[ghaff]

Part of it is that things like driver's licenses and residency generally are not actually at the federal level. They're at the level of the states. And lots of real money is involved with respect to state taxes.

There could presumably be a "no fixed address" category at the federal level but don't hold your breath as this is an outlier among people who earn enough to pay taxes and would absolutely be abused if it existed.

I actually agree there is an edge case of people who are nomadic for at least a period who genuinely don't have a fixed address and have to "fake it." I'm also not sure it's a large enough category to institute the significant changes needed to deal with it.

[bserge]

Why are PO boxes or mail forwarding services not allowed then?

Just send all mail to that, if notice of a fine doesn't reach you, proceed as if it was ignored. Seems reasonable to me.

[ghaff]

In part, because basically anyone [ADDED: who didn't physically work in a high tax state] who didn't actually own property who lived in a high tax state would establish an "address of convenience" in a no income tax state.

[bserge]

How are they employed in the high tax state, then?

OK, I can see it now with remote work being common (why live in a CoL state then?), but these laws are way older than that.

[ghaff]

This was in the context of someone who was nomadic. Otherwise, of course, you need to live near where you work. And if you work in a high tax state, you need to pay those taxes anyway even if you live across the state border in a state without taxes (as is often the case with NH and MA).

Lots of things factor into where people live. I live in a fairly high CoL location and could move pretty much anywhere in the US I wanted to. But I have a house and like where I am for various reasons so moving is unlikely.