Meet the Eagles Taking on Double Taxation: Satire with Talons for Americans Abroad

If you are reading this blog, chances are you’ve also seen our social media campaign featuring bald eagles living through some of the everyday scenarios with which all Americans abroad are only too familiar. 

We’ve now gathered all of the eagles posts onto one page here: https://www.taxfairnessabroad.org/eagle-campaign. Check it out!

Launched last September, the campaign has been successful in helping us reach more people with our message about the need for the United States to shift to the international standard of taxing its citizens based on residence and source – not on citizenship, which is the case today. It is one of our key means of reaching more Americans abroad and rallying support for Rep. Darin LaHood’s Residence-Based Taxation for Americans Abroad Act.

Satire vs. injustice

The eagles are the inspiration and handiwork of Allan Margulies, a volunteer strategic communications adviser for Tax Fairness for Americans Abroad. Allan, a serial entrepreneur who lives in Zurich, describes the inspiration for the campaign as follows: 

"The satirical eagle campaign is a response – one of the few available – to what can only be described as administrative cruelty. While working toward a real solution is TFFAA’s core mission, humor may be one of the most effective ways to respond to the injustice of citizenship-based taxation faced by Americans living abroad. Given its impact on individuals (most of whom don’t even owe tax) and its often absurdly harsh enforcement measures, citizenship-based taxation is, unfortunately, ripe for satire. – The tax Frankenstein created by successive Congresses and administrations is so Kafkaesque that Kafka himself would blush.

In that light, the satirical eagle campaign serves two purposes: it brings levity to a situation that is anything but light and it communicates a highly arcane subject in a clear, accessible way – especially for those of us who are not tax attorneys, preparers, or accountants (which is most of us).” 

Think creatively!

We are always looking for new ideas for new eagles posts, so don’t hestitate to share them! If you can think of relevant topics, rules, situations, enforcement actions or anything else, please share them with us so we can create more spot-on eagle posts that call out those in power and help us rally support for change. Likewise, if you can think of other creative uses for the eagles, let us know! Coffee mugs? T-shirts? Postcards? Write to us at team@taxfairnessabroad.org. 

And always — if you support our cause please “Like” and share our content on social media to help other Americans abroad discover our campaign, donate to support the campaign and volunteer to help if you have the time!