>>>You guys do have a valid point here I think - but there is also the flip side of this. If you're a USA citizen and go work out of the country for a year or two you're still expected to pay USA income taxes - even though you have no USA income.
>>>
>>>That is not true. I lived in England for two years and did not pay US income taxes because the UK has a tax treaty with the US and I was able to document that my tax home was in England using the physical presence test.
>>
>>Still doesn't make it untrue, only not applicable to all cases. You cite an exception - to a rule. Therefore, the rule is there.
>
>The U.S. rule is very simple. If you spend 183 or more days of the year on U.S. soil, you have to pay U.S. income tax. There was an interesting article in The New Yorker earlier this year -- oh, you would like this one -- about the lengths some very wealthy New Yorkers go to to pretend they are in NYC less than half the year. Sometimes it's other countries but more often other states with lower tax rates than NY and no city income tax.

With more and more countries copy/past... ahem, adopting the 183 rule, it makes sense to have permanent residence in three countries, share that with two friends and just keep rotating.