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A place to live without taxes

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I am researching places in the world where there is no income tax, or if there is one, it is fixed and reasonably small.

Do you know of such places ?

You're talking about Tax Havens -- places like the Cayman Islands. Here's a link to a page with a list of them:

http://www.zyra.org.uk/taxhaven.htm

However, keep in mind that if you are a US citizen, you are still required to pay US taxes on your worldwide income, regardless of where you live. There are certain deductions and credits, but you still need to file a return and pay, along with disclosing your bank account numbers and the maximum balance over the previous year.

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I think there are no state income taxes in Dallas, TX or something, not completely sure (my ex used to live there). Also, there was a short thread about good places to live here.

Many states have no state income tax, though you will still have all of your federal liabilities. I currently live in Texas, which has no income tax. I previously lived in New Hampshire, which has no income or sales tax. However, be aware that many states with no tax of one kind will sting you with another. Texas has an 8% sales tax. New Hampshire has incredibly onerous property taxes, to the point that they tried to value a guy's hunting lodge, with no running water or electricity, at 100K because it had "a view".

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Many states have no state income tax, though you will still have all of your federal liabilities. I currently live in Texas, which has no income tax. I previously lived in New Hampshire, which has no income or sales tax. However, be aware that many states with no tax of one kind will sting you with another. Texas has an 8% sales tax. New Hampshire has incredibly onerous property taxes, to the point that they tried to value a guy's hunting lodge, with no running water or electricity, at 100K because it had "a view".

If I _have_ to accept one of these, frankly, I'd take the sales tax. Property taxes can force you to sell a property merely to pay the tax. Income taxes penalize productivity, and in the form of an inheritance tax, can force you to sell off property (for all the whining the left does about the loss of the family farm, they are unwilling to avoid the destruction of same by people having to do so to pay the inheritance tax on a farm). Sales tax is obnoxious qua tax (like all other taxes) but at least you cannot be assessed it unless you actually have the cash you are being taxed on as money (rather than locked up in an asset you must now sell), and it penalizes consumption, rather than thrift, or productivity.

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  • 3 weeks later...

If I _have_ to accept one of these, frankly, I'd take the sales tax. Property taxes can force you to sell a property merely to pay the tax. Income taxes penalize productivity, and in the form of an inheritance tax, can force you to sell off property (for all the whining the left does about the loss of the family farm, they are unwilling to avoid the destruction of same by people having to do so to pay the inheritance tax on a farm). Sales tax is obnoxious qua tax (like all other taxes) but at least you cannot be assessed it unless you actually have the cash you are being taxed on as money (rather than locked up in an asset you must now sell), and it penalizes consumption, rather than thrift, or productivity.

Exactly. This is why I support the FairTax, incidentally.

As for (civilized) places to live without taxes, Hong Kong and Singapore have fairly low tax rates, and are obviously a good choice for starting a business. There also won't be any pressing need to learn a language besides English.

Another interesting choice is Andorra. There are zero income or sales taxes there (I believe the government is funded by some kind of import tariff and other small taxes); however, they may soon implement a 5% VAT. Still, that is extremely low. There are two big disadvantages. First, there are two types of residency: "active" and "passive". Active residency means working in Andorra or operating a business there. This is very hard to acquire. Passive residency is very easy to acquire, but you are not allowed to work in Andorra if you have it (the idea is that you have another source of funds such as a retirement fund or an online business). Second, you would probably have to learn French, Spanish, or Catalan (the official language) in order to talk to most people.

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