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Comment by ghaff | Hacker News Reader

You've sort of identified the problem. Services/taxes/laws/etc. differ from one province/state to the other. So it actually matters where you're a resident (and where you're physically employed--if you are at a fixed office). I guess the alternative would be to have some sort of country-level no fixed residence/federal district status but I can't imagine a lot of demand for it (at least among those who have to political capital to push for such a thing) and I can imagine a lot of abuse if the terms were favorable. (ADDED: And people would just continue to fake things if they were't.)

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Another way of looking at it is that tying taxes and other services to the notion of "residency" is outdated. Where I am, we pay income tax based on our province of residence, so if you work out of province (and many do in border areas) you still pay income tax where you claim your residence is. Maybe this should be simplified so that some other factor defines tax jurisdiction... likewise with drivers licensing, why can't I "buy in" to the licensing system of some jurisdiction. Same with healthcare if it's covered.

I certainly imagine there are lots of flaws in my ideas, but it would be nice to see steps away from the assumption that each of us has a long term residence we can get mail at. Just like you used to need to provide a "home telephone", it's becoming less valid of an assumption.

Like you say though, its probably not high enough on many peoples agendas, and is threatening enough to tax revenues (it would mean competition if nothing else) that it's unlikely to happen

Actually paying income taxes where you live kinda makes sense, since those taxes are used mostly for local services and such. Alternative is to merge provinces and just have one national level system.

And different state populations have different overall philosophies about how much and how they tax, the types and levels of services they provide, etc. In the US, eliminating state taxation authority is effectively taking a lot or power away from states and giving it to the federal government which... isn't happening. Certainly not short of constitutional amendment(s).

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