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Comment by _s | Hacker News Reader

You pay for the political, economic and military power that ensures you are somewhat protected when in another country.

Would you rather have a US passport living in UAE or Bali or Australia, or would you prefer to have an Iranian one?

I'm not saying the taxation is "right", as nearly all other nations don't care, just highlighting what folks would argue it's for.

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US taxation applies to dual citizens who don't hold US passports though.

Heck, it applies to people who don't even realize that they are US citizens -- a number of Canadians have been hit by large bills from the IRS after discovering at advanced age that they have a parent born in the USA.

To add more to your point, if one has unknowingly US citizenship (through parents at birth or something) && a local citizenship (where one is living, like India, Canada, UAE, anywhere), that host country is not going to give same protections as compared to somebody with "only" US citizen. For example , US citizen having Iranian Passport in Iran are simply Iranian citizens in Iran Government eyes. (Replace Iran with any country). US citizen working/visiting in Canada, but having no Canadian citizenship, can go ask US embassy in Canada for help.

I've never been to UAE or Bali, but I wouldn't mind having an Iranian passport in Australia. I can't imagine I would ever benefit from the "protection" of the USA while in Australia. And one could argue that if you are living in UAE, then having a US passport doesn't protect you more than having a Canadian one, so you're not really getting anything more of value from the much more powerful American one over the Canadian.

I realize folks are arguing what it's for, but I don't think their argument holds water.

Trust me. You would mind that citizenship.

I can assure you from personal experience that holding an Australian passport when in trouble abroad will provide precisely 0 value.

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