> The US has similar arrangements with many countries, and you are not doubly-taxed. You simply pay taxes at the highest rate of the two (US and <other country>).
But do you see how punitive that is to US expats? It means that they never benefit from tax mitigation efforts in their resident country if the US has higher taxes on that. That, tax-wise, they are perpetually worse off than US residents and their local neighbors.
Think about the effect of this on small businesses (which are hardly alone in their troubles). Small businesses owned by US expats are at a perpetual disadvantage relative to local businesses because they can’t operate purely within the local tax environment. If the US introduces some poorly thought out regulation, like the GILTI tax, they are hit completely independently of the local competition through no fault of their own.
Besides, if the resident country decides to mitigate some local issue by lowering taxes, what business is that to the US? It’s criminal that it uses its own citizens to siphon off another country’s wealth.
My dispute was only with the term "doubly-taxed", which for countries with a tax treaty is simply false.
Nevertheless, you are correct that as a US citizen, you are destined to pay max (USTax (income), OtherTax (income)). I don't agree with this, but it's not called "double taxation".
But do you see how punitive that is to US expats? It means that they never benefit from tax mitigation efforts in their resident country if the US has higher taxes on that. That, tax-wise, they are perpetually worse off than US residents and their local neighbors.
Think about the effect of this on small businesses (which are hardly alone in their troubles). Small businesses owned by US expats are at a perpetual disadvantage relative to local businesses because they can’t operate purely within the local tax environment. If the US introduces some poorly thought out regulation, like the GILTI tax, they are hit completely independently of the local competition through no fault of their own.
Besides, if the resident country decides to mitigate some local issue by lowering taxes, what business is that to the US? It’s criminal that it uses its own citizens to siphon off another country’s wealth.