Quote: (02-25-2014 11:35 PM)paninaro Wrote:
Here is the list of all countries the US has a tax treaty with. Indeed some of the lower-tax countries you mentioned aren't on there, but a lot of EE countries are, including Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and the Baltics.
The bottom line (at least as I see it) is a US citizen will never pay more income tax than they paid while living in the US, unless they move to a country with a higher tax rate than they were paying in the US. So the only way they'll be worse-off tax-wise is if they move to a country with a higher tax rate.
You are correct, but you've missed the point. Look at Russia for example, where the tax rate is between 6% and 13% depending on what kind of income you have. US citizens have a debt to the IRS if their salary is over $98k or if they have any non-salary income. Here's the kicker: Citizens of other countries owe nothing to their passport country's tax department, ever. They don't even have to file because their tax departments only have jurisdiction over resident citizens, not those who live abroad.