The group, which has pushed for reform to the US tax code, said it welcomed acknowledgement by Vice President Harris of the struggles faced by expat Americans. Earlier in October, it also welcomed former President Trump's stance on double taxation. The US remains almost alone in taxing citizens on a worldwide basis.

As the clock ticks down toward polling day in the US on Tuesday, an organization advocating for interests of overseas Americans in areas such as tax has welcomed moves by Vice President Harris to focus on the “unique challenges” that expats face. 

The comments from American Citizens Abroad – which is not aligned with a political party – came a few weeks after it also praised Donald Trump’s promise to end double taxation of Americans living and working overseas if he is elected. ACA said it has asked the Harris campaign for its views on this topic.   

In a tight election battle, with swing states such as Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania key to who wins the White House, expat Americans’ votes may be important. According to the Association of Americans Resident Overseas, there are at least 5.4 million such persons. (Exact figures are hard to pin down.) In recent years, such expats haven’t been a prominent electoral group, although Democrats and Republicans have overseas organizations to encourage expats to vote and engage them with public issues back home.

The ACA, an advocacy group that has pushed for lawmakers to change the US tax system, said in a statement that it “welcomes Vice President Harris’ recognition of the unique challenges faced by Americans living overseas and her commitment to work in partnership with the community to address these issues if elected President.” 

“As stated previously, it’s important for both major party candidates seeking the presidency and Members of Congress to commit to a tax policy that treats hard working Americans overseas fairly,” Marylouise Serrato, ACA executive director, said in a statement last week.

“While often overlooked by US policymakers, Americans overseas represent an engaged and informed voting block of over five million strong. We look forward to working with the next Administration to address these important issues,” Jonathan Lachowitz, ACA chairman, added.

ACA said Harris told it she takes the position of US expats seriously "whether it's improving access to consular services, addressing the complex challenges you face with banking, taxation, and financial services, or ensuring equal treatment in immigration and citizenship processes." The Harris message appeared to not go into specifics.

A problem that sometimes isn’t apparent in domestic US debate on tax policy is that the Internal Revenue Service taxes Americans on a worldwide basis, while almost all developed countries such as the UK, Germany, Japan and Canada tax citizens in the country where they live. As a result, US expats can struggle to get access to foreign financial services because they’re seen as a compliance headache. (To see an example of ACA's comments on this issue down the years, see this article from 2016.)

For years, ACA and others have sought to shift the US tax code to a more territorial basis, but the lack of political leverage of expats makes this difficult. However, a tight political campaign might shift the needle.

"Often, the compliance costs for filing tax returns can far exceed the actual taxes that Americans owe…It makes it very difficult and complex to file, and it also limits the ability of a lot of Americans to invest and live when they’re overseas,” the ACA has been quoted in the media as saying.

ACA said previous bipartisan support and concrete policy proposals show that residence-based tax can be addressed.

On October 10, ACA said it welcomed former President Trump’s pledge to end double-taxation on overseas Americans. ACA said it has also “formally requested a pledge from Vice President Kamala Harris to end this regressive tax on hard working Americans if elected to office.” 

The predicament of US expats became more severe at the end of 2010, when the Barack Obama administration signed the FATCA act (Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act) into law. In the following months, banks such as Deutsche Bank and HSBC closed their doors to new US expats. Matters slowly improved and several specialist players, such as Schroders, Maseco, London & Capital and Royal Bank of Canada, offered services to those with US connections. Vontobel and a clutch of Swiss external asset managers have developed US-focused offerings, obtaining SEC licenses to do so. 

A few weeks ago this publication looked at the way that divided government, and other checks and balances, come into play in ways that are not always sufficiently appreciated.