Based off tax return and make tax fraud hurt. Sure some people will still optimize for tax avoidance but will be far fewer than the totality of those wealthy enough to disregard rules at present.
Every European country (even Finland) has harmonized rules about "tax residency". The rules are simple: If you actually and honestly live there at least half a year and one day of a calendar year, that place becomes your tax residency for that year.
The rich person buys a property in Monaco and goes there for half a year + 1 day. That year Monaco is their tax residency. They take out dividends from their off-shore (or Netherlands) holding companies. Boom, perfectly legal personal income taxed at super-low (or 0) rate that Finland has no idea about.
Then the person returns back to Finland and again accumulates their income into the holding company for a few years until they run out of whatever they got as a dividend.
You don't need citizenship at all. Not even permanent or temporary residency. You will become a tax resident of a state even if you have just a tourist visa. You don't need to own the property either, a rental apartment is just fine. Even living in a hotel would work if you can prove it was your "base of operations" during that time.
Not sure what's the distinction between rich and wealthy, sounds the same to me.
Well I think I meant something in between. You don't need to be from old money to get a property in Monaco and much less in other places in EU - I got several, and I started literally from 0. And you definitely don't need to be from old money to rent an apartment in Monaco for half a year. A senior software engineer (contractor) could afford it and would profit from the operation if they live in Scandinavia/Germany/Austria/France.
I have a good enough tax regime where I live in Central Europe - for 2022 I paid 8% including income tax, health and social insurance. But I'd definitely consider doing this if it was over 20%.
Every European country (even Finland) has harmonized rules about "tax residency". The rules are simple: If you actually and honestly live there at least half a year and one day of a calendar year, that place becomes your tax residency for that year.
The rich person buys a property in Monaco and goes there for half a year + 1 day. That year Monaco is their tax residency. They take out dividends from their off-shore (or Netherlands) holding companies. Boom, perfectly legal personal income taxed at super-low (or 0) rate that Finland has no idea about.
Then the person returns back to Finland and again accumulates their income into the holding company for a few years until they run out of whatever they got as a dividend.
Repeat until...