I understand what FEIE is. but as you said, it's the first $112k. BUT, you still have to file every year, which incurs a time and financial penalty. W2 forms aren't designed for mere mortals to fumble their way through, so most outsource it to a tax accountant at a financial cost. Also, tax accountants abroad that specialise in US tax law are both rare and expensive.
> medicare/caid tax so you still pay some
exactly. You're still 'on the hook' annually to pay for subpar services you'll most likely never use, assuming they exist when you're eligible for them.
> I'm sure citizenship is worth at least $88000 per year to most people.
I'm sorry, but that makes me laugh HARD. By your math I would have paid approximately $1.9 million dollars in the past 21 years just to hold the US passport I might have used 10-15 times in that timeframe to gain entry to the US. Do you honestly think the right to visit the US 15 times over 2 decades is worth $2 million USD? Especially when you can visit the US without a US passport fairly easily (assuming you're not a cryptobro acting like a fool?).
Full disclosure, I'm a US expat who's lived in Australia for over 20 years and was granted Australian Medicare YEARS before I was a permanent resident.
