Talking with Courtney this morning I learned a lot about tax responsibilities of US citizens living abroad. Taxation is based on citizenship not residency in the US (apparently Eritrea is the only other country that does this) and children of US citizens are automatically considered citizens for this purpose (even if there have never lived in the US) and it continues to be passed down through the generations. I knew citizens had to file US tax returns (I had to do this when I lived in NZ), but I also discovered this can become quite complicated because foreign retirement savings are considered a type of trust and have to be reported. This seems crazy to me!
There was a big kerfuffle this week when Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern called David Seymour, leader of the libertarian right Act party, an “arrogant prick” while on a live mic. They turned this lemon into lemonade though. An official copy of the transcript of the hot mic incident was signed by both Ardern and Seymour, and is being auctioned off to raise money for a prostate cancer charity! The auction is entitled “Ardern, Seymour join forces for pricks everywhere” and as of Friday the highest bid was $50,000. This is amazing!
It’s so hard to go outside when it’s cloudy and not bring a jacket or an extra layer, my brain just automatically thinks it’s going to be cold. But it’s warm and muggy, especially here in Auckland. I went for a walk around Courtney’s neighborhood this morning while she took the cat to the vet. Her neighborhood is wonderful, it sits at the edge of the Orakei Basin, and there are several bridges that cross it. I saw several kayakers and a waterskier! I also walked through her daughter’s school which is a combination elementary/middle school and had a fantastic campus with an ‘environmental trail’ complete with a stream, hundreds of trees and an outdoor amphitheater. It’s is a magical place. My phone has finally realized in in New Zealand, while I was walking I was listening to an American podcast and heard a New Zealand ad for the first time.
Later, Courtney took me on a longer walk on a path near the mangrove swamp by their house. We got home just as the rain set in for the rest of the day. Her husband, David barbecued some delicious lamb for dinner and we had a lovely evening, talking more about New Zealand politics and culture and similarities and dissimilarities to the American way of doing things. It’s been so much fun to hang out with them.
