Foreign earned income exclusion a lower income taxpayer, even if the taxpayer is in a higher tax bracket. Foreign earned income exclusion The United States taxes citizens and residents on their worldwide income. Citizens and residents living and working outside the U.S. may be entitled to a foreign earned income exclusion that reduces taxable income. For 2017, the maximum exclusion is $102,100 per taxpayer, $103,900 for 2018 (future years indexed for inflation). In addition, the taxpayer may exclude housing expenses in excess of 16% of this maximum ($44.19 per day in 2015) but with limits. The exclusion is available only for wages or self-employment
Income tax in the United States on saved income is itself taxed. To the extent that this is considered unjust, it may be remedied in a variety of ways, e.g. excluding investment income from taxable income, making investments deductible and therefore only taxing them when gains are realized, or replacing the income tax by other forms of tax, such as a sales tax. Some economists believe income taxation offers the federal government a technique to diminish the power of the states, because the federal government is then able to distribute funding to states with conditions attached, often giving the states no choice but to submit to