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Comment by rb808 | Hacker News Reader

Must be nice to live in a country where you can live without working, pay no taxes and still get free healthcare and university.

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The healthcare part is correct - you'll get that regardless of your working situation. But university is not free in the UK.

Also, if you go for long periods of not paying any "national insurance" (similar to social security) you can actually not receive the govenment pension on retirement.

Still, having the major stress removed of worrying about healthcare is reason enough to enjoy living in the UK over the US.

> But university is not free in the UK.

It is in Scotland.

Only for Scots or for EU citizens - English people have to pay(due to the fact that Scots willing to study in England have to pay for their universities, to it's reciprocal).

I think the requirement is "normally living in Scotland".

(I'm not 100% sure how this is enforced. It rather seems as though getting a cheap flat north of the border and declaring that as your normal residence for the duration of studies could be worthwhile if you can afford it...)

I originally thought this was based on N years of schooling in Scotland for some value of N but after a bit of searching it seems the "normally resident in Scotland" bit isn't really very well defined.

It's debatable whether it's very ethical to do what you suggested - though I don't imagine it's particularly common.

I mean it can't be all that it takes - as a student you need a place to stay at anyway, and renting a place could be far cheaper than paying tuition.

I imagine you'd need to be normally resident at the time you're applying to university, which is a bit more difficult for the average 17-18 year old busy with their final year of school.

The university would presumably also expect a Scotland-resident student to take Scottish exams at a Scottish school, which is a separate system to England, so even more hassle.

I don't know Scotland's rules, but other places I've lived usually required living in a place for 6 months or a year before starting your studies in order to be considered resident for tuition.

Perhaps. But then, it appears at least some of these people work (Luthier, sea taxi operator, etc.) and saying you _have_ to work your life away in drudgery because someone else decided those things were obligatory is a shame too.

Also, I would hardly describe running a croft as "not working".

What does that have to do with this article? It seems the only people not working are the retired ones, and even they are involved with making the community function.

Besides, even on Scoraig, people are paying tax, and probably at a high proportion of their small income. Everything bought from the mainland will charge VAT; fuel, alcohol and cigarettes brought to the island pay high duties; and I have no reason to believe they're not paying council tax either.

Yes, I think it would be. I sincerely hope I live to see this become widely possible.

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