Meet our Board — Executive Director Brandon Mitchener

“Residence-based taxation is the only policy that makes sense. Citizenship-based taxation is overly simplistic. It presumes that we remain tied our whole lives to the country where we or our parents were born. But as my own story shows, life is complicated.”

— Brandon Mitchener

Could you share a brief introduction, including your professional background and current role?

I have lived in Europe for most of the past 40 years, and longer than I lived in the United States.

I was born in Michigan and raised in northwestern Indiana, close to Chicago. I began studying German in high school and discovered that I was very good at it. Without giving it too much thought, I applied to spend a summer abroad near Hamburg and was hooked. I ended up majoring in German, studied in Vienna and Basel, and then finished my studies with a master’s in journalism, my other academic love.

With that background, it was almost a given that I would end up back in Europe, which I did. Dow Jones Newswires sent me to Germany to cover German unification and I never left. I’ve since moved to Brussels and become Belgian, too. I got married, had two kids, got divorced, and I’ve changed jobs many times, from correspondent for The International Herald Tribune and The Wall Street Journal to strategic communications consultant, in-house director of communications for two American companies, running a trade association and now running my own small company helping clients rise to the occasion of their public relations and European government affairs challenges. I also run a small wine business.

What motivated you to join the TFFAA board?

Over the years I have been a member of many organizations representing the interests of Americans abroad, but none of them ever managed to do anything about the one topic that affected me and my family both: being double-taxed just for the privilege of being American, and the FATCA and FBAR hassles that related to being an American tax vassal. I have paid an obscene amount of money in accounting fees for U.S. tax preparation. I have to file four tax declarations a year(!), one each as an individual and for my company in both Belgium and in the United States. I have two sons born in Europe and did not want them to be saddled with this burden their entire lives like I have been. I was too late for one of them: before he was even 30, he ended up having to pay a small fortune in accounting fees to ‘make right’ a situation that was perfectly ‘right’ where he lived, in London, but not ‘right’ for the United States, where he had never lived and had never earned a cent. Frankly, that infuriated me, and I swore to try to fix it, if not for the past, at least for the future. I started by giving a donation, offered to do more, drafted the initial content for the website, got deeper into the subject and eventually found myself running the campaign. I love Tax Fairness for Americans Abroad’s focus. We have only one goal. When we accomplish that goal, we can go back to living our lives the way we were meant to.

Why do you support ending CBT?

Residence-based taxation is the only policy that makes sense. Citizenship-based taxation is overly simplistic. It presumes that we remain tied our whole lives to the country where we or our parents were born. But as my own story shows, life is complicated. People move, sometimes to other countries. They fall in love and might have kids. If they stay somewhere long enough, they might acquire another citizenship. I have three. My sons have three and four different passports, respectively. Of all of these, the United States is the only country that demands we file a tax return to the country we don’t live in. For the others, we don’t owe any taxes—or have to fill in any complicated, discriminatory declarations of “foreign” financial institutions (i.e. our local banks)—unless we actually live in the country. If I leave Belgium tomorrow, I stop paying taxes in Belgium tomorrow, end of story, no questions asked. That’s the way every other civilized country does it. It’s time the United States stopped treating its own citizens abroad like second-class citizens.

Why do you support the Residence-Based Taxation for Americans Abroad Act, introduced by Representative Darin LaHood?

Since I began working with Tax Fairness for Americans Abroad, I have learned a lot about the complexities of both the U.S. tax code and the difficulty of reconciling it with non-U.S. tax laws. I was surprised to learn that some Americans—people who move abroad in retirement, for example—might be quite happy to continue to be treated as a U.S. tax subject. Some countries have favorable tax treaties with the United States. The rest of us are desperate to cut the cord. Tax Fairness for Americans Abroad worked with experts in both Republicans Overseas and Democrats Abroad to hammer out a pragmatic, bipartisan proposal that we shared with Mr. LaHood’s office. We answered a lot of questions and moved it forward together. It gives people a choice between remaining a U.S. tax subject or only paying taxes in the country where they live. It offers a path to fixing the problems with inappropriate and crippling FATCA and FBAR filing obligations. It would address the problems of accidental Americans. And it offers a direct, politically timely path to help President Trump make good on his campaign pledge to end the double taxation of Americans abroad.

In your opinion, what makes TFFAA unique?

First, we are bipartisan. We don’t believe fixing double taxation should be a partisan issue. It’s just the right thing to do. Second, we only have one goal: ending double-taxation and the other filing obligations that come with it. And third, we really, really want and intend to win this fight for equal treatment for Americans abroad.