Governments say they can't tax the super wealthy more because they'll just leave the country but has any first world country tried it in the last 50 years?

[u/Discontitulated]

It would be interesting to see how raising taxes on the super wealthy actually affected a first world country's tax revenue and economy.

Are our first world economies really so fragile the rely on the super wealthy and their meager tax revenue?

[u/Nexus_of_Fate87]

Technically yes, in practice, not really. You can claim credit for any taxes paid to your host country, and most countries have higher individual tax rates than the US, so most ex-pats don't end up paying US taxes, or very, very small amounts.

[u/madh → u/Nexus_of_Fate87]

Yes totally true. It just means that you can’t move to avoid tax spend as a US citizen (an exception might be Puerto Rico, but I’m not sure)

[u/trvlng_ging → u/madh]

If a US citizen works and earns money in a foreign country, and spends less that 31 days in the US, their income is not taxable by the IRS. They still may need to pay taxes in some states (such as California) if they have holdings or financial interest in that state.

[u/brzantium → u/trvlng_ging]

They do however, need to report their income to prove they qualify for the foreign earned income exclusion. Then there's FBAR.

[u/trvlng_ging → u/brzantium]

FBAR is just a single form on their tax return. I file several such returns annually for clients. Each year, a few clients move to Latin America as they retire. Cost of living is much lower, no taxes, many of them have their families come down for holidays and vacations. Some are seeing their families more than they did when they lived here. Until a serious medical condition arises, it's a great solution.

[u/polopolo05 → u/Nexus_of_Fate87]

elon has some very nice companies...