why: so the government won’t be able to use your money for whatever the fuck they’re planning for the next 4 years.
as a traveler, none of my money has been funding Israel, for example.
one-step method: you basically fill out one extra tax form called FEIE while you’re doing your taxes, write down the dates you were outside of the country, and then since you aren’t in the country and are not receiving any services from the US, you don’t have to pay income tax up to a certain amount (it’s a little over 125k this year).
“over the threshold, you’re expected to pay taxes”
sort of, that’s the “up to 125k” limit part of the FEIE(readjusted for inflation every year).
you still don’t pay taxes on the first 125k.
earning more than 125k is not a problem most people have.
The problem most people have is not knowing that the feie exists in the first place and there are legal, straightforward ways to avoid paying income tax while saving money traveling.
“no matter if you’re also paying taxes wherever you currently are…”
this is very iffy and depends on a lot of factors.
again, for most regular people, foreign income tax credits will erase most financial duties to the US.
“The US is the only country in the world…”
nearly.
“It’s not normal.”
nope, it’s definitely weird and it sucks.
but at least there’s the FEIE.