Comment by sangnoir 2 days ago
Perhaps because no other country goes to the same lengths to help its citizens abroad in times of trouble. When there's geopolitical trouble brewing, it not uncommon for other nationalities to take advantage of American evacuations. Few countries come close the US in leveraging intelligence and logistics to help citizens; France is probably #2.
"It limits the reimbursement to the cost of a reasonable commercial airfare."
> France is probably #2
I don't know what it's like for Americans living abroad but indeed, as a French citizen living abroad I do believe that France spends enough resources to justify taxing me (with guarantees against double taxation, and the various complications and edge cases it implies).
As far as I know, American citizens can't really vote abroad (they have to be registered to a place inside the US and vote by correspondence, I think?) while we have voting booths in most countries where France has a consulate[0].
Since there are many French citizens where I live, there were 14 booths across this country for the last elections so you're probably never more than 50 kilometers from one (in addition to being able to vote through Internet). There were 23 of them in the US, 33 in Canada (20 of them in Montreal apparently), etc.
That's a whole lot of effort for people who are voting for things that will not affect them directly and who don't pay taxes (even a token tax) for France, and it's great, and I think it's normal to devote efforts for all citizens wherever they are, but it means I couldn't honestly complain about reasonable taxation.
[0]https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/jorf/id/JORFTEXT000049516393
> As far as I know, American citizens can't really vote abroad (they have to be registered to a place inside the US and vote by correspondence, I think?) while we have voting booths in most countries where France has a consulate[0].
French expats also have their own representatives to the National Assembly, on top of voting for national elections (mostly presidential and the occasional referendum). It’s like if there were representatives for Europe in the US congress.
Let’s suppose I travel for business and am not a teenager working through power fantasies. What’s in it for me if my concerns are not childish?
You know the usa bills people for evacuating them right :)?
https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/international-tra....
Also, read up on Americans stuck in Gaza with no way out.