Posted on 02/06/2015 7:15:20 AM PST by cll
PALMAS DEL MAR, Puerto Rico (AP) -- Bond trader Ben Eiler swapped life in suburban Georgia for an island in the Caribbean, and he didn't even have to apply for a visa.
The towering 38-year-old native of Arkansas is one of at least 250 people who've accepted Puerto Rico's invitation to well-heeled U.S. citizens to move to the island and enjoy life without taxes on capital gains, an enticing offer for those whose income is derived from investments.
Eiler lives in a gated community on Puerto Rico's southeastern shore, making a commute of less than 5 minutes from house to office across manicured greens, with an expansive ocean view.
"Driving to work in your flip-flops and golf cart is not bad," he says with a quick laugh.
This semi-autonomous U.S. territory sets its own tax policy, and its residents pay no federal tax on income derived locally. Mired in a recession for almost a decade and with an unemployment rate stuck above 13 percent, more than double the U.S. rate overall, it decided in 2012 to try to lure wealthy investors who would be likely to buy expensive real estate, establish businesses and create jobs.
Act 22, the legislation that set up the program, exempts people from taxes on any capital gains accrued after they move and it provides an exemption from local taxes on dividends and interests if they take up permanent residence, among other conditions. A government brochure sums it up as "Sun, Sand and Zero Taxes."
"Frankly, for Americans, it's sort of an unprecedented thing," said Alex Daley, a technology investment strategist who moved from Vermont with his wife in December 2013.
(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...
Yeah, one can see the advantages.
A Russian defector observed years ago: “Socialists HATE Capitalism, but LOVE capital”.
Would I get to take my gun collection? Including Class 3 items?
Lou, PR is teeming with CHUPACABRAS. For your own safety, you had better be well armed at all times. Do beware of the RPG backblast, though.
No on class III, all other guns must be registered. Overall, a VERY restrictive, not firearms friendly. Think Kalifornia but worse.
Just to make sure that every body is aware; sounds great, no taxes, live a life of leisure as a rich man in a poor nation.
Just wait until the SHTF, then the wolves that surround you will come in packs that you cannot defeat, they will devour you.
Puerto Rico is also an ObamaCare free zone.
Puerto Rico is still the United States. If it gets bad there, just fly back to the mainland.
Poor nation? Puerto Rico is a territory of the United States.
Not sure how the whole tax one citizen but not another is allowed to occur, unless it isn’t referring to fed taxes and only local.
Played winter baseball there in the early 70’s. Visited on a cruise in the mid-90’s. What a hell-hole it had become in that time! Never go back. Any future cruise that docks there, I will stay on the boat.
Ah well, wherever you cruise in this old world, it seems that wherever ships dock, you're cruisin' for a bruisin'!
I am aware of that, just using it as an example. Kind of like wealthy US citizens purchasing palatial homes in Mexico, every thing is great until the Mexican government decides they want the land for some other use.
They will tell you that the house is yours of course; but the land under it is theirs, NOW MOVE THE HOUSE.
While Puerto Ricans do not pay U.S. income taxes, except for Social Security and Medicare, they do pay the equivalent of state income taxes. The highest bracket, for those with incomes above $62,000, is 33 percent.
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