An American in Warsaw deserves a medal, not U.S. tax hassles
“I’m not living on a yacht… With the money I spend preparing my U.S. declaration every year I could take another trip back home to visit my 95-year-old father.” — Nathaniel Espino
Dear Congress,
The American ambassador here in Warsaw keeps praising me for how much I do to help U.S. foreign policy. So does the government saddle me with tax hassles?
On two occasions in the past couple months, Ambassador Mark Brzezinski thanked me – okay, and a couple hundred other representatives of American business too – for helping promote our country’s values. “Business is central to America’s engagement in the world,” he told us at the Independence Day celebration organized by the American Chamber of Commerce.
Brzezinski is a great ambassador, and I have no reason to doubt his sincerity. But unfortunately the federal government’s actions speak louder than his words.
As an American entrepreneur, I’m subjected to reporting requirements that my local competitors don’t have to deal with, even just opening a bank account is difficult, and I’m limited in the types of corporate structures I can choose.
It’s not like I’m some Captain of Industry over here. My small public relations firm had less than $400,000 in revenues last year – enough to provide a decent living for my two partners, our two employees and me, but I’m not living on a yacht. Saving the money I spend preparing my U.S. tax declaration every year, not to mention the time and aggravation it entails, would make a difference to me; I could take another trip back home each year to visit my 95-year-old father, for instance. And if my partners and I could use some of the more favorable types of company structure available here in Poland – like our competitors do – it would leave more money in the pockets of our five-person team.
Fortunately, I’ve been blessed with patient partners who want to work with me, as well as a stubborn streak that has allowed me to make it over the hurdles. But how many other would-be American entrepreneurs have given up on promising ideas because they just don’t have those advantages?
Perhaps the most galling thing is that I have to spend about $600 every year just to inform Uncle Sam that I don’t owe him a dime. And in fact that’s the same situation in which the vast majority of U.S. citizens overseas find themselves. The cost of moving to residency-based taxation would be minimal, while the benefits to American citizens abroad would be enormous.
Or wait. Maybe even more galling is that I volunteer my time for the American Chamber, and for various Polish regional development agencies, providing intercultural training for companies that want to start doing business in the States. I talk a lot about the American values of openness, transparency and fairness. It would be nice if we had a little more of those in our tax system!
If Ambassador Brzezinski’s kind words are more than just kind words, and if the government he represents really does believe in the soft power of American entrepreneurship, it’s time to end citizenship-based taxation.
Sincerely,
Nathaniel Espino