Thread: Increase Your Monetary Reach Through Country of Residence

So,
Johnny Chow has moved south from Canada:
Why I Left Canada for The United States of America
You can read about his public reasons for doing so that relate to FOREX, proximity to services, etc there.

I know just in the U.S. its a calculus problem sometimes on what state to live in based on how you make money online. For U.S. expats overseas, there is a huge tax break for living abroad based on your individual circumstances:
Expat Tax Guide | Expat Intelligence

A common myth out there with new folks is that PayPal income doesn't have to be declared....never been true; however, supposedly we will see PayPal -> IRS reporting this year!

Cheers,
James

Paypal has been reporting to IRS for years the dividend you earned from paypal.
Now, supposedly at the same time, they have been also telling IRS what money came into your account.

Yes, it is tax law in the USA that ALL income must be reported!
So at some point, IRS is going to want some explanation from a paypal user as to where money came from and why.

Did Paypal kill the dividend payments now? I thought I saw a note about that the other month. Too bad since the rate was a lot better than a savings account (but you took the risk of PayPal doing strange things like with the Indian users!).

Yep, they killed off the market dividend a long time ago.

Not that I ever got rich on it!

The article "Increase Your Monetary Reach through Country of Residence" is well written and entertaining. Johnny Chow has the right idea. But he lost me with moving to California. The top California state income tax rate is 9%. That's not to mention that the Bush tax cuts expire in 2013 which will increase the federal rate.

A better idea would be to move South of the border. Let's say you netted $10,000 a month. Move into house #1 for $400 a month rent and put up a few more rolls of barbed wire. Food, internet, and a housekeeper should cost you $600 month. Budget in $1000 a month for pocket money. So, you will be able to save $100,000 a year. In five years you will have $500k. You could even keep chickens in the backyard to keep the costs down. Hire a few people from the local university to work on your sites.


1. $400/month
2. $500/month
3. $800/month

It is a good article and dispels some of the myths about the merits of "free health care" in Canada.

I live in Phoenix and almost 50% of the homes being purchased here are now bought by Canadians. Canada is trying to crack down on the tens of thousands of Canadian "snow birds" who spend the winters here. In the past they could buy a car at a discounted in price in the USA and drive it back to Canada. According to a car dealer that I know, cars are only sold in Canada at full retail price. The Canadian government no longer allows their citizens to buy cars in the USA and they must buy them at a higher price in Canada. The curious part is that a lot of cars sold in the USA are actually built in Canada, but are no longer available to Canadians who visit here.

The USA has its problems, but Canada is not the utopia that the socialists would try to make you believe that it is. I don't know anyone who migrated to Canada, but I have met hundreds of people who migrated from Canada to the USA.

Originally Posted by TopDogger

The USA has its problems, but Canada is not the utopia that the socialists would try to make you believe that it is. I don't know anyone who migrated to Canada, but I have met hundreds of people who migrated from Canada to the USA.

The US is in real trouble. We have a lower tax rate but at the same time are a welfare state that is funded by printing money and borrowing from China. It's not going to take long for the US to catch up to the PIIGS (Portugal,Ireland,Italy,Greece & Spain). Spain has just released data that they current deficit is 8% of GDP and worse than previously reported. The US deficit is 10% of GDP and no end in site. The crazy thing is that the payroll tax to fund social security was temporarily lowered last year by 2% and at the same time social security is bankrupt. How can you lower the social security tax and still pay the same benefits?


Canada is a different story. They have a lower population and vast natural resources making them a leading exporter of wheat,oil & gas, and metals. In the case of cars, they have a national VAT tax of 5% that's added to the provincial tax of 8%. So, that's a sale tax of 13% which makes goods more expensive.

So yeah the US is cheaper. But how long will it be before the dollars goes bust?

I live in Phoenix and almost 50% of the homes being purchased here are now bought by Canadians.

That's an amazing statistic - the kind of news that would make national headlines in a free country.