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Eric Schmidt has applied to become a citizen of Cyprus

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

#211

Post by jb1991 »

pembrook wrote: post #113
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…

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…

> In fact, the laws are so strict, they make living abroad as an honest middle-class expat a total nightmare. I have friends who cannot find a single bank in their country that will work with them because of the reporting requirements of working with US citizens.

What? This is not true at all. Getting a bank in most other countries is not hard at all and certainly not a "nightmare."

As a U.S. citizen you must still file taxes and an FBAR that merely reports your assets in foreign accounts, but I've never seen a bank have any problems opening an account for an American, in any country.

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

#212

Post by sjg007 »

lutorm wrote: post #72
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.

Is it really so different from the "EB-5" immigrant investor visa, which gives a citizenship path to foreigners who invest at least $1.8M in the US?

Nope, but it's basically a faster path.

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

#213

Post by alexashka »

Barrin92 wrote: post #34
magicalist wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

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.

> 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

Says who? You?

The beauty of people is we have different opinions. If Cyprus wants to sell their citizenship for a dollar each, that's their right.

> People like Schmidt purchase themselves a...

Yes, that's one of the motivating factors for being rich, is being able to purchase things afterwards.

There's a child dying somewhere on this planet right now and here you are moralizing on HackerNews - people like you purchase themselves an internet connection and talk about blah blah, while a child is dying.

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

#214

Post by Nasrudith »

MrZongle2 wrote: post #202
znpy wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well he might just not have fond memories of that school.

That's entirely possible. But one could argue that would be even more reason for him to step in and try and make it better.

It could easily be throwing good money after bad - and he has moved on from it. It would be like giving money to an impoverished country with a blatantly corrupt government - it wouldn't do any good if they just waste it on say landscaping instead of say doing anything about bullying.

On that note do you feel an obligation to donate even say $5 to your old high school decades later when you have no other connections to it like kids currently attending? I don't think that is a very common behavior or sentiment.

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

#215

Post by wavefunction »

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…

>But if people had more resources left to themselves, they could spend some of it on the same projects US gov spends it on.

With your assertion in mind: there were plenty of wealthy people in the US in the early 1990s so why didn't they fund the nascent Google project? You'd think anyone would love to be the likely majority owner of Google.

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

#216

Post by pembrook »

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…

> aren't subject to US jurisdiction

Every single financial institution that transacts in US dollars (so, all of them) is subject to the power of the US Treasury.

So many people want to believe all the rich are hiding their money abroad.

For American citizens, this simply isn't true and hasn't been for a decade or more. It's not feasible. Also, American capital gains taxes (the ones rich people mostly pay) are extremely low compared to most places in the EU anyways. Its not worth the risk even if you can find a nefarious organization to help you do it.

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

#217

Post by antpls »

enriquto wrote: post #148
digianarchist wrote: post #121

Cyprus is under investigation by the EU, along with Malta for “selling” citizenships.

I do not understand why selling citizenships is wrong. If both the seller and the buyer agree to a price, what's the problem?

Because those people never lived and will never live in Cyprus or EU, but the citizenship gives them rights in elections and access to a different banking system, for the sole purpose of evading laws.

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

#218

Post by chrismeller »

nwsm wrote: post #207
chrismeller wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m sorry, but this is missing the point. You’re forbidden from traveling FROM a country on whatever list (some are outright lists, some are based on the infection rate, etc.). Traveling FROM the US is the problem, regardless of where your passport is from. Getting a passport (or even a residence card) from an EU country would only allow you to get back to THAT country, it doesn’t just suddenly open up the world to y…

> Traveling FROM the US is the problem, regardless of where your passport is from. Which is why he would be traveling from Cyprus

No... if he flies from JFK to Cyprus he’ll be allowed. That doesn’t mean that he can connect through to London or Dubai without being stopped. It also doesn’t mean that spending the night there suddenly opens up the world to him - if you’ve been in a (for lack of a better term) “blacklisted” country in the last 14 days you still have to quarantine.

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

#219

Post by YinglingLight »

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.

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