Eric Schmidt has applied to become a citizen of Cyprus • Hacker News Board

Re: Eric Schmidt has applied to become a citizen of Cyprus

#151

Post by justincormack » Mon, Nov 09, 2020, 7:38 PM UTC

dragonwriter wrote: post #139

pembrook wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> There is no way to dodge taxes as a US citizen by moving abroad Well, no way to "legally avoid"; "dodge" is broader, and there are probably many ways of dodging taxes that are easier if the institutions you deal with in your daily life aren't subject to US jurisdiction and regulations designed to expose tax evasion to US authorities. Also, typically you want to have at least one national citizenship, so if you are…

you still have to pay exit taxes on renouncing, so not clear this is a good way of avoiding tax.

Re: Eric Schmidt has applied to become a citizen of Cyprus

#152

Post by bsanr2 » Mon, Nov 09, 2020, 7:38 PM UTC

areoform wrote: post #67

If 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…

I went to the same high school as Sergey Brin, a little over a decade after he had and well after Google had become the de facto search standard. Didn't know until I was already in college. AFAIK he's never made an effort to reach out to them, grant resources, give a talk, anything. It's a majority-minority public school in a solidly middle class (like, actually middle class) suburb, so it's not like they're flush with funding. Whatever his relationship to it had been at the time, you'd think he'd find it within himself to give back a tiny bit from the exceptional fortune and life that he's built. The reality, though, was that a lot of us didn't even know who he was, even though all of the school computers had their homepages set to Google.com.

I think that's emblematic of Google's regard to reinvestment. Even the products which made them so powerful in the first place they regularly abandon.

Re: Eric Schmidt has applied to become a citizen of Cyprus

#153

Post by marmaduke » Mon, Nov 09, 2020, 7:39 PM UTC

mirekrusin wrote: post #133

pembrook wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

You can declare you no longer want to be US citizen.

It costs about 3k USD

Re: Eric Schmidt has applied to become a citizen of Cyprus

#154

Post by prewett » Mon, Nov 09, 2020, 7:40 PM UTC

eatmyshorts wrote: post #39

Barrin92 wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Buying one. Citizenship is something that ought to be earned and given to people who show that they want to live in and contribute to a country. People like Schmidt purchase themselves a tax excemption or freedom of movement in a world where ordinary people right now lose their jobs and are locked into their country.

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.

You get a pretty high exemption for salary earned abroad if you paid local taxes on it and the country has a tax agreement with the US, which most do. You're still taxed on income earned within the US normally, but it seems reasonable that if you earned income from rent from a US property, or received dividends from a US company, that you should pay taxes on it even if you are not in the country.

Re: Eric Schmidt has applied to become a citizen of Cyprus

#155

Post by notahacker » Mon, Nov 09, 2020, 7:41 PM UTC

klaudius wrote: post #120

roughly wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mariana Mazzucato's book "The Entrepreneurial State" is a good read on the matter of public funding for innovation: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781610396134

This is very misleading. US government heavily taxes people and organizations and spends on certain projects. But if people had more resources left to themselves, they could spend some of it on the same projects US gov spends it on. On top of that, US gov has all kinds of laws and regulations that make it difficult to do certain valuable things. For example, if companies in the same industry come together to do somet…

How many people would have used their tax cuts to fund a wide area packet-switching network or space program?

Re: Eric Schmidt has applied to become a citizen of Cyprus

#156

Post by Rebelgecko » Mon, Nov 09, 2020, 7:41 PM UTC

FDSGSG wrote: post #54

bduerst wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep. Before Brexit, it used to be St. Kitts where you would get citizenship.

What did Brexit change for St. Kitts nationals? I hold a St. Kitts passport (via marriage) and completely missed this. Only reason my wives family got St. Kitts passports was because it was easier and quicker than Cyprus at the time, but they did eventually get their Cyprus passports too.

Are they intentionally collecting passports? If so, why?

Re: Eric Schmidt has applied to become a citizen of Cyprus

#157

Post by vmception » Mon, Nov 09, 2020, 7:41 PM UTC

wtn wrote: post #134

pembrook wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

The easiest way is to move to Puerto Rico.

But then you have to live in Puerto Rico.

Even with the possibility of traveling all the time as long as you aren't on the mainland for 6 months, Puerto Rico is just not attractive enough.

Everyone I know that was trying to take advantage of Act 60 (previously Act 20 and Act 22) all left when the COVID pandemic started. It was just too clear that the infrastructure was too poor.

Re: Eric Schmidt has applied to become a citizen of Cyprus

#158

Post by arsenico » Mon, Nov 09, 2020, 7:42 PM UTC

temp667 wrote: post #83

THis is interesting - is this an Trump opposition dump on Biden? Pretty good timing if so :) And for all the folks going on about taxes. 1) Rich people can already avoid taxes by investing overseas and not generating realized gains so funds stay untaxed overseas. I don't think being a citizen of EU would change that much. 2) US citizens are taxed regardless of second citizenships as US citizens. "If you are a U.S. ci…

Exactly. I don’t think those who comment understand that IRS will tax Schmidt anyways, and he also is already avoiding taxes as much as he can.

Re: Eric Schmidt has applied to become a citizen of Cyprus

#159

Post by ericd » Mon, Nov 09, 2020, 7:42 PM UTC

zeruch wrote: post #25

magicalist wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's not moral behavior. Getting a second citizenship?

The act is not in question...its the motives that are.

It's not necessarily about taxes, the marginal utility of money is basically 0 at his level. I'm guessing he just wants a guarantee of being able to get into the EU in case the political polarization in the US boils over. I certainly would, if I were him, especially given the steady drumbeat of demonization of the rich in the media.

Re: Eric Schmidt has applied to become a citizen of Cyprus

#160

Post by pembrook » Mon, Nov 09, 2020, 7:42 PM UTC

wukerplank wrote: post #138

pembrook wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

So, what is this? His passion for the Mediterranian? Reconnecting with his ancestor's roots? BTW: All tax systems are draconian, at least to the middle class. Not to people who can afford creative lawyers.

My guess, ease of movement in the EU for him and his kids.

When you've got Eric Schmidt money, you probably want to have the ability to live and vacation anywhere you want, whenever you want. Otherwise you're limited to 90 days in the EU at a time as a tourist.