By Brian Knowlton
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
WASHINGTON: Tami Overby, a 20-year-resident of Seoul, is as much the face of the United States abroad as anyone could be. She drives an American car, uses a Motorola phone, purchases American appliances, eats at McDonald's, drinks Diet Cokes - and even rides a Harley-Davidson motorcycle.
She is also the president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Korea, the face of American business there - which makes it all the more surprising that her board of directors recently had a rather anguished discussion, as she describes it, about replacing her with a local hire.
The reason: a change in the American tax code two years ago that has raised considerably the tax burden facing many American expatriates - and which, in turn, often makes it more expensive for U.S. companies operating abroad to keep Americans on their payrolls.
"It makes absolutely no sense," said Senator Jim DeMint, Republican of South Carolina, of a system that makes the United States the sole developed country to tax income earned by its citizens abroad.
...
"Why put Americans at a disadvantage in a globally competitive economy?" he said.
IHT
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