Which Countries Will Charge You To LEAVE?
Summary
TLDRThis video explores the taxes levied on international travelers, including expatriation, departure, and tourist taxes. It highlights how countries like Eritrea and the USA tax residents based on citizenship, not just location. The script delves into Aviation taxes, with examples from the UK and Europe, and discusses the variability and complexity of these fees. It also addresses the controversial nature of tourist taxes, which can be high in places like Houston and are often a point of contention between local residents and the tourism industry. The video concludes by questioning the fairness of these taxes and their impact on tourism, inviting viewers to consider if such taxes are beneficial or detrimental.
Takeaways
- 🌍 There are three main types of taxes that can be charged to international travelers: expatriation tax, departure tax, and tourist tax.
- 🏦 Expatriation tax is significant for citizens of Eritrea and the United States, as they are taxed on worldwide income regardless of residency.
- 💼 The foreign tax credit helps mitigate double taxation for US citizens and Eritreans, but the exact amount changes annually and isn't explicitly listed by the IRS.
- ✈️ Departure taxes vary widely by country and can be based on factors like distance traveled, class of service, and the number of passengers on the flight.
- 🇬🇧 The UK has a complex system for departure taxes, with rates that depend on the distance from London to the destination capital city and the seat class.
- 🌆 Tourist taxes are charged by some cities and countries to fund local services and can range from a small percentage of the accommodation cost to a significant amount.
- 🏙️ Some cities, like Barcelona, have introduced or increased tourist taxes as a measure to manage tourism and its impact on local communities.
- 🗺️ France receives the highest number of tourists globally, followed by Spain and the United States, indicating the popularity of these destinations.
- 💸 Tourist taxes are not only a revenue source but also a tool to manage tourism and ensure that visitors contribute to the cost of services they use.
- 🌐 The script suggests a trend of countries and cities becoming more selective about the type of tourism they encourage, favoring higher-value tourists over mass tourism.
Q & A
What are the three major ways countries charge fees when you travel internationally?
-The three major ways countries charge fees for international travel include expatriation tax, departure tax, and tourist tax.
What is an expatriation tax and which countries are known for having it?
-An expatriation tax is a tax on individuals who are leaving their country of residence. The United States and Eritrea are known for having this type of tax, where citizens are taxed on their worldwide income regardless of where they live.
How does the foreign tax credit work for US citizens living abroad?
-The foreign tax credit allows US citizens living abroad to claim a credit for taxes paid to foreign governments on foreign income. The amount of the credit can change yearly, but the IRS does not list the exact amount on their website.
What is a departure tax and how does it vary by country?
-A departure tax is a fee charged when leaving a country. It varies by country and can be based on factors like distance traveled, class of service, and the number of passengers on the flight.
Which country has the highest aviation tax and what is the amount?
-Mexico has the highest aviation tax, which can be up to $65 for non-Mexican nationals without permanent resident status.
How are tourist taxes implemented in different cities and what is their purpose?
-Tourist taxes are implemented differently in various cities, often as a percentage of the accommodation cost. Their purpose is to raise funds for local services and to manage the impact of tourism on the local community.
What is the significance of the tourist tax in Houston, and how much is it?
-The tourist tax in Houston is significant because it is one of the highest at 17% of the lodging cost. It is used to fund public services and amenities.
Why are some countries and cities adopting anti-tourist measures and taxes?
-Some countries and cities are adopting anti-tourist measures and taxes due to the negative impacts of mass tourism on local communities, such as increased housing prices and strain on public services.
Which countries receive the highest number of tourists according to the UN World Tourism Organization?
-According to the UN World Tourism Organization, France, Spain, and the United States receive the highest number of tourists.
What is the speaker's opinion on the effectiveness of tourist taxes in managing tourism?
-The speaker suggests that tourist taxes can be a double-edged sword, raising funds for local services while also potentially deterring tourists, which can affect the local economy.
What is the speaker's view on the countries with the lowest tourist taxes?
-The speaker seems surprised that some countries have very low tourist taxes, implying that they might be missing out on potential revenue or that they might be more tourist-friendly.
Outlines
🌍 International Travel Taxes Explained
The paragraph discusses the three major types of taxes imposed on international travelers: expatriation tax, departure tax, and tourist tax. It explains that expatriation tax is tied to the country where one spends the majority of the year, with the United States and Eritrea being exceptions, as they tax based on citizenship. The script humorously touches on the IRS's foreign tax credit, which fluctuates annually without a clear listing on their website. It then transitions into a discussion about aviation taxes, highlighting the variability and complexity of these fees across different countries, using a hypothetical flight from New York as an example. The paragraph concludes with a critique of how these taxes are often not transparent and can be unexpectedly high.
✈️ Aviation Taxes and Their Global Impact
This section delves deeper into aviation taxes, emphasizing the disparities in the amounts charged by different countries. It points out that while the UK has some of the highest aviation taxes, the actual rates can vary significantly based on factors like flight distance and class of service. The script also mentions that some countries have closed loopholes that previously allowed travelers to avoid higher taxes. It provides a global perspective by comparing tax rates in Mexico, Fiji, and Australia, and discusses how these taxes can be a form of revenue generation for governments. The paragraph also touches on the public's reaction to these taxes and the notion that they might be seen as a way to make tourists 'pay their fair share'.
🏖️ The Debate on Tourist Taxes
The final paragraph shifts focus to tourist taxes, which are levied on visitors to certain cities or countries. It discusses the rationale behind these taxes, suggesting they are a measure to manage the impact of tourism on local communities and infrastructure. The script provides examples of tourist taxes in various European cities, noting the significant variance in rates and the complexity of their calculation. It also mentions the backlash against tourists in certain popular destinations, like Barcelona, where local residents have expressed frustration with the strain tourism places on housing and public services. The paragraph concludes by pondering the effectiveness and fairness of tourist taxes, questioning whether they are a positive or negative development in the context of global travel.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Expatriation Tax
💡Departure Tax
💡Tourist Tax
💡Tax Resident
💡Foreign Tax Credit
💡Aviation Taxes
💡Tax Loopholes
💡VAT (Value-Added Tax)
💡Anti-Tourism
💡Tourism Arrivals
💡High-Value Tourists
Highlights
Three major ways countries charge travelers: expatriation tax, departure tax, and tourist tax.
Expatriation tax is based on spending over 183 days in a country, making you a tax resident.
U.S. and Eritrea tax residents based on citizenship, not just residency.
Foreign tax credit available to U.S. citizens, but the amount changes yearly and is not listed by the IRS.
Aviation taxes vary by country and can be included in flight ticket prices.
UK has some of the highest aviation taxes, with rates based on flight distance from London.
Tourist taxes are charged in many countries, with rates differing significantly.
Houston, Texas, has a notably high tourist tax of 17% on lodging.
Tourist taxes can be used to fund local services and amenities.
Some countries are introducing tourist taxes to manage tourism and its impacts.
France receives the highest number of tourists, followed by Spain and the United States.
Anti-tourism sentiments are growing in popular tourist destinations.
New Zealand recently increased its tourist tax, aiming to attract higher-value tourists.
The video concludes with a question about the viewer's stance on tourist taxes.
The presenter expresses surprise at the list of most visited countries, particularly France's top position.
The presenter suggests visiting lesser-known destinations like St. Kitts and Nevis.
The presenter hints at future travel content, including live streaming from visited countries.
Transcripts
hello I'm toy cat and there are three
major ways that countries charge you
when you travel internationally the
first is an expatriation tax the second
is a departure tax and the third is the
dreaded tourist tax let's talk about
examples and the extent of all three as
well as the countries that do them the
worst and let's start by mentioning the
expatiation tax because fun fact you are
a tax resident of where you spend most
of your time in a year this means
basically by default if you spend over
183 days somewhere you'll become an
automatic tax resident of that place and
you only usually play taxes to one
government unless you live in one of
these two places so this is erria and
this is a country you might not be
familiar with but it's the United States
of America I I've heard after Googling
and if you are from one of these two
places you don't just pay tax based on
where you live if you live in Germany
for example you'd pay German taxes but
you'd also pay tax based on your
passport which means to The American or
to the aitran government this is a very
big deal and honestly I think the only
reason we don't make more of a fuss
about it is because it only really
applies to wealthy people because of the
foreign tax credit which fun fact it
changes every year but the IRS does not
list exactly how much it is on their
website instead they just say yeah
you've got to claim for it if you have
foreign taxes on your income your War
profits or excess profits and I just
think it's hilarious that not only does
the IRS insists that if you're going to
be making money profiteering on a war
that you pay your taxes on it but also
that they'll give you a tax credit for
that very very unbrand got to say uh and
so yeah as a result if you are from one
of these two countries you pay if you
earn any money outside of your country
country as if you never left your
country or you know at least with a tax
credit if you have which is kind of
nutty if you ask me speaking of things
that are nutty if you ask me um let's
move on to Aviation taxes sorry wrong uh
tab let's move on to Aviation taxes here
because when it comes to leaving a
country this can get pretty expensive
based on the country you're going
through so as you can see this is just
map for Europe but every single country
has some form of a departure tax this is
often called something different which
is what makes it so hard if we look at a
flight that I'm booking right now fun
fact I'll be in the New York airport in
late January please don't come and see
me but I I I I think what is important
is the fact that if you uh look at this
ticket you can see not just this huge uh
popup window saying hey I know that you
specifically look for basic economy but
would you like to give us more money to
sit in the exact same seat uh as well as
seeing that you'll also see a taxes and
fees section which lets you see that
although you're paying £39 the actual
Fair the airline gets is 285 because
they have to pass on like you know the
the passenger civil aviation security
service fee the US passenger facility
charge and just a blanket Transportation
tax are you on Transportation better
take pay your tax and I think that's
kind of funny pule but I also think it's
worth mentioning that this therefore uh
you know tells you that every country
has different fees that all do the same
stuff this is all going to the US
government sure this might only
technically cover the passenger
facilities that they're charging you for
but I doubt it actually works out
exactly that way and so Aviation taxes
are kind of messy because every country
will charge you different amounts and
these are just averages so in the UK we
have the highest Aviation taxes in I
believe the world the highest departure
tax in the world but it's not 40 EUR
it's more or less based on when and how
you're flying so um basically this it
used to be there were just two bands If
you flew more than 2,000 miles you paid
a different rate to less than 2,000
miles but now the way it works is based
on the distance from London to the
destination capital city if it's 0 to
2,000 miles you pay one rate if it's uh
less than 5,500 mil you pay a rate and
if it's over 5,500 mil you higher rate
but what's really weird about this is
this sounds like oh London to
destination Capital City there's got to
be some loopholes there so for example
if you are flying to the Far East of
Russia Russia's capital is really close
to the UK Moscow it's uh just under
2,000 miles but if you wanted to fly to
the Far East of Russia it would be more
like 5,000 miles would you pay the lower
taxes what about stuff like the Cayman
Islands the capital of Bermuda or the
capital of the Cayman Islands are
actually London I mean based on the
country they're in so as a result would
you and the answer is no they got really
boring and they closed all these
loopholes saying that yeah Russia is a
separate country east of the Euros which
I think is kind of what nuts I also
think excluding Puerto Rico and the US
Virgin Islands is another wacky decision
they're also and the British Virgin
Islands and everything else they've
worked out basically how to remove all
the loopholes and so it's just distance
from London to the city you're flying
basically which there a whole point for
another day geography nerds we should
get savings on taxes if we're willing to
work out the best loopholes and stuff
like this but what I also think is
interesting is if you look at it's based
on the seat that you're in so you pay a
higher rate if you have more leg room
and you pay an even higher rate if your
plane has fewer than 19 passengers and
it means that actually the departure tax
from the UK is between £7 and
£607 wait between I guess as of 2025 it
will be £7 and
673 this is quite high of course and it
means that it's it's it's kind of uh
it's very hard to actually say that the
tax for leaving the UK is just this this
is why I think the much more useful St
is the depart tax article on Wikipedia
it still misses certain uh you know like
Aviation taxes but you can see the very
highest tax in the world is apparently
Mexico at
$65 wow I did not know it was so high I
feel like I've booked flights out of
Mexico for less than 65 US Dollars and
I'm a non-mexican national and I do not
have permanent resident status or and I
was connecting flight though okay there
we go simply explained so yeah the
highest tax that everyone pays in the
world is Mexico fun fact that's actually
kind of nutty to hear Fiji pays a decent
amount too and Australia is pretty high
up but again it's the passenger movement
charge it's really just for the the
point here is to say is that it's
actually very hard to compare departure
taxes countries that officially have no
departure taxes so if we uh we scroll
all the way down here you can see that
like well technically speaking uh there
are some really low taxes when you leave
brunai but I bet you still have to pay
for all those border security fees Etc
and so it's actually not easy to compare
these uh in a like to like way which is
why I want to instead talk about the
final category because fun fact as much
as I love uh departure taxes as much as
I love the fact that if you're from one
of these countries you get a little bit
screwed on your uh your your ability to
move countries I think one of the
weirdest taxes in terms of the reaction
from people is that of tourist taxes so
here's a fun uh map from Globe Hunters
where they just show each uh country and
where they have tourist taxes in the big
uh in the two biggest Austrian cities
there is a 3% tourist tax in Belgium
it's fixed at
€249 or €250 or €2 um in Brussels I want
to tell you it is the most insane
formula when they say a rather
complicated formula is used to work out
the tax here um trust me when I'm they
are not making that up I stayed in
Brussels when I was like 19 and they
were like yeah so there is this tourist
tax here but then you've got to pay VAT
on the tourist tax but then you have to
pay VAT on the vat and that sounds made
up but it was for like €8 so I doubt
they were just trying to SC me either
they didn't understand what was going on
with their system or they or ultimately
what I'm saying is no one in Brussels
understands how the tourist tanks
seemingly Works in Prague it's really
really low in Paris it's incredibly low
uh whereas in Germany it goes up quite
high in some places and if we again if
we uh skip through these fun uh diagrams
you can see there are some actually
fairly High tourist taxes in the world
with the most notable example that
Wikipedia calls out being uh the Houston
city which charges 177% of the cost of
lodgic deily presumably because lots of
people are going there you know no one's
going to Houston because they're like oh
yeah I've heard it's a beautiful city
lots of sites to see you're there on
business and so your employer pays a 17%
tax and so the Houston city can fund
their zoo and their Fine Arts Museum and
what what do cities in America you have
to fun there the Eleanor Tinsley Park I
I think I might have been in this one
actually anyway with that said uh the
important thing here is to say uh that
as a result uh tourist taxes are can be
very very high but they are high not
part to raise money I mean that's great
too right but raising a Euro of every
single person who comes into Lisbon is
going to raise you some amount right
like uh 45 cents a day in Barcelona but
it's sort of a anti-tourist it's sort of
a measure to raise a bit of money uh and
still seem like you're like yeah we're
going to make the tourists pay their
fair share because the world is coming
down against tourists very very hard
lots of cities and countries but
Barcelona is the most famous um lots of
cities are saying yeah we hate you
tourists you are ruining our country
tourists go home um it's it's kind of
funny we had this big wave of
anti-immigration in Europe like 10 years
ago and now we're having a wave of
anti-tourism don't don't come you can
come here to live if you want to but
don't you dare be coming here to visit I
I I dare if you come here and you spend
money and then you leave rather than
being a drainer on our government
services I would hate you for that and
obviously I'm being very factious here
because actually a lot of people believe
that people come in Via cruise ships and
people come in on a little dayour they
just come and look at the city they just
you know crowd up the streets they they
don't really put a lot of money into it
which is something which they would say
and in the case of Barcelona they're
upset because the prices of uh their
housing has gone up meanwhile everyone
keeps turning their Apartments into
airbnbs and obviously in actually
Dynamic markets it shouldn't matter if
the uh you know either you I I feel like
there is a fixed amount of housing
Supply increase the housing Supply and
then both tourists and citizens can live
but when you artificially constrain it
people feel like it's a choice between
people who live there and tourists and
so they tell the tourists to go home or
spray them with water guns uh which is
kind of sad you might be able to say but
when you think about it it's kind of
nuts because when you look at um so this
is the un uh World tourism organization
so their numbers uh basically uh work
out exactly how many people go into a
given country so we're going to talk
about tourism arrivals right and you can
see that the highest share of Tourism
arrivals is France followed by Spain
then the United States Italy turkey
Mexico the UK all all the countries that
you've heard that someone has gone on
holiday to are all listed right here but
interestingly about 8% of people who go
anywhere in the world go to France about
5% about 7% of people who go anywhere go
to Spain and that's kind of nuts when
you think about it on a proportional
level to have you know 40 million people
but then to get such a high percent of
the world's tourists or you know let's
use it as volume total shall we um to to
get uh more than your population more
than double your population tourists
each year means that lots of people are
going to encounter lots of tourists and
unlike citizens uh you know you can
scapegoat some of your citizens but then
they won't vote for you you can
scapegoat tourists all you like and what
are they going to do are they are they
going to have some issues of you and so
that's why lots of countries are turning
against uh tourists I do think that
ultimately it is why tourist taxes are
being introduced you need to make it
seem like tourism is a win-win you get
to visit a city but in exchange as well
as paying all the vat and all the other
weird fees you pay you just also got to
spend 4% of your price per room per
night and then you can fund some of
those government services that everyone
loves so much much and it's it seems to
be a reasonable compromise but what do
you think is the question I'm going to
leave today's video on do you think
tourist taxes are a good thing or a bad
thing because I think that uh there is a
real clo you know there is a real knife
edge of countries uh deciding yeah
actually we'd rather just have the
higher value tourists New Zealand just
changed their tax by the way this is
where the inspiration this video came
from it was $35 when I made my video
last week but it went up to hundred New
Zealand do it is very very very
expensive to go to New Zealand and they
basically decided yeah we would rather
have uh you know the P value tourists
rather than more of them and that leaves
other countries on the world you know
the uh the the turkeys the italies the
ETC to soak it all up side note one last
thing is everyone El shocked by this
list like I am shocked that France is
the most visited country on earth like
do those people not know that there are
other countries is something wrong with
them and uh I guess also I'm surprised
that the US is so low because there is
it is such a big country with so many
individual states and also I feel like
more people live closer to the United
States than to France I guess that can't
actually be true I guess if you count EU
movements then there's probably a big uh
boost to countries like France Germany
and Spain I wonder you know I I the UN
needs to get but I I would love to know
how this is all calculated also yeah the
UK being like the seventh most visited
country in the world uh feels like it
tracks to me but is that surprising to
you more people go to the UK than
Germany is is that doesn't trct to me at
all uh but is surprising is the fact
that no one goes to monserat or palao I
should go to monserat just to fix that
shouldn't I Dominica vatu anguila s kits
and the neice you know s kits and the
neice I've wanted I I believe uh that
you know I I I think I've got to go
visit you so let's let's go today what
does St kits and the nervous have St
kits and the nervous I believe Hamilton
was born there they've got a really
funky flag that no one ever suspects
from the region and they've got
Brimstone Hill Fortress National Park
let's go let's go give it a peek oh yeah
this is worth traveling to I you know
why have only what is that like 100,000
people went to St kits and NIS last year
that's that's a New Year's resolution
for me speaking of traveling by the way
I think I might be streaming on this
channel soon just as a fun uh little
thing I just got back from visiting my
my 52nd country and uh yeah I'm excited
to talk maybe about where we should go
in the future if you're excited for that
then stay tuned otherwise second Channel
don't care except I do care a little a
little bit love you really goodbye
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