Typhoonpilot

Gloopy:


You really need to stop talking about this issue. It shows a complete lack of understanding of the world tax system. Only one or two other countries in the world tax their citizens on global income.

The U.S. has the foreign earned income exclusion for Americans working overseas because they are not using the services that tax dollars are normally meant to pay for. That includes public schools, roads, police department, fire department, etc, etc, etc.

While a U.S. citizen gets a tax break they also must pay exorbitant amounts of money for their child's education should they wish to enroll them in a good school. Even at a company like Emirates that advertises tuition reimbursement the amount they give is not even half the cost of a good American school. So the Americans at Emirates and the other ME carriers who have kids are not getting near the "tax free" salary that you think they are.

In the early days at EK many Americans with two kids or more really struggled to make ends meet while paying the high tuition costs. Many opted for the second tier schools because the cost of American School of Dubai was seen as too high.

I've heard of a number of Americans leaving China over the same issue.

That is an interpretation by the IRS that is a real stretch. Fortunately those who have been audited for it can easily prove that their percentage of total working hours over international waters is less than 5%. Still, I actively bid for trips that did not go over water for very long just to be safe


Typhoonpilot