If you are a non-resident you don't get taxed on worldwide income. If you are a foreign company with US income you don't get taxed in worldwide income. And why should SAP pay less taxes than IBM...could IBM compete with SAP if they weren't held to the same standards?
You do have to report worldwide income to figure out your rate. Also, many countries have different tax systems, so does a fee count as tax paid or as a deduction to operating income? If a country organizes its burden purely as fees, then are you getting screwed on income?
For countries with tax rates less than the US, an expat can still get screwed by higher fees and cost of living to go with that. So much so that the usa introduced an overseas housing deduction just for people who work in Singapore, Hong Kong, Switzerland. Complicated, because most tax systems are not very comparable.
Not entirely true (expat from 2011 to 2013, please seek qualified tax professional advice).
The US grants an exemption of something like $60K/year for income earned entirely outside the US. It has to be paid by a non US entity in local currency. And, IIRC, there were a few other requirements.
They will also credit you with any income tax you may have paid in your country of residence.
You are correct that you're pretty well screwed in a high cost-of-living country as the base exemption won't go far. But then, you're pretty well screwed by the IRS sticking its nose into the bank accounts of US citizens looking for transactions of $10,001.
The foreign earned income tax exclusion is much more than $60k, it is almost $100k now. I don't take it because the tax credit is much easier to work with once you make more than that. But that applies to high tax countries where the tax credit will negate USA taxes completely.
You do have to report worldwide income to figure out your rate. Also, many countries have different tax systems, so does a fee count as tax paid or as a deduction to operating income? If a country organizes its burden purely as fees, then are you getting screwed on income?
For countries with tax rates less than the US, an expat can still get screwed by higher fees and cost of living to go with that. So much so that the usa introduced an overseas housing deduction just for people who work in Singapore, Hong Kong, Switzerland. Complicated, because most tax systems are not very comparable.