Ella Heyder is bracing for a breakup, even though she already moved out decades ago.
She’s contemplating cutting ties altogether with her home country, the United States of America, and President Donald Trump.
“I’m quite disturbed by what’s happening in the U.S. under Trump’s regime. It’s a fascist, imperialist regime,” Heyder said as she and others waved signs outside the American Embassy in Ottawa during what has become a twice-weekly protest against the current U.S. administration.
“It makes me a little bit ashamed. It makes me feel very sad,” she said.
For decades, Heyder has carried two passports. While she grew up in Norfolk, Va., Canada has her loyalty, and she figures a permanent split is inevitable.
Not trying to be “pro America” here, but whenever I see these stories I read the article and nobody ever mentions how much in taxes they pay as a US Citizen abroad.
Because right now, you pay zero income tax until you make $130k or more. If you make under that, you file and you get the foreign exclusion credit. And that’s for a single individual. If you’re married and you both work, it’s double at $260k.
And if you use a service like FreeTaxUSA, you can file for free federally.
I just did my taxes and it cost me $20.
There is zero reason to renounce your US Citizenship unless you’re making a fuck load of money and have zero plans on ever coming back to the USA.
Meanwhile every sane country lets you file for free without the use of proprietary software.
This! I did not know about the 130k limit but I live in Europe and pay more taxes here tha I would in the states, so my tax bill has always been 0