Passport Index 2016 • Hacker News Board

Re: Passport Index 2016

#241

Post by Erwin » Mon, Jul 18, 2016, 1:38 PM UTC

richarme wrote: post #198

tixzdk wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Denmark does as well, to a high degree

As opposed to the US, Denmark does not impose global tax on citizen who are not considered residents or have a home available to them there.

There have however been quite a few high profile cases of whether you are considered a resident of Denmark or not, after leaving Denmark -- something that has hit a golf player, a model and apparently 100 others whose cases were handled internally by the tax authorities.

In a blink of an eye, you can become a tax evader and essentially lose everything you've earned plus be sentenced to years in prison... unless you're the husband of the prime minister (who worked in Switzerland, paid no tax in Denmark yet essentially lived here).

So if you're leaving Denmark for Silicon Valley to run your startup, get legal help to ensure you won't suddenly get taxed for all your US-earned income because your left your wife/girlfriend in Denmark, visited her and say, answered a few emails or spent some money.

Re: Passport Index 2016

#242

Post by sevenless » Mon, Jul 18, 2016, 1:51 PM UTC

wildmusings wrote: post #141

sevenless wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This will be controversial, but France doesn't have any right to be a "French" country. Individuals have rights, but cultures and nations don't have a right to exist. If they did we would be obliged to preserve them, but peoples, countries and cultures always vanish over time, and there's no general obligation to stop this happening. Saying otherwise is simply a conservative demand, with no ethical basis. "The French…

Part of the rights of individuals is self-determination. If a people want to pick and choose who they admit into their community, that is their right. If they want to close their borders to the rest of the world, that is their right as well. The fact that everything dies in the long run doesn't mean that those who hold their nations and cultures dear today should not work toward their preservation. An argument from n…

Why don't I have self determination? Why can't I get together with a few like minded friends and secede from our country?

Re: Passport Index 2016

#243

Post by nikitoz » Mon, Jul 18, 2016, 2:29 PM UTC

underyx wrote: post #103

stonogo wrote: post #72

I find it interesting they rate a passport's "power" by where you can go away to, instead of by where you go home to.

People get passports to go away, not the opposite.

In post-Soviet countries we have 2 types of passports: one internal which is used as id card and second is for traveling. So for most people there, passport is like a synonym for citizenship.

Re: Passport Index 2016

#244

Post by underyx » Mon, Jul 18, 2016, 4:15 PM UTC

nikitoz wrote: post #243

underyx wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People get passports to go away, not the opposite.

In post-Soviet countries we have 2 types of passports: one internal which is used as id card and second is for traveling. So for most people there, passport is like a synonym for citizenship.

Interesting, I'm from Hungary (pretty sure that counts as post-Soviet), and I've never heard of such a thing.

I'm also pretty sure that the internal passports are 100% irrelevant to this site and one would get confused by this only if they really, really wanted to.

Re: Passport Index 2016

#245

Post by mthoms » Mon, Jul 18, 2016, 6:45 PM UTC

Tharkun wrote: post #213

mthoms wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What a bizarre thing to wish to argue nuances about. I just thought the passport was neat, had cachet and I really like the idea of being a "Citizen of Earth". I'm actually sorry I even mentioned it. But since you wish to be pedantic: I said that holders don't require Visas in many countries - According to the second paragraph of the Wiki link there are at least 29 countries. This qualifies as many . I also said "You…

I don't think that qualifies as 'many', if you want to be pedantic. My Belgian ID card (not even a passport!) gives me visaless and pasportless access to 50 countries.. But I agree, it would be a very near passport to have, and I wish there really was such a thing as a 'citizen of earth'-passport.

That's great but European freedom of unrestricted movement is certainly not the norm in the world. Rather it is the rare exception.

Re: Passport Index 2016

#246

Post by celticninja » Tue, Jul 19, 2016, 11:13 AM UTC

ForHackernews wrote: post #238

celticninja wrote: post #231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which is only and issue if you are American.

The US has tax treaties with most countries to avoid dual taxation. You still have to file a return, but except in rare circumstances, you will never have to pay double taxes to both host country and home country.

But it is a ball ache, not only for the ex pat but also for the banks that deal with them, so much so that there are many reports of banks refusing US citizens accounts and closing ones they do have. There may be no double taxation occurring but there is administration involved in the part of everyone involved. Essentially a ridiculous cost forced on all parties by the US govt.

Re: Passport Index 2016

#247

Post by superuser2 » Thu, Jul 21, 2016, 8:30 PM UTC

67726e wrote: post #86

superuser2 wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Economies are not zero-sum. The flow of capital and education to poor countries would increase their productivity (and thus wages and standard of living) while the increased supply of labor decreases prices in rich countries, and the new equilibrium would be strictly better for both sides. Find a good economics textbook. (This is an issue where economists are in almost universal agreement, and almost universally oppo…

I'm sorry but that's transparently bullshit, an example of good on paper but bad I reality. It does very little but line the pockets of a select few in the rich nations. There is no reason for me to give a shit about someone in Africa if it means my own family, my own people struggle.

It lines the pockets of everyone who purchases better, cheaper goods and has more money left over for other stuff. Everything we buy that's made abroad is made abroad because doing it that way makes it better or cheaper or both.