Trump's Plan to End Double Taxation for Americans Living Abroad
Key Details of Trump's Tax Proposal
New to the list of former President Donald Trump’s campaign tax proposals is a plan to end double taxation for Americans living overseas. “I support ending the double taxation of overseas Americans,” Trump said in a statement shared Thursday with The Hill. Americans living abroad can have tax obligations both to the U.S. and to the country where they reside, though U.S. tax laws have some features to mitigate those dual burdens.
International Tax Obligations
That said, it's still a relatively unusual mandate, as many countries allow their citizens not to pay taxes while they’re residing abroad. Trump’s proposal could reduce that tax burden and make it easier for wealthier Americans to move abroad, according to the Wall Street Journal, which first reported the story.
- Current international exemptions for Americans working abroad include:
- Foreign earned income exclusion
- Foreign housing exclusion
- Foreign housing deduction
The statement shared with The Hill did not go into detail about the scope of Trump’s intended international tax changes. Both Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris have offered a number of potential changes to the tax code as campaign pitches ahead of major revisions to the tax laws that are anticipated for next year.
Comparison of Fiscal Plans
Harris’s plans include credits for first-time home buyers, new parents, and aspiring small business owners. Trump has pitched canceling taxes on tips and overtime pay, as well as changes to social security taxation. The cost of Trump’s proposed tax changes could add substantially to the national deficit. Official estimates of a straight extension of the expiring provisions in his 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act have been placed at $4 trillion over the next decade, or $400 billion per year, by the Center for American Progress (CAP), a Washington think tank. The Bipartisan Policy Center put that number at $5 trillion in a recent estimate.
In a side-by-side comparison of the budgetary costs of the Harris and Trump fiscal plans, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget projected that Trump’s tax-and-spending plans could cost as much as $15.15 trillion while Harris’s could cost $8.1 trillion. On the low end, Harris’s could break even while Trump’s could cost $1.45 trillion. The central tendency for both is a $3.5 trillion deficit addition for Harris and a $7.5 trillion addition for Trump.
Implications for Policymakers
Budgetary deficits, which ballooned after rescue measures sent out as a result of the pandemic, are top of mind for many policymakers in Washington, and the IMF has called for the U.S. to address its debt level.
This article was prepared using information from open sources in accordance with the principles of Ethical Policy. The editorial team is not responsible for absolute accuracy, as it relies on data from the sources referenced.