Support the Residence-Based Taxation for Americans Abroad Act (H.R. 10468)

On May 8, the Vatican elected Pope Leo XIV — formerly Robert Francis Prevost — the first American-born pope. With this unprecedented event came an equally unprecedented problem: the Pope is now subject to U.S. taxation on his worldwide income, thanks to America’s outdated citizenship-based tax system. In response, lawmakers introduced the Holy Sovereignty Protection Act (H.R. 4501) to exempt Pope Leo XIV from U.S. taxation. But this raises a critical question: If the Pope deserves relief, why not the 5 million other Americans living abroad? What’s good enough for the pope should be good enough for the expatriate community. The burdens of citizenship-based taxation — from complex reporting requirements to banking discrimination — affect all Americans abroad, not just those in the Vatican. Support the Residence-Based Taxation for Americans Abroad Act (H.R. 10468) introduced by Rep. Darin LaHood. This bill would allow Americans overseas to be taxed only on U.S.-source income, aligning our system with the rest of the world and restoring fairness, simplicity, and dignity to our tax code.