On June 15, 2023 Congresswoman Dina Titus (D-NV-01) as the Chair of the Congressional Americans Abroad Caucus held a press conference in front of the Capitol to raise awareness of the issues faced by Americans abroad and to garner support for H.R.2729 - Commission on Americans Living Abroad Act of 2023. Read on for more information on the event and press coverage.
Press conference for H.R. 2729 Commission on Americans Abroad Act https://t.co/dz9PNy78RS
— Democrats Abroad Taxation Task Force (@DemsAbroadTax) June 15, 2023
A big thank you to @repdinatitus for supporting #AmericansAbroad #tax #voting issues by working to pass HR 2729 Commission on Americans Abroad pic.twitter.com/6w6g9Ip6oP
— Democrats Abroad Taxation Task Force (@DemsAbroadTax) June 15, 2023
Excellent to come together to support HR2729 with our colleagues @ACAVoice @aaro @SEATNow_org to work towards solutions on #AmericansAbroad Tax problems today at the press conference to mark the #expat tax filing deadline June 15 pic.twitter.com/te9pINo6YZ
— Democrats Abroad Taxation Task Force (@DemsAbroadTax) June 15, 2023
All American citizens deserve representation, regardless of where they live.
— Dina Titus (@repdinatitus) June 15, 2023
Today I stood with advocates for Americans who live abroad to urge Congress to address their concerns: from voting, to taxation, to immigration and more. pic.twitter.com/2qCkQUOmJk
.@repdinatitus and several interest groups spent part of the filing deadline day for citizens abroad stressing the importance of her bill to study how U.S. tax laws are affecting those citizens. https://t.co/TT983iiDLw pic.twitter.com/qr4BwBGuBp
— Tax Notes (@TaxNotes) June 16, 2023
American Citizens Abroad held a press conference Thursday morning in which members from the organization and Rep. Dina Titus (D-Nev.) advocated for legislation to require a 10-person bipartisan panel to study, among other banking and voting issues, double taxation burdens that plague Americans who live in foreign countries.
One primary pillar that ACA has pushed for is residence-based taxation, which would tax U.S. citizens solely based on where the income is earned.
Another policy ACA would like to see enacted is the same-country exemption. As we’ve noted in previous newsletters, the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) reporting laws have in many cases made life very difficult for Americans living abroad, with several prominent foreign banks refusing to do business with Americans because of the stringent requirements.
The same-country exemption would exclude reporting of accounts based in the country where an American permanently resides.
“There’s a misconception that people abroad are richer or somehow more entitled,” Titus said. “That is just absolutely not true.”
Laura Snyder, the co-founder of Stop Extraterritorial American Taxation, said Americans abroad are less able to save for retirement, face complex and expensive tax return filing and have difficulty operating small businesses, among a litany of other hardships that Snyder says causes real emotional distress for these taxpayers.
Titus noted that she had enlisted the help of Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) on the proposed legislation and had chatted with other Ways and Means committee members about it.
“I feel very strongly that we should get rid of double taxation,” Beyer said Thursday. "None of our allies — zero — tax their citizens abroad.”
Americans Abroad
Reps. Dina Titus (D-Nev.) and Don Beyer (D-Va.) introduced legislation that would establish a commission reporting on how US laws affect Americans living abroad, including taxation.
Among the issues the commission would tackle is whether US citizens living in other countries are unfairly subject to double taxation, Titus said at a press conference. Beyer, speaking separately to reporters, said individuals should pay taxes where they live, noting other countries don’t tax citizens living abroad.
“I feel very strongly we should get rid of double taxation,” Beyer said.