Guest Post by Simon Black
Leonardo da Vinci’s painting and engineering skills were so highly renowned that he was in extremely high demand among European nobility in the early Renaissance.
Leonardo started in the independent city-state of Florence as an apprentice artist, where he worked for the famous Medici family.
Then in the early 1480s, da Vinci went to Milan to work for Duke Ludovico Sforza (the man who commissioned The Last Supper).
At the turn of the century, the Venetian Republic briefly engaged da Vinci’s services as a military adviser. He then relocated to the Papal States to work as a military adviser for Pope Alexander VI’s son, Cesare Borgia.
By 1503, he was back to work in Florence, and in 1515 moved to France, where he lived the remainder of his life working for King Francis I.
But Leonardo da Vinci was far from the only renaissance man who could take advantage of governments competing for talent.
The leaders of Italian city-states wanted to show the world how advanced and cultured they were, and therefore would extend tax breaks, land, and even titles to talented individuals, including artists, inventors, scientists, and engineers.
And this concept still exists today as well.
For example, US cities and states competed a few years ago to attract the new Amazon headquarters to their area.
New York City was initially chosen for Amazon’s ‘HQ2’ site before New York’s crazy politicians led a revolt, and Amazon decided it wasn’t worth the political hassle.
US cities also competed to attract Tesla’s new headquarters when Elon Musk decided to take his company out of California. He chose Texas, even though Tulsa, Oklahoma built a seven story Elon statue in his honor.
Gun manufacturer Smith and Wesson recently announced it would move from anti-gun, high-tax Massachusetts, to pro-gun and business-friendly Tennessee. The company even chose a specific county which marketed itself as a Second Amendment sanctuary.
But these opportunities don’t just exist for big businesses and famous artists. Anyone can shop around for the best government.
You might not feel like you have that much power as a consumer, but market factors prove otherwise.
For example, during the pandemic, several tourism-dependent Caribbean nations began offering special rates for their citizenship-by-investment programs.
And other countries have taken to offering “digital nomad visas” to attract talented solopreneurs and professionals to their shores.
Many governments are starting to see these programs as a no-brainer. When foreigners (who have relatively higher income) spend several months living somewhere, they tend to spend a lot more money on food, rent, etc.
All of that money makes its way into the local economy. Businesses generate higher revenue. More workers are hired. Tax revenue increases.
More importantly, digital workers in particular tend to be young and healthy, so they don’t strain the public healthcare system. They behave themselves, so they don’t create extra work for police.
And because they show up with their own sources of income, they aren’t trying to ‘steal’ anyone’s job.
But the digital workers receive tremendous benefits, too.
For example, you could cut your tax rate considerably, even to zero, by moving abroad.
If you’re not a US citizen, you simply have to establish residency in a country with no income tax, or what’s known as a “territorial” tax system which only taxes you on the money you earn from economic activity in that country.
Panama is a great example of a territorial tax system. So foreigners who generate income online, or trading stocks, futures, and crypto, for example, don’t owe Panamanian tax.
For US citizens, you can move abroad and take advantage of a huge tax break known as the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion (FEIE).
The FEIE allows single taxpayers to earn $108,700 without paying any US federal income tax. And the exclusion amount jumps to $217,400 if you’re married (for the 2021 tax year).
Once you add in the Foreign Housing Exclusion/Deduction, it’s possible for singles to earn about $150,000 per year abroad, completely tax-free. For couples, you could potentially have about $300,000 excluded from US federal taxes if you live abroad.
As you might expect, small countries which depend on tourism are some of the most keen to offer these attractive digital nomad residencies.
Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Curaçao, Dominica, and Montserrat are among the Caribbean countries offering a digital nomad visa.
You generally have to show that you have a certain amount of income, and then you may be granted permission to live in the country for between six months and two years.
Croatia, Estonia, and Malta have similar programs in Europe.
If you are looking for something a little more permanent, Portugal and Spain also offer visas to people who work online.
Overall this is a really great. Governments need new sources of tax revenue, and we’re starting to see more of these programs where they roll out the red carpet for foreigners.
There may even come a day when governments are forced to think about all the things they are doing wrong— because people can simply take their lives and their businesses elsewhere.
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Or we could work to dismantle government entirely and then people can move as they wish or as private property allows, without having to try and find the least undesirable alternative just as we do with elections.
I am troubled by this article, because it advocates running away. Running away never solves underlying problems. It may in fact introduce other unforeseen problems.
There is nothing wrong with our constitution. It is the resultant form of government which has evolved and destroyed the principles the founders insisted upon; reasonable, limited laws in the general public interest. Go back and read Jefferson’s Kentucky Resolves of 1788:
“Resolved, that the several states composing the United States of America, are not united on the principle of of unlimited submission to their general government; but that by compact under the style and title of a Constitution for the United States and of amendments thereto, they constituted a general government for special purposes, delegated to that government for special purposes, delegated to that government certain definite powers, reserving each State to itself, the residuary mass of right to their own self-government…”
We need to insist upon, and enforce, the original intent of the founders.
The original intent blew up almost immediately with Mayberry vs Madison. Had water poured on the ashes during the Jackson Presidency. Then, Lincoln destroyed any remaining original intent by murdering 20% of the US population.
We can debate the merits of original intent or Articles of Confederation but the chances of reviving either are only slightly better than my chances of wearing the same size pants I wore in high school.
Madison was a scumbag who sold his country down the river for business deals. The Federalist papers were a con job and anyone who still takes them seriously is a fucking moron, but I wish I could find stronger words than that.
Anything Simon Black writes should be taken with a block of salt. He writes outrage porn, but I never suspected him for a good guy.
Isn’t Black a jewish name. Need I say more?
I have never been sure. He writes like he is, when he is not just doing his outrage montage.
You probably have no idea how deep the rabbit hole goes.
We would need to become a religious people again, to make the constitution work as intended once more.
I have spent a bit of half my [expected] conscious lifetime in the West; first trying to find people who have a consistent, coherent worldview and purpose, then discovering such mostly on my own, finally realizing the Western foundation has rotted away entirely and will take -in the best case- a generation to just start rebuilding it in earnest [as the spiritual foundation resembles a black hole currently.]
So I chose not to sit and watch helplessly for the remainder of my life, but try the other option which rose like a Phoenix from the ashes: Russia, and Russian Orthodox Christianity, and help to improve things a little over there. (I’m in an intermediate location in Central Europe at the moment, hope to permanently make it to Russia next year.)
If that’s running away to you, so be it.
We do not need religion we need Natural Law adherents and objective morality. Honest money wouldn’t hurt either…
You mean as determined by “The Science™?”
Franklin said that our Constitution was only for a religious and moral people.
>>>There is nothing wrong with our constitution.
“But whether the Constitution really be one thing, or another, this much is certain – that it has either authorized such a government as we have had, or has been powerless to prevent it.”
– Lysander Spooner, 1867
Lord have mercy!! That’s about the dumbest thing I’ve ever read here.
You can shop around all you want, but it is just a small group of people who own nearly all of it. So boycotting one business and going to another just gives them your money through a different channel.
Mr. Black never got the memo that now the NWO runs everything. Some places have a few good points here and there. But things can change in the blink of an eye. I am up in Alaska, and we have a good governor and Mayor in Anchorage. But we still have our medical tyranny. Happy to say that indoor mask mandates ended today. Our city council is terrible, and they like to have midnight meeting to perform their tyranny.
Mr. Black self-publishes on his own site sovereignman.com, which promotes expatriate living.
I did research the subject a few years ago to see if it would be a fiscally sensible option, since the company I work for has international offices and I was curious about retirement overseas part-time.
This article comes across as a little out of touch with the current requirements from the host countries for residency permits, which have changed dramatically in some countries – Malaysia, for example. It used to have a low proof of income requirement and a generous residency permit of several years. It has recently changed to a much higher cash asset figure beyond the reach of an average citizen of most western countries; you must bank it in a Malaysian bank, which doesn’t offer much interest compared to other expat friendly countries. Plus you only get a few years to stay with zero guarantee of renewal.
Also, Mr. Black has failed to speak to the current FATCA regulations. Most countries find the annual paperwork burdensome, which makes an American citizen less attractive as a foreign resident. The arm of the IRS has grown, the good lord forbid you should attempt to bank outside the USA and not pay the price.
The digital nomad visas are interesting, but kindly pay attention to the fine print on what qualifies as income for your host country. They are also scrambling for any source of income. You may be taxed. Citizenship by investment options cost $250,000 at the minimum.