More countries should oearn from this. Any country can decide to tax citizens. And who is a citizen? Well, it's determined by that nation's laws.
Why should citizenship only be granted to children citizens? Why not grand children? Or great grant children?
Could ireland or italy pass laws giving 3rd generation Immigrants citizenship, and then send them all a tax bill?
They could, but it's harder for a small country to enforce such laws compared to the US.
Of course if they can get the EU to help enforce those laws, perhaps the sky is the limit.
People living far away are the ideal tax base. For one thing, they can't effectively vote against the tax.
US expats can vote from abroad from the last state, county, and municipality they held residency in prior to going abroad, as I understand.
Obligatory IANAL.
Here's the kicker: when you are born to US parents, you are automatically a US citizen, even if USA doesn't know about you. So you may have been born abroad and never set foot in the US, and theoretically, you should have been filling tax reports. I wonder if you owe backtaxes if you decide to inform USA about yourself later in your life...
One can be born abroad to a US citizen and not be eligible for US citizenship; Keanu Reves is a great example of that.[1] However, that child would be considered a "US Person" by the IRS and subject to US taxes.
Note that I wrote "parents", not "parent", although full rules do specify additional residency requirement, so my statement may be considered incorrect, but not because of what you are pointing out. : - P
Reference for whoever's interested: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/legal/travel-lega...
No doubt this was to avoid having all the children of anyone a US serviceman interacted with abroad claim US citizenship.
"A U.S. citizen may have automatically acquired U.S. citizenship based on birth in the United States, but never actually resided in the United States. This U.S. citizen will not have established residence in the United States, and may be unable to transmit U.S. citizenship to his or her own children."
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birthright_citizenship_in_the_... [2] https://www.uscis.gov/policy-manual/volume-12-part-h-chapter...