Our campaign
Who we are
We represent millions of U.S. citizens who live outside the United States and who are fed up with unfair double taxation and related financial reporting obligations that make them second-class citizens. We are non-partisan, united by a fundamental belief in fairness and a hunger for equal treatment under the law.
Some Americans living outside the United States moved abroad for work. Others moved for love or to retire abroad. Some moved with their parents as kids. Many have never even been to the United States because they were born to U.S. parents abroad. Some “accidental Americans” don’t even speak English! None had any idea what they were in for: a lifetime of double tax filing obligations, high compliance costs, financial discrimination and sometimes outright double taxation, simply for being American.
We are average, ordinary, hard-working or retired Americans, no richer or poorer than Americans who live in the United States.
We are all Americans and all volunteers. Our members include “accidental Americans” as well as Americans born and raised in the United States but who now live abroad for the long term or permanently.
What we want
Americans abroad already pay taxes in the countries where they live. They shouldn’t also have to declare their non-U.S. income in the United States or face tax or financial discrimination or unfair and disproportionate penalties for maintaining bank and investment accounts outside the United States.
We want to end Citizenship-Based Taxation and all the discrimination, high costs and hassles it imposes on Americans abroad!
This campaign unites all Americans abroad who want equal treatment with U.S. residents by allowing them to pay taxes based on residence and source—just like the citizens of every other free country in the world.
The Residence-Based Taxation for Americans Abroad Act, which we worked closely with Rep. Darin LaHood to shape, is our best chance in years of ending double taxation and achieving tax fairness for Americans abroad. Please support him and us in convincing Congress to pass it as a matter of priority!
What is Residence-Based Taxation?
Residence-Based Taxation (RBT) means declaring income and paying income taxes in the country in which you live. Its opposite is Citizenship-Based Taxation (CBT), under which people are required to declare income and potentially pay taxes to a country of which they are a citizen but in which they do not live. Currently no other country imposes the sort of unfair, discriminatory CBT on its citizens living abroad the same way the United States does.
The United States imposes taxes and tax-related reporting obligations on U.S. citizens who live year-round in other countries because of an out-dated 19th Century law.
U.S. tax rules directly and indirectly impose significant and discriminatory burdens on U.S. citizens abroad. These burdens are significantly greater than those imposed on people who actually live in the United States.
Direct burdens include mandatory filing of U.S. income tax declarations—in addition to whatever declarations people need to file in their countries of residence, and whether or not the person has ever lived or worked in the United States—and mandatory reporting of non-U.S. financial accounts. Penalties for non-compliance are draconian even for any unintended errors or omissions.
Indirect burdens resulting from U.S. law include non-U.S. financial institutions refusing U.S. citizens abroad any banking services beyond basic savings accounts and checking accounts—and sometimes refusing even those, too. Access to mortgages can also be a problem. This condemns millions of Americans abroad to having to pursue more difficult and expensive options for personal savings.
How we plan to win
First, we are working with experts in and on Congress. We worked closely with Rep. Darin LaHood’s office to shape the Residence-Based Taxation for Americans Abroad Act. We are working with one of the biggest and best law firms in Washington on tax matters, Brownstein Hyatt, and advisers who have deep experience in the House Ways and Means and Senate Finance Committees.
Second, we have you! Our campaign is entirely donation-funded. With our first $100,000 in donations we were able to draft a bipartisan political proposal that formed the basis of Rep. LaHood’s bill and work with his office to translate it into legislative language. And get the bill introduced. In six months.
Third, scale: Our Board members work with organizations that have the scale to help us reach large numbers of Americans abroad and lobby other members of Congress to support Mr. LaHood’s bill. Numbers matter. Constituents writing letters, making calls and asking for meetings. But also donors and dollars for advocacy and public relations support.
Please help us reach as many Americans living abroad as possible, encourage them to share testimonials of their U.S. tax woes, and also to donate to our campaign to help us win.
In 2025 we will need to ramp up our campaign in Washington, knocking on doors in Congress, telling our story, and evangelizing Mr. LaHood’s bill.
Even though we rely on volunteers as much as we can, we also need professional help, and paying for that costs money. That’s why every donation is really important.
Just imagine: If you help us win, you should never need to fill in a U.S. tax, FATCA or FBAR form again unless you have U.S. income or move back to the United States!