Quote from Ghost of Cutten:
It's nothing to do with morality. It's to do with finding it laughable that a US trader/investor is pleading 'woe is me' over taxes, when most people in the USA and abroad are suffering far more from the much higher taxes they have to pay. Your complaint is intrinsically laughable, like someone on a cancer ward moaning about having a cold.
It is not a hypothetical situation, many people have done it. The problem is, there's a lot more to life than economic and security interests. There are real downsides to living in a tax haven, several of which have been pointed out on this thread. Hell, there are real downsides to simply moving to a foreign country, even a 1st world country where everyone speaks the same language as you.
For the vast majority of those people, those downsides turn out to be more important than the benefit of paying very little tax. Even John Templeton, who took UK citizenship (one of the best in the world to have) and emigrated to the Bahamas, during a time when US tax rates were *much* higher than they are nowadays, said that he regretted it. And I am pretty sure he saved a heck of a lot more on taxes than you or I would. I've also moved and lived abroad and paid very little tax, although I did so not exclusively for tax reasons. My conclusion is similar - for anything more than a year or so, it is simply not worth the trade-off, unless you would want to live there anyway for its own sake. The benefits of life are far greater than the benefits of a higher compound rate of return. These are experiences and lessons from people who actually did what you are (I presume) merely talking about. Maybe it would be wise to listen?
The downsides are debatable. Do you honestly believe that those millionaire that choose to live in Switzerland, Monaco, or a host of other nations are significant to a point of not being worth it?
John Templeton MAY have said he regretted it, who knows if he did or his reasons for making such a statement. The simple mater is he always has a choice to return and since he hasn't that should speak volumes of that regret.
On the other hand how many of the wealthy regret staying? Which is equally a valid question. This is all conjecture and circumstantial, with no basis of validity.
The world is a big place, everywhere has advantages and disadvantages. We can only personally rate those as per our own social and personal values - be it climate, taxes, religious, cost of living, or a host of issues.
However, there does come a time when the tax rate on income (capital gains) begins to out weight the other personal advantages/disadvantages.
Simple example, living in California and paying $100k in state taxes worth it, versus having residency in Incline Village, Reno and saving that money? One can still own a home in California, in such a structure to garner the advantages of Prop-13, but avoid the nasty state income tax. The question one must ask themselves is $100k worth the effort and hassle. To some - no and others yes.
Take that to a grand scale. If I pay $400k in federal tax, but could live abroad and pay next to nothing - is that place of residency worth the hassle.
It comes down to an individual decision, there is no right or wrong answer.
Of course we could get caught up in political rhetoric and ideological drivel and ignore the role of government, by replacing the "rights" with what we believe is the moral "need" - and thus the need for MORE taxes for a host of MORE programs. I personally hating down the road.
