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The following letter is addressed to "Charlotte," a composite character drawn from several people in my life. Their shared experiences illustrate a particular challenge of privilege: the pursuit of global mobility and tax optimization that can inadvertently lead to a sense of rootlessness. While Charlotte herself is not a single individual, the patterns and struggles depicted here are very real—reflections of dynamics I've witnessed firsthand among those navigating the complexities of wealth and international living.
For American readers: European governments only tax the incomes and assets of their citizens if they are "domiciled" in those European countries, unlike the US, which taxes its citizens on worldwide income from all sources regardless of residence. There exist treaties that allow Americans living abroad to recoup some of those taxes, but it's never 1:1 and there is usually a delay during which you are out of pocket not to mention having to fill out US tax returns even if you don't set foot in the US. Charlotte, being European, can strategically manage her official domicile to minimize her tax burden—a common practice among wealthy Europeans that sometimes leads to a nomadic lifestyle....
A narrated essay from The Pressures of Privilege.
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