[rooofer]

I don't see anything wrong with using it as a way of opening borders. I think, from an idealistic standpoint, borders should be completely open to everyone and people should be able to freely move from one country to another. Economics disparities between countries make that impossible, but people who can afford these passports aren't going to an economic drain on other countries.

I'm skeptical on how effective it is as a way of reducing taxes. Don't most countries tax you on residency anyways? And if you're physically in St. Kitts for 183 days a year, isn't it fair that you pay St Kitt's tax rates?

[petegrif]

Countries vary a good deal on how much they tax you. And as the article says, St Kitts has no capital gains tax which is by far the most important tax rate for the wealthy.

[jessaustin]

Couldn't a combination of consumption and inheritance taxes perform the same function? These seem harder to game than capital gains tax.

[dublinben]

Consumption (sales tax or VAT) taxes are regressive, so that's a non starter.

Inheritance taxes are trivial to circumvent with careful estate planning and vehicles such as trusts.

[jessaustin]

Sales taxes, VAT, etc. are used basically everywhere, so "non starter" is a strange label to use. Regressivity is a problem, but that may be ameliorated with measures like EITC or guaranteed income.

It's not clear that inheritance taxes are easier to circumvent than capital gains taxes, which certainly are easy to circumvent. Capital moves at the speed of light, to whichever locale offers the best return. The more you tighten your grip, Tarkin, the more numbered accounts will slip through your fingers. Investment is not like cigarettes; we don't actually want to tax it out of existence.

OTOH, old rich dudes die eventually no matter what. The death of a wealthy person would be a difficult event to conceal, even if potential heirs wanted to do so. At that point, Caesar can take his portion. Trusts etc. are fictional entities, created by the state. If there is some problem with these entities that prevents the levy of tax, the state may modify them to solve that problem.

[aianus]

They don't have to be regressive. At least here in Ontario, Canada the government cuts you a check to reimburse you for the sales tax you paid during the year (if your declared income is low enough).

[prostoalex]

In California food and any items bought with food stamps are not taxed. So the government has more or less complete freedom in reducing the regressive nature of the tax by expanding the food stamp eligibility.

[klipt]

In the US, you can deduct state sales tax ... but only if you don't deduct state income tax. Which somewhere like California, will usually be a much bigger deduction.