Don Beyer, a U.S. Democratic congressman who represents a Virginia constituency, has introduced legislation he says is aimed at making life significantly easier for American expatriates, by making it easier for them to comply with their U.S. tax obligations. 

As various expat organizations ramp up their efforts to persuade Washington lawmakers to move the U.S. away from its Civil War-era taxation regime, which is based on citizenship rather than residency, the Association of Americans Resident Overseas has revealed that 90% of more than 400 U.S. expats it surveyed last October and November support such a change. 

Convincing Congress and the Biden Administration of the need for the U.S. to move to a "residence-based" system of taxation is the No. 1 focus of American expatriate advocacy groups around the world right now.

In a gesture no doubt aimed at least in part at the estimated 7 million to 9 million Americans who live outside of the U.S., today's BBC World Service's Weekend show set aside a 15-minute segment to examine some of the tax and citizenship issues these expats are currently struggling with.

(UPDATED to include YouTube link)

It's only when Americans move overseas that they tend to discover something that few Homeland Americans are aware of: that the U.S. is the only country in the world that taxes on the basis of citizenship rather than residency – apart from Eritrea.

The American Citizens Abroad Global Foundation – the sister educational and research organization to the Washington, D.C.-based American Citizens Abroad advocacy group – today is unveiling a campaign to raise US$75,000 to fund a research project that it plans to help provide the ACA and others with fresh data that the ACAGF says will help to support arguments in favor of moving the U.S. to a Residence-Based Taxation system.

China does not have U.S. style citizenship-based taxation, and is not moving in that direction, a well-known, Mandarin-fluent expert on international taxation and the Chinese tax system has said – contrary to what has been suggested in some recent published reports.

China has begun coming after some of its citizens living abroad to collect taxes – making good on its previously-disclosed plans to get some of its taxpayers who are resident outside of the country to contribute to their home country’s tax coffers, Bloomberg, the South China Morning Post and other major media organizations have reported over the last few days.

The Democrats Abroad has issued a call to fellow Democrats around the world to show their support for including a call for residence-based taxation (RBT) in the party's 2020 platform, but say anyone planning to do so needs to make a move by the 27th of July, if they're to have any hope of succeeding. 

As American expats and Green Card holders around the world prepare to take advantage of their ability, under the recently-signed CARES Act, to access their share of the US$2trn federal coronavirus stimulus package, some Americans resident abroad have been expressing unease with the fact that expats have been included in the handout.