"On the table in today’s political debate is the concept of raising taxes on some, or even all Americans (should the fiscal cliff kick in). If this bothers you, here are eleven countries that you would (hopefully) never, ever have to worry about paying an income tax in." Continue reading →
"As if federal citizenship-based taxation wasn’t bad enough, on the recently updated website of the Virginia Department of Taxation, we see a blatant attempt to scare people born in Virginia into paying taxes they don’t owe, by reiterating the falsehood that an American citizen by definition must be domiciled in one of the fifty states — since of course as we all know, no one ever checks out from the Greatest Country on Earth™ besides a few rich ingrates fleeing the estate tax. My advice? Stay as far away from Virginia as possible. And I thought California was bad …" Continue reading →
"Bank stability remains a pressing concern for the world’s corporations and investors. It is within this context that Global Finance announces its 21st Annual Ranking of the World’s 50 Safest Banks. Canadian banks are the best performing in North America with seven banks in the top 50 compared to five from United States. Banks from Singapore are the strongest in Asia and from Chile in Latin America. Credit ratings and rankings of most European banks have suffered except for those at the very top of the list which have explicit guarantees from AAA rated governments." Continue reading →
"If you do anything the authorities don’t like - whether it’s speaking out against corruption, not filing your taxes correctly, having a Ron Paul bumper sticker, peacefully ingesting a non-approved substance, or just generally not being an obedient serf - you could find out the hard way that most governments are all too eager to exercise the “kill switch” that they hold over the assets within their reach. You could find your business or bank account shut down with the flip of a switch. In order to minimize your political risk and maximize your freedom, it is best to have your savings in one country, your citizenship in another, and your physical self in a third country." Continue reading →
"The government has historically had broad power to search travelers and their property at the border. But that prerogative is being challenged as more people travel with extensive personal and business information on devices that would typically require a warrant to examine. Several court cases seek to limit the ability of border agents to search, copy and even seize travelers’ laptops, cameras and phones without suspicion of illegal activity. Courts have long held that Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches do not apply at the border, based on the government’s interest in combating crime and terrorism." Continue reading →
"Richard O’Dwyer has never been to the United States. Not once. His Internet site ran on servers in Sweden. Neither Sweden nor his home country has charged him with a crime. So how in the world could the United States government make a case against O’Dwyer and enforce its laws against a foreign citizen like this? Because he used a .com domain name. All .com domains (among many other global top level domains or gTLDs) are registered with Versign, a US-based company. The implications of this are huge. Can the US government exert its laws against a non-US website based on the registry used for that domain name?" Continue reading →
"In the 2009-10 tax year, more than 16,000 people declared an annual income of more than £1 million to HM Revenue and Customs. This number fell to just 6,000 after Gordon Brown introduced the new 50p top rate of income tax shortly before the last general election. It is believed that rich Britons moved abroad or took steps to avoid paying the new levy by reducing their taxable incomes. Far from raising funds, it actually cost the UK £7 billion in lost tax revenue." Continue reading →
"Tax rates across the board in the United States are set to increase dramatically in 2013. Currently the government will charge a 35% tax on the value of your estate that exceeds $5 million. If you happen to kick the bucket on January 1st, however, the tax goes up to 55%, and the exemption goes down to $1 million. This exemption is not indexed to inflation. Perhaps most shocking is increase in dividend tax rates, set to rise from 15% to as high as 43.4%. Ironically, the new government of the People’s Republic of China has decided the REDUCE their tax on dividends. Effective January 1st, the dividend tax rate in China will drop to a mere 5%." Continue reading →
"If Cubans can now leave their country freely, what will become of the Cuban Adjustment Act, that was signed during the Johnson Administration? This law gives any Cuban citizen admitted into the United States after January 1, 1959 and physically present for at least one year, to be admissible to the United States as a permanent resident. Unless the United States is prepared for a big influx of new Cuban residents, it will need to amend this law. Ironically, after Jan. 14, 2013, Cuban citizens will be more free and less regulated by their government to visit the USA than U.S. citizens will be to visit Cuba." Continue reading →
"For many wealthy mainland Chinese who immigrated to the US, an American passport is a genie that cannot be put back in the bottle. More and more of them are thinking about renouncing their US citizenship, something that would have been almost unimaginable a decade ago, when getting a US passport was the ultimate status symbol in China. In March 2010, Washington stepped up its tax collection efforts by enacting FATCA. Americans and green card holders face onerous US reporting requirements, often have trouble opening bank accounts outside the US and frequently find it hard to form business ventures overseas." Continue reading →