enough in Canada, and maybe enough in the Philippines to have one Representative for each of those.
The rest, though, are sufficiently spread out that when you group enough different countries together to get enough US citizens for a Representative, that Representative will have such a diverse group of constituents with such diverse concerns that it is not clear the Representative could actually effectively represent them.
Seems like that would pretty much fit the problem of representing diverse sub-groups naturally. For example say the demographic of "student-age backpackers teaching English overseas" was about 20% of the expat population. Then all else being equal you'd expect candidates who best represented this group to garner about 20% of the vote totals, and therefore gain 1-2 seats.
France has actually considered taxing French citizens abroad like the US. It comes regularly during presidential campaigns. I think the last serious attempt was Hollande. They backed down because it would require to renegotiate every tax treaty and they didn’t want to open that door.
But I think it will happen one day.
Immigrant is not a dirty word
All immigrants are expatriates, but not all expatriates are immigrants.
The term immigrant denotes someone who has left their native land permanently - that is, they never plan on moving back there. Many expatriates do plan on returning home, so calling them immigrants is inaccurate.
Please understand that anyone studying abroad, stationed overseas (either with the government or military), or working abroad is an expatriate - no matter where they're from and where they're living.
Even though I'm paying tax overseas, there's no US Representative who fights for my interests. I have one who fights for the interests of the residents of a district I lived in years ago, but I have no relation to that anymore. I have a US senator who fights for the interest of the state listed on my old drivers license, but none who represent me as an expat.
The US was founded precisely because those who were living overseas had no representative fighting for their rights, yet they were still taxed. The same thing is happening today. What I want isn't for this tax to stop, it's to have representation.