Transcript of the above video: 

As the title of this video suggests, we have heard some recent discussions from Candidate Trump or President Trump regarding expat taxes for Americans living abroad. I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from the Thai Examiner, that's thaiexaminer.com, the article is titled: Trump reaches out to US expats in Thailand to help win the election. No double taxation pledge. Now this is kind of a weird one. I think what they're saying, what they are trying to impute is no taxation on Americans abroad but they say "no double taxation" which again that sort of feeds into the whole narrative regarding OECD and the notion of harmonization of our tax systems and all of this stuff, so I am a little bit cautious when I'm sort of reading this kind of stuff. That said, quoting directly:  "Trump promises to end double taxation for expats in Thailand.." Well is he promising to end taxation on Americans abroad or double taxation? We already have Treaties regarding double taxation, so I don't really know what is going on here. That said, quoting further: "..aiming to win their support in the election. With 100,000 Americans living there," specifically Thailand, "his pledge could sway votes. Absentee ballots are already being counted as he focuses on reducing taxes for Americans abroad." Quoting further: "Trump's latest campaign pledge will be welcome news for Americans living in Thailand." 

It's worth noting. He talked a lot about this stuff before and during the first term and I remember hearing a lot of supporters talking about "oh things are going to change with regard to expat taxes". Nothing really much happened. As I discussed in another video I made contemporaneously with this one, at the end of the day, expats are a limited constituency insofar as they don't live in America, they don't pay taxes the same way as Americans in America, so they're not really viewed with as much priority as Americans actually in the United States; this is just my personal opinion from having lived abroad some 17 years. That said, quoting further: "...in particular, with proposals to change Thailand's tax system targeting expats in the pipeline." Yeah, well this notion there is a major tax change in the pipeline I've yet to see it. Yes Revenue Department has talked about it but look agencies here in Thailand talk about a lot of things in sort of the hypothetical. Whether or not this actually comes to pass remains to be seen. That said, quoting further: "Presently Americans are obliged to file tax returns on an annual basis no matter where they live in the world. Trump's promise is quite simple: under his Administration there will be no double taxation." Well again, do you mean not taxing Americans abroad or double taxation? Those are different things. You can be an American working and living on an oil rig somewhere that's not under any country's direct jurisdiction as far as like tax residency and you can still be taxed by the United States, and that wouldn't be double taxation. So again double taxation is not the same thing as being taxed on your worldwide income or being taxed notwithstanding the fact that you don't live in the United States. Quoting further: "The move is being touted by his advisors and spokespeople as many expats are already voting. Their votes will be counted as absentee ballots. Certainly, these votes in this political contest may prove significant. Thailand is at the time home to something like 100,000 eligible US citizens, part of 9 million who presently live abroad." That's kind of interesting. I didn't know that there were 100,000 Americans living in Thailand. I would say that number is probably a little high, but I could be wrong. I mean now that I sort of think about it, yeah maybe there are 100,000 people living here in Thailand of American origin. That being said, again it remains to be seen exactly how this plays out.

As I discussed in another video, yeah look Trump Tax was actually promulgated in Trump's first term and that actually had the impact of having more of an onus on Americans who were living abroad and doing business. Now again it was in the context primarily of those who own their own business abroad and as I've discussed in other videos, the Amity Treaty has a very unique sort of interaction with American Tax law. But that said, it remains to be seen exactly how this is going to play out. I wouldn't exactly hold your breath but if you're looking for hope regarding the possibility of at least mitigating tax liabilities or tax burdens as an American abroad, I haven't seen a lot of commentary from Kamala Harris on this but sort of knowing the way politics works in the United States, I would presume there is probably more of a chance that there would be some mitigation from Trump, but then I sort of think to myself, the fact that we already saw one term with him and if anything there was actually an increase in the onus placed on American expats - well here in Thailand, was kind of where I was looking at it - again I found certain aspects of the Amity Treaty, how it interacted with American Tax Law to be very beneficial to Americans. But again Trump himself - the promulgation of Trump Tax - I would argue probably if anything was more of a burden on Americans abroad than anything. Now may he change his tune if he is elected again for another term? That remains to be seen. I will certainly be hopeful and I will be hopeful for expats who are having to deal with taxes here in the Kingdom of Thailand.