Comment by miscreanity | Hacker News Reader

Comment by miscreanity | Hacker News Reader

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Yes, and the bar has been raised[1] in recent years. When high net worth individuals start to leave, it's good to question the reason since they typically have more flexibility than lower-income earners who might do the same if they had greater financial means. The high bar acts to prevent foolish decisions at best, and at worst serves to forcibly imprison the most vulnerable of the populace - it is akin to vendor lock-in of the worst kind.

As for my own opinion, Trump's actions have improved the situation somewhat but perhaps only temporarily. The reporting requirements remain onerous, as the IRS effectively intrudes into every aspect of your life through financial inspection - it is an absolute violation of everyone's humanity and rights, regardless of income level.

The United States had no income tax or reporting requirements for over a third of its existence and experienced growth; now that the tide has shifted, the US tax requirements would be causing a much greater exodus if it weren't for the fact that there are not currently many places worldwide in a better position.

[1] https://www.forbes.com/sites/robertwood/2015/10/23/u-s-has-w...

> The United States had no income tax or reporting requirements for over a third of its existence and experienced growth; now that the tide has shifted, the US tax requirements would be causing a much greater exodus if it weren't for the fact that there are not currently many places worldwide in a better position.

I believe that the initial taxation was for import/export, but that's also a time when the social welfare state didn't exist. Though the first income taxes came along to pay for war - I guess all the United States needs to do is stop being in the business of war and the income tax could go away. Any day now.

> Though the first income taxes came along to pay for war - I guess all the United States needs to do is stop being in the business of war and the income tax could go away.

The first income tax came to pay for the Civil War; I don't think the US is going to give up on maintaining it's territorial integrity, even if it gave up on foreign wars.

Absolutely true. Though I'd argue at this point that the only way the United States would face a war that could be fought conventionally internally, it would be by a foe that's using the resource of the United States Army, as I don't believe there'd be another other viable option. We're a little far away from when every man had equivalent firepower to a member of the United States forces in their closet.

It would also seem to be a very hard line to draw in regards to "preventing external threats". An argument could be made that that's exact what's happening right now, and that it's aggressive posture and presence around the world is solely in self defense, so really, the industry of war probably can't ever stop, and neither can the income tax.

> Though I'd argue at this point that the only way the United States would face a war that could be fought conventionally internally, it would be by a foe that's using the resource of the United States Army, as I don't believe there'd be another other viable option

That's true because of the income tax derived funds lavished on the US Army (and other branches.)

Were that to stop—which abandoning the income tax without a similar scale replacement would likely require—other options would rapidly open up.

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