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Perpetual Tourism - a life of individual sovereignty

by jfrater

The term perpetual traveler (PT, permanent tourist or prior taxpayer) refers to both a lifestyle and a philosophy.

Background

Sports Travel1

In practical terms, perpetual travelers are people who live in such a way that they are not considered a legal resident of any of the countries in which they spend time. In this way, they seek to avoid the legal obligations which may accompany residency, such as taxes, jury duty, and military service. For example, while PT’s may hold citizenship in one or more countries that impose taxes based solely on residency, their legal residence will most likely be in a tax haven. They may spend the majority of their time in other countries, never staying long enough to be considered a resident.

Rationale

Money Pounds

Some PT’s are wealthy individuals whose primary motivation is tax avoidance. It is possible for a non-national to live for several months, and in some cases even own property, in many countries without paying income tax. For example most European countries allow tourists to spend up to three months (and in some cases six months) in the country without being considered a resident or being required to file a local tax return. Similarly, one can spend up to 122 days each year in the United States without being considered a resident or being required to file a US tax return, as long as one is not a citizen. By moving between such countries on a regular basis, individuals may be able to legally reduce or eliminate their tax burden.

Other PT’s and itinerants may adopt this lifestyle for primarily self-ownership reasons, seeking to be free from government authority, interference and “The System”.

Five Flag Theory

Tax-Havens-Map-By-Ianiv-Wainberg

Perpetual travelers may attempt to organize their affairs around the “Five Flags” theory, arranging for different facets of their lives to fall under the jurisdiction of separate countries, or flags. This is an extension of W.G. Hill’s original “Three Flags” approach.

Whether to minimize governmental interference (via taxes or otherwise), or to maximize privacy, the theory proposes that you arrange for each of the following to be in a separate country:

1. Passport and Citizenship - in a country that does not tax money earned outside the country
2. Legal Residence - in a tax haven
3. Business Base - where you earn your money, ideally somewhere with low Corporate tax rates
4. Asset Haven - where you keep your money, ideally somewhere with low taxation of savings interest and capital gains
5. Playgrounds - where you spend your money, ideally somewhere with low consumption tax and VAT

Philosophy

Statue-Of-Liberty-2

On the surface, perpetual tourists have some things in common with world citizens, in that they see themselves as untethered to any one nation. However, PT’s generally seem to eschew the humanistic and utopian overtones of world citizenship. Many PT’s align themselves closely with the libertarian school of thought, which advocates individual sovereignty - sovereignty vested in the individual rather than in nation-states.

This article is licensed under the GFDL because it contains quotations from the Wikipedia article: Perpetual Tourist.

2 comments

1 Cyn { 03.27.08 at 7:25 pm }

i like this new WP theme. and am intrigued by this concept. wish it were something i could try. eh…..

2 【转】从地球蒸发的十种方法 | 麦子程的自流地。 { 03.31.08 at 10:33 pm }

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