Sorry, but you couldn’t pay me to live in hurricane territory.
For many folks the possibility of a hurricane will be less terrifying than the consequences of staying in the U.S. if it continues down its current path.
Then there are floridians who have both!
Between the ecological, sociological, ecosystemic, and political dangers, I am quite literally dumbfounded whenever I hear that someone is willingly moving to Florida.
People on the internet are always so dramatic.
Look, I get it. The political climate right now is frustrating and even outright terrifying. But I’ve lived for periods of time in incredibly liberal, left leaning states as well as incredibly right winged states. It is often really not that dramatic of a difference for day to day life living in one versus the other.
I will concede that some places actually are more dangerous for people of certain demographics to live versus others.
But like…take Florida for example…a terrifyingly right leaning state. BUT you have plenty of incredibly liberal pockets…like how Orlando is basically a gay haven lol.
Hurricanes are really only a problem for people living in coastal regions which will have “storm surge” flooding (the sea level rises and literally comes into your home). But it’s incredibly easy to not live in an area like that lol. It’s also a danger to those in trailer homes (no idea why those are allowed in Florida…seems criminal). For everyone else, you could think of hurricanes as similar to “snow days” in the north haha.
same. some of us are just stuck here though.
The Keys seem chill once you get past the whole hurricane thing, but that may be because I’ve watched the show Bad Monkey one too many times. I’ve never actually been to Florida (or most places in the US for that matter, since I’m not American)
Well, unlike tornados or earthquakes…hurricanes have a 3 to 5 day warning for you to prep.
If there’s no evacuation route, does that matter? Finding a place to stay “uphill” is mighty different from “drive Inland ten hours”
Uphill is fine. In florida, there is no ‘drive inland for 10hours’. All you do is get away from the coastal water. You cant drive upstate because of traffic. Did that 1 time and got stuck on the turnpike for 15 hours just to go from miami to orlando, usuall 2.5 hours.
Most people aren’t even living there, they’re just buying into citizenship and a tax haven.
How is it a tax haven? Even when becoming a citizen in another country the US still requires you to pay taxes.
If “capital gains not taxed” didn’t leap off the page at you, you are a poor slob who must actually have w-2 income? Keep up the good work while the wealthy sleep soundly on the tax code they bought and wrote.
The article is referring to Caribbean taxes not US taxes. If you have US citizenship, you have to pay taxes to the federal government regardless of where you live, work, or earn your money, and don’t lose your US citizenship just because you become a citizen of another country.
You can in fact, simply give up US citizenship.
If own the lottery tomorrow, and needed a “no capital gains taxes” state to be a citizen of, this would be sorta tempting.
Also noteworthy, the IRS doesn’t come after international citizens. Sure they can go after you domestically, but if your accounts are not American accounts and your assets are in other nations, you can just live your life not filing taxes without going back to the US as a citizen.
You can also just go back to the US. It’s only working in the US, paying and subsequently filing taxes, that would cause the IRS to start looking into you.
Apparently if you’re in such a situation you need a tax lawyer, not an accountant. Accountants are mandatory reporters to the IRS, so if you tell them you’ve not filed taxes they have to report you, while laywers have client confidentiality and would be able to help you try and smooth things over with the IRS.
Obtaining a CLN to demonstrate relinquishment of U.S. citizenship has become a lengthy process with high barriers. The total cost of renouncing U.S. citizenship for a person in France, including the cost of preparing the related tax paperwork, has been reported to be € 10 000 – 20 000 on average.[29] Allison Christians of McGill University and Peter Spiro of Temple University have suggested that the complexity and cost of the process, especially the $2350 State Department fee and the potential penalties for failure to file related tax forms, may constitute a breach of the U.S.’ obligation not to impose arbitrary barriers to change of nationality, particularly when applied to accidental Americans who have few genuine links to the United States.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relinquishment_of_United_States_nationality
It’s not simple at all and while you can just not file taxes, that’s no guarantee you’ll get away with it much like someone living in the US not filing taxes.
Also lottery winnings is not capital gains income it’s gambling income and they typically take the taxes out before paying you your winnings. Even casinos do this if you win over $1500 at once on a machine for example.
Lastly, the premise being put forth here is that someone is using the Caribbean citizenship as a “tax haven” while still living and earning money in the US, not someone leaving the country and never looking back.
Even if you do file with the IRS while overseas, it’s much more difficult for them to check things. And it could also be that you don’t have to file the capital gains exempt things in the overseas territory, which would give you a clean tax bill from there to give to the US.
Either way, it’s the article that made the claim that this was something of a tax haven. I don’t think anyone here is a tax accountant with enough knowledge to know how that works.
Wouldn’t that only qualify against a 186 day rule?
Check out the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion…
“Earned income” means W2 wages not capital gains or any of the other avenues rich people make their money.
Yeah essentially it’s just a set of agreements the US has with other nations, each of which is different. But basically your overseas income up to certain amounts will be tax exempt in the US. This is to account for the fact that you’re also paying overseas taxes and using overseas social services instead of US ones. You still have to file your overseas income, but you don’t end up paying any taxes on it, unless it crosses the threshold.
I don’t see how that would apply to someone not actually living outside the US as this sub-thread suggests.
This reminds me of the Seinfeld episode where Kramer kept insisting that companies “write it off” and Jerry asks if he even knows what that means.
Right now it seems better than living under this administration.
Im more concerned with the US conquest of central and South America. Puerto rico is having a buildup of military presence, as are other US outposts around the world. I would love to live in the Caribbean, and it’s surprisingly affordable, but nah. I dont want to be in Europe for similar reasons relating to Russia.
Five of the region’s island nations – Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St Kitts and Nevis, and St Lucia – offer such citizenship by investment (CBI) from as little as $200,000 (£145,000).
“as little as”
Fuuuuck off. 🥲
Almost any other citizenship by investment program costs millions. So, it is very cheap.
In my area, houses are like 1 mil USD so in comparison, it is cheap
Haha this is where people go, “Oh you must live in like a expensive city” and like damn bro, every city is god damn expensive now!
Even in cheap cities, burger is $12+, rent is +$1000 per person, and good luck saving for that cheap housing that will be bought by companies to hopefully make a profit out of you when you borrow a 50-year loan.
I mean that house is cheap compared to the ones near me but I wouldn’t be able to afford the air fare to visit it regularly
Visit it regularly? You visit the house once and live there. It’s called moving.
I highly doubt the majority of the people buying are making it their primary residence but it would nice if I’m wrong.
It doesn’t really matter what everyone else is doing if we’re talking about our own individual situations though it would be a good idea to check the local job market before comitting.
The prices elsewhere is irrelevant. If there is 1 thing that is not movable it’s precisely a house. One doesn’t buy a building but rather a location. The price of real estate is about the infrastructure available.
Anyway, even if it wasn’t about location, location, location (the 1 rule in real estate) here the point is about citizenship, not actual houses. FWIW St Lucia is a beautiful place but… step out of a luxury hotel and see what happens. GDP per capita is low ($15K) and Gini coefficient is high.
You do realize that’s a logical fallacy, right?
“cheap” only makes sense in relative terms.
Sounds great tbh. I am actually tempted at those prices
I do wonder what the point of this is? It says visa free visits to parts of Europe. How long can those visits be? You couldn’t easily relocate anywhere outside the islands on a permanent basis?
The article isn’t helpful for most of the target audience.
Citizens of the Carribbean nations in the article can currently enjoy up to 180 days in the EU visa-free. The same exact visa-free window as citizens of the US, UK, Canada, Australia, Japan, and New Zealand are granted.
Citizenship to one of these Carribbean island nations can certainly help you leave North America, but it doesn’t help you get any more access to the EU than you currently have. It just helps you move to…the Carribbean.
Some nationalities can’t enter Europe without a visa, so this would be an upgrade for them. But, for nationalities that already have visa free entry, it isn’t that helpful.
Can you do 180 days as a US-ian, and another 180 days as a Caribbean-ian?
Hey…wait a sec now.
Arrive in EU, go through customs with US passport, 180 days later go to the airport, walk straight to customs and go through with your Carribbean passport. Rinse and repeat every 180 days? Hmmm…
Unless the situation with the US and access for its citizens, which is the main driver being mentioned.
It’s easier to move to italy spain or portugal. a lot of small towns there are becoming ghost towns and they have incentive programs for that. Why move to hurricane land to have an EU visa if you can mode to the EU
Definitely an edge case, but my wife is a legal permanent resident and from the tiny bit of “just out of curiosity” research I’ve done, it seems like she would be eligible for and able to benefit from the expanded travel opportunities these programs offer.
