Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Where, Oh Where Are People Going to Go to Escape the Clutches of Expanding Government?

The wealthy French wage earners are getting ready to leave France because of the threat, from French President  François Hollande, of a 75% tax on their income, .

The super-wealthy Denise Rich has abandoned the United States, even though she has powerful political connections in the U.S., to escape high taxes. By dumping her U.S. passport, Rich likely will save tens of millions of dollars or more in U.S. taxes over the long haul, tax lawyers say.

According to the Hurun Report, published on July 31st, more than 16% of China’s rich have already emigrated, or handed in immigration papers for another country, while 44% intend to do so soon.

There's no clear country that tax escapees have settled on, yet. But, if a dictator of some relatively small country, with a decent climate, decided to make his country a tax free zone, with a strong respect for property rights and few other regulations, he might end up creating a very rich country with plenty of freedom and super growth. The people of the rest of the world are ready.


11 comments:

  1. I love this.
    I have told my friends and family repeatedly that the best thing that could ever happen on this island I live on would be for taxes to go to near zero and regulations disappear.
    I tell them all business headquarters would be here overnight and we would all be better off.

    They just sit and stare.

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    1. "They just sit and stare."

      Figures. That's mindless idiots for you. So many people are a waste of oxygen.

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  2. "But, if a dictator of some relatively small country, with a decent climate, decided to make his country a tax free zone,"

    Call me crazy, but I wonder if Iran can do that? I understand most super wealthy don't want to live in an Islamic state, but think about it. Iran has no incentive whatsoever to roll on her super wealthy tax resistors and sell them to uncle Sam. It's closed off to international banking due to sanctions and so makes it hard for foreign governments to track money inside Iran. It's a large country with a varied climate: Great skiing in the mountains, beaches by the Persian Gulf. A high level of medical care. Etc.

    Besides, the Super wealthy need only a home base to store their wealth. They can live most of the time in Europe (or Hong Kong, Singapore, etc.) while keeping their money in Iran.

    And Iran can afford to do it simply to stick it to the man. It can have a tax rate of zero, which is better than any deal the rich would get anywhere else.

    The biggest downside would be the west accusing anyone and everyone of "terrorism" and prosecuting them as such.

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  3. As Harry Browne once said, "Freedom is Self-Defense". In other words, if you can't protect it, you don't own it. It would be extremely difficult for a small nation to defend itself from the the bully superpowers.

    Cyberspace is one of the few frontiers where value can be protected through encryption (data and money - see bitcoin).

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  4. "But, if a dictator of some relatively small country, with a decent climate, decided to make his country a tax free zone, with a strong respect for property rights and few other regulations, he might end up creating a very rich country with plenty of freedom and super growth."

    That is what Saint Kitts is for. 6 months visa-free travel to Canada or UK. 3 months visa-free to Europe. Easily get a 6 month tourist visa to Mexico. Plus, visa-free to over 120 countries.

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  5. "They just sit and stare."

    They are right. Because the very next thing will be a big flat-top ship parked next to your island, and bombs falling from the sky until a puppet tyrant is installed.

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    1. As if this doesn't happen already without anarcho-capitalism. The Empire will attack you whether the place you live is run by a dictator (Saddam Hussein anyone?) or one with market order. Like all cowardly empires, the US version will collapse of its own weight in time.

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    2. I completely agree.

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  6. Well I'd say that Dubai and Singapore probably come closest to fitting that description.

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