Cyprus is under investigation by the EU, along with Malta for “selling” citizenships.
Eric Schmidt has applied to become a citizen of Cyprus
121–130 of 401 posts
Re: Eric Schmidt has applied to become a citizen of Cyprus
#122Earlier quoted context omitted.
When a billionaire makes a move like this (getting citizenship in another country) it’s often criticized as an “escape plan”, or somewhere to run if any number of bad things happen to or in the USA. It’s viewed a little differently from most other ex-pats because these are the people who have the money and power to dramatically influence the government, so if they’re running from something here in the US, it’s either…
Google bought YouTube in 2006. Schmidt was CEO until 2011. YouTube got out of control with disinformation mostly after 2011. And he probably had almost nothing to do with YouTube in the five years he was CEO after Google purchased YouTube. I wouldn't blame Schmidt much for YouTube's disinformation problem. I'd blame the people directly running YouTube (especially people running it recently / now).
Sadly I think the radicalisation started when the censorship did. I honestly believe they're making things worse by clamping down on misinformation. Streisand effect is real.
Re: Eric Schmidt has applied to become a citizen of Cyprus
#123Earlier quoted context omitted.
The question, then, is why we bothered effectively handing Page and Brin free startup funds without claiming any IP or equity stake in the resulting products, then act surprised when they don't want to pay taxes on the money they made.
Isn’t the US government not allowed to own any IP? I’m pretty sure the Constitution says so. That’s why JPL is a thing; so NASA can pay JPL to do research (giving JPL, a company, the IP).
Seems like straight up theft to me. Why is that not owned by the public?
Re: Eric Schmidt has applied to become a citizen of Cyprus
#124If this is indeed for a tax dodge, what's funny is that the US Government helped fund Google. Or, more accurately, they funded the research into the seemingly esoteric problem that became Google; > In 1995, one of the first and most promising MDDS grants went to a computer-science research team at Stanford University with a decade-long history of working with NSF and DARPA grants. The primary objective of this grant…
The question, then, is why we bothered effectively handing Page and Brin free startup funds without claiming any IP or equity stake in the resulting products, then act surprised when they don't want to pay taxes on the money they made.
Because the investment was well worth it for the federal government.
How much tax revenue has Google created? How many intelligent people have immigrated to the US because of google?
Re: Eric Schmidt has applied to become a citizen of Cyprus
#125If this is indeed for a tax dodge, what's funny is that the US Government helped fund Google. Or, more accurately, they funded the research into the seemingly esoteric problem that became Google; > In 1995, one of the first and most promising MDDS grants went to a computer-science research team at Stanford University with a decade-long history of working with NSF and DARPA grants. The primary objective of this grant…
This is not a tax dodge. There is no way to dodge taxes as a US citizen by moving abroad, the US is the only country in the world with a real global taxation system. EDIT further information I posted below: The US has the unique position of being able to actually enforce this due to the fact the USD is the reserve currency of the world and every country needs to stay on the good side of the US Treasury to transact in…
Uhm acquiring another citizenship to give up American can totally be a tax dodge. The key is giving up the American one.
Re: Eric Schmidt has applied to become a citizen of Cyprus
#126When Mars is ready in a few years, many will buy a one way ticket to escape from governments, tax collectors and other similar criminal organizations on earth. The only question will be, for how long will you be safe?
Re: Eric Schmidt has applied to become a citizen of Cyprus
#127Earlier quoted context omitted.
American citizens living and working abroad still must pay taxes to the US Government. As far as I am aware, the US is the only country in the world with this requirement. There is a reason the FBAR requirement is often called the "fubar" requirement.
I'm working in the US under a TN Visa at the moment as a Canadian citizen, and until this changes I'm never going to apply for a green card, and have been advising all my friends in similar situations to do the same. We choose to live & work here because SV is the Mecca of software development, but that could very easily change within our lifetimes, so tying ourselves down with this ridiculous obligation for life doe…
Did you mean you're not going to apply for citizenship?
Does the global tax extend to green card holders who are not citizens?
Re: Eric Schmidt has applied to become a citizen of Cyprus
#128If this is indeed for a tax dodge, what's funny is that the US Government helped fund Google. Or, more accurately, they funded the research into the seemingly esoteric problem that became Google; > In 1995, one of the first and most promising MDDS grants went to a computer-science research team at Stanford University with a decade-long history of working with NSF and DARPA grants. The primary objective of this grant…
This is not a tax dodge. There is no way to dodge taxes as a US citizen by moving abroad, the US is the only country in the world with a real global taxation system. EDIT further information I posted below: The US has the unique position of being able to actually enforce this due to the fact the USD is the reserve currency of the world and every country needs to stay on the good side of the US Treasury to transact in…
His step 2 could then be to renounce his US citizenship.
Re: Eric Schmidt has applied to become a citizen of Cyprus
#129I'd recommend watching The Cyprus Papers [1], done by Al Jazeera Investigations, mentioned in the article.
Re: Eric Schmidt has applied to become a citizen of Cyprus
#130Earlier quoted context omitted.
> It's not moral behavior. Getting a second citizenship?
FYI not just any citizenship. On top of the obvious tax benefits in Cyprus, the country is also member state of the EU since 2004. That means 'Citizenship of the European Union', that includes the ability to travel to anywhere in the EU (visa free), the Ability to reside anywhere in the EU, hell Schmidt could even run for public office in any EU local governments municipal elections if he so wishes.
> On top of the obvious tax benefits in Cyprus
There are no tax benefits for US citizens in Cyprus. Giving up your US citizenship involves a significant exit tax.