Page 4 - The South China Business Journal
P. 4
ITOR’s Note
Dr. Harley Seyedin President Donald Trump had a busy and productive month in November.
President The White House announced around $250 billion in business deals in
AmCham South China China during his twelve-day tour of Asia.
Vice Chairman
U.S. China Economic and Trade Perhaps the most important November announcement to Americans who
Policy, APCAC live and work outside of the U.S. may be President Trump’s tax reform leg-
islation to overhaul the cumbersome and outdated federal tax system. My
personal income tax return, when filed this year, was 185 pages and cost me
thousands of dollars to have professionally prepared. This was for only my
personal tax return and not the tax returns of my businesses. This additional
burden, which is forced only upon the shoulders of American citizens living
abroad, is caused by the U.S. being the only developed country that has a
system of citizenship-based taxation (CBT). This system subjects American
citizens to worldwide taxation even when they reside and work overseas and
are already taxed on their income by the country where they reside. It is high
time that this rule be abolished and replaced with a residence-based taxation
plan, which will allow American entrepreneurs and businesses to compete and
win at home and around the world.
Studies show that the U.S. loses billions of dollars in exports as many Ameri-
can companies do not hire American citizens in order to avoid the double
taxation costs. Only the United States and Eritrea currently tax their citi-
zens abroad – a reality that deeply disadvantages American workers against
their counterparts from literally every country in the world.
The Senate Finance Committee’s International Working Group report high-
lighted that over 7.6 million American citizens are currently living abroad.
Nearly three-quarters of the 367 submissions made to the international work
group focused on the tax treatment of these individuals – specifically citizen-
ship-based taxation, the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), and
the Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR).
Thanks to President Trump, American citizens living abroad are seeing a
glimmer of hope for relief that might be brought by President Trump’s tax
reform. The American Chamber of Commerce in South China has, through
APCAC, joined forces with 28 other American Chambers of Commerce in the
Asia Pacific and a host of other associations around the world to call on the
United States Senate and House of Representatives to include territorial taxa-
tion for individuals within their respective tax reform packages. I am thankful
to Mr. Andy Rusie, Senior Vice President Finance of James Hardie, for leading
the Tax Committee of APCAC on behalf of our Chamber. While we are en-
couraged that both the House and Senate bills include elements of territorial
taxation for American companies, it is important to extend territorial taxation
also to American individuals abroad. We remain hopeful that a solution will
be included in the final tax reform bill.
2 AmCham South China
Dr. Harley Seyedin President Donald Trump had a busy and productive month in November.
President The White House announced around $250 billion in business deals in
AmCham South China China during his twelve-day tour of Asia.
Vice Chairman
U.S. China Economic and Trade Perhaps the most important November announcement to Americans who
Policy, APCAC live and work outside of the U.S. may be President Trump’s tax reform leg-
islation to overhaul the cumbersome and outdated federal tax system. My
personal income tax return, when filed this year, was 185 pages and cost me
thousands of dollars to have professionally prepared. This was for only my
personal tax return and not the tax returns of my businesses. This additional
burden, which is forced only upon the shoulders of American citizens living
abroad, is caused by the U.S. being the only developed country that has a
system of citizenship-based taxation (CBT). This system subjects American
citizens to worldwide taxation even when they reside and work overseas and
are already taxed on their income by the country where they reside. It is high
time that this rule be abolished and replaced with a residence-based taxation
plan, which will allow American entrepreneurs and businesses to compete and
win at home and around the world.
Studies show that the U.S. loses billions of dollars in exports as many Ameri-
can companies do not hire American citizens in order to avoid the double
taxation costs. Only the United States and Eritrea currently tax their citi-
zens abroad – a reality that deeply disadvantages American workers against
their counterparts from literally every country in the world.
The Senate Finance Committee’s International Working Group report high-
lighted that over 7.6 million American citizens are currently living abroad.
Nearly three-quarters of the 367 submissions made to the international work
group focused on the tax treatment of these individuals – specifically citizen-
ship-based taxation, the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), and
the Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR).
Thanks to President Trump, American citizens living abroad are seeing a
glimmer of hope for relief that might be brought by President Trump’s tax
reform. The American Chamber of Commerce in South China has, through
APCAC, joined forces with 28 other American Chambers of Commerce in the
Asia Pacific and a host of other associations around the world to call on the
United States Senate and House of Representatives to include territorial taxa-
tion for individuals within their respective tax reform packages. I am thankful
to Mr. Andy Rusie, Senior Vice President Finance of James Hardie, for leading
the Tax Committee of APCAC on behalf of our Chamber. While we are en-
couraged that both the House and Senate bills include elements of territorial
taxation for American companies, it is important to extend territorial taxation
also to American individuals abroad. We remain hopeful that a solution will
be included in the final tax reform bill.
2 AmCham South China
