Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing double taxation versus worldwide taxation. I have done some videos recently where I have noted that now candidate, former President Trump has been talking about ending "double taxation" for Americans abroad, specifically in Thailand they have talked about this. I think because there is a large cohort of Americans living in Thailand, there may be some sort of politicking going on trying to get some votes from the American expat community here in Thailand. 

The point I am trying to make with regard to this video is when he was talking about that he said "oh we need to end Double Taxation." Let's be clear, Donald Trump is very well aware of tax policy. Quite honestly in his first term, especially when they were talking about VAT and how VAT in foreign countries interacts with the United States, that was some of the most competent coverage of tax policy and the most thought out tax platform I had seen from any candidate in years up to that date. Now nothing much came of it but Donald Trump is more aware of tax policy especially and how it impacts people on a real level than I would argue any politician we have dealt with in probably 50 odd years is aware of. Honestly I can't think of going back to maybe Hoover, in terms of somebody who actually had practical real world experience in the private sector, okay maybe Truman when he was working as a haberdasher or something like this, but really most politicians up to Trump at least in the modern era that became President, oftentimes were politicians for so long that they had never really worked in the private sector. Say what you will about that one way or the other, but the point I am trying to make is Trump has a much more detailed or nuanced grasp I think of the practicalities or the practical application of possible tax policy, than I would argue most candidates or Presidents have had up to this point for a long time. Maybe Perot as a candidate might have been as aware as Trump but again there just hasn't been a lot of folks that have the practical knowledge. The point I am trying to make with this video, he knows what he's saying, so when he is using the terminology "double taxation" that's like when former Prime Minister Srettha here was talking about that there's some kind of global imperative that everyone be taxed, okay. He's saying you're going to be taxed, it's just he's saying "oh well we don't want you to be double taxed". We have double tax agreements for that which still results in you being taxed. Americans are the only people outside of I believe Eritrea and maybe North Korea who are taxed on their worldwide income.

Not to get too deep into this, but long story short, when we the people became the sovereigns of the United States at the inception of the United States of America, we became joint and severally liable for the national debt effectively. That's the way the thinking goes if you will. Now so we don't have a territorial taxation system like for example the UK and the reason for that is the Crown is the one that taxes in the UK and then via the Bank of England they take out national debt; they use the Crown taxing power to then pay back the national debt again but the Crown only has authority within its jurisdiction, within its bailiwick, within its realm. So Brits for example that leave the UK, can become “tax exiles” insofar as they are not going to really be taxed, but they can't go back to their home country. The United States or US citizens I should say, cannot avail themselves of that because again this notion that we are all joint and severally liable for the national debt; effectively we don't have a Territorial Tax System. Now as discussed in other videos, we do have the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion which the vast majority of expats are probably going to fall under that and not really have to worry about any tax liability back to the United States if they're working abroad and living abroad 335 days out of every calendar year and don't go back to the United States more than 30 days per every calendar year they are probably not going to have to worry about taxation. That said, they're still going to have to file. 

So what I'm trying to say with respect to this is notwithstanding the fact it sounds really good when Donald Trump says "oh we need to end double tax", what we really need to end is worldwide tax on Americans. If you're not in the United States availing yourself of the infrastructure etc., should you really be subject to taxation worldwide even though you're not there? It doesn't seem particularly fair to me, it's not a matter of fairness, it doesn't seem right to me at the end of the day to do that but again when you hear this terminology, people start kind of getting excited, "oh he is going to do something." As a practical matter, ending double taxation will just play into all of this ongoing talk from the OECD of "harmonization" with Thailand's tax laws etc. I don't think it's a great thing for expats generally but specifically for expats here in the Kingdom of Thailand.