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by cainxinth·5y ago·view on hn ↗
Extortion and theft implies you didn't voluntarily accept to be taxed and that you aren't getting anything in return.

Don't want to pay high American taxes and enjoy our roads and such? No problem. Guatemala has very low tax rates. UAE has no income tax. Don't like regulations in general? Somalia will be right up your alley.

No one is forcing you to stay in American and pay these taxes. That is your choice.

3 comments
You are ill informed regarding the US tax code. Unlike a majority of the world's countries, the US will tax you even if you live abroad.
Not if you give up your citizenship. After all, why would you want to be a part of country if you think it's extorting and stealing from you?
I'm assuming you have zero complaints or commentary about any piece of us politics or policy right? After all if you did you should move to Guatemala right?

Guess we should have just remained a colony of Britain huh? If people didn't like the rules they should have just moved somewhere else. After all, the rules are the rules and if you don't like them the only thing you should do is go somewhere else right?

What a hypocritical, disingenuous argument this is.

Your argument is disingenuous.

You are trying to twist his argument into "if you have any complaint, you should leave". But that's not his argument.

His argument is that if you disagree with taxation specifically, you should leave. He's fine with taxation. He probably believes that any other issues he may or may not have with his government can be fixed within that system without compromising the things he likes about it too much. He doesn't believe you can't remove taxes without compromising everything he likes about his country.

Argue his point, not some make-believe exaggeration.

its almost like that is WHY the US taxes overseas citizens...they don't want freeloaders relying on the benefits of their citizenship without understanding how it is paid for.
Not only that. If you renounce citizenship you are exit taxed on all your assets worth over 2 mil as a disincentive to high net worth individuals from jumping ship. Most aggressive tax regime in the world in many respects.
If you have over $2m, the argument that U.S. taxation is extortion is even less convincing. Such people have the means to hire lawyers and grease the wheels to emigrate to a wide swath of countries.

The most desirable places often have high tax rates, though. Funny how it works out like that.

that is handle-able as well

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/legal/travel-lega...

you could also opt to make no money, that gets you out of taxes. It isn't 'fraud' or 'theft' or 'extortion' its a social contract.

It's sort of unbelievable to me that you advocate for the death of a person if they don't comply with giving you something that is rightfully theirs.
When did anybody voluntarily accept to be taxed? It was a law created via the slippery slope just as they are trying to do now with the wealth tax.