Wayne Knight wrote:
"riverman" wrote in message ...

I'm just reacting because I'm feeling betrayed by my government again,
and bull**** about how damn hard it is to get ahead in this freaking life,
and I'm talking to my primary community since I don't live in the US,
surrounded by neighbors and friends.

Sure, someone sat in their office and said "let's screw Myron, after all
he's a liberal and low paid school teacher living abroad. He can;t hurt us."

Cannibals, and zero tax bill if you lived in the US?

Welcome to the real world where the wealthiest, the poorest, and every one
in between has some kind of worry. Look on the bright side too, since you
live at a low income level, you won;t need as much to retire on plus you;re
still young enough to come back to the states and qualify for a teaching
pension should you so desire.

At the end of the day, you're harping about something that your
comprehension of is seriously lacking. Whatever it is you teach do it well
but leave the tax code, retirements, and **** to the experts on your behalf.
I sat down and read some of the new law last night as one of the folks I
filed an extension for is subject to the AMT (at a total income of 85K per
year!) and refreshed my memory on someother things IRS like. You're ****ing
and moaning and making it sound like it worse than it really is. Will you
have to pay some taxes you don't pay now? Probably. Can you and your
employer think out of the box and find a way in your situation legally and
ethically? Probably.

You've got a good "woe is me" or "holier than thou" attitude until someone
calls bull**** on you, get over it and get professional financial help.

Aww, comon, Wayne. Tell me how you really feel. :-)

OK, OK, so I'm panicking. No argument there...I hate when really big
blips like this come on the radar screen. FWIW, there was a meeting
this weekend with the school super, some board members and most of the
senior American staff, and the consensus was:
a) don't panic yet. We don't know all the details, but
b) this is probably going to be bigger than we realize
c) and if the implementation is what it looks like it will be, the
enrollment in the school will probably drop about 20-25% and the
majority of senior US staff will leave in the next 2 years.
d) but wait and see how the IRS accommodates places like HK first.

So their take on the potential impact is similar to mine, and their
advice is similar to yours. Fair enough. The sky might not be falling
quite yet.

--riverman