I have not traveled enough that is correct, Army sent me to sh*tholes of Central America, Columbia, and on my own to old USSR several times, and Uncle left me a small house in Switzerland-been there, London for medical few times. I have much to explore in near future. If Hillary gets in, she scares to petunias out of me. Hey, if you have traveled about, is it better to contact a college student where you going for a guide/language or what?
Switzerland will allow a second citizenship, but to be elegible for the START of the procedure you will have to have lived there for 12 years (10 years in the very same community). Then the procedure will take another 3 years (including visits in your very home). After that your application will be presented to the citizens of your community, who will accept you --- or not! Swiss democracy! Very few exceptions from this for noted scientists, university teachers etc - but not celebrities.
During those 15 years you -like any other foreign resident- are not be permitted to leave the country for stays longer than 6 months with out special permission. If you do so, you risk not only a possible citizenship but also your residency permit.
This sums it up nicely for Switzerland - exept he didn`t mention the additional taxlike requirement for social security and health insurance: The first will be some 9.7 percent of your income, the latter some 500 USD per person and month. So as said above: .....upwards of a million or so every year...
It is funny how many people post here without even knowing what they are speaking about. The way Hittfeld shows what the difference is between reality and information on internet is shocking. After his posting I think it is clear that things are not that easy. I also wonder how many of all the people that post here make enough money to consider moving? 1%? Probably even less. This thread is only good for amusement and to kill time.
There are more to life then taxes. Some people like paved roads, clean air, not to get shot at, things like that....
Ask people: who wants to pay 50% taxes or more for "paved roads, clean air, not to get shot at, things like that...."? On top of that you pay in most European countries around 20% VAT (value added tax) on all you buy. On fuel you even pay 75% taxes. So in total you pay around 70% taxes. The roads should be paved with gold then. We are lucky that we pay no tax for "not to get shot at", that's an American tax mainly. Nobody will want to pay so much. If you pay more than 70% there is not much room anymore for "the other things in life".
If you call military service traveling then you have a lot to learn! "When in Rome do as the Romans do" and thus the Mark Twain quote "Travel is fatal to prejudice and narrow mindedness."
Most normal people or most Europeans? Ask them how much they pay for a serious illness and 3 weeks stay in a hospital? Would you want to live in China just because the tax is much cheaper there? I guess you might say yes if you buy the new Tesla with the special bioweapon grade airfilter in it. How about living in certain Latin American countries? Would you live there for low taxes? You might say yes, just first you hire 3 bodyguards and that cost might increase your personal living expenses. The point is there are way more things to life than just taxes when one considers where one should live... Here educate yourself of the lowest income tax states in the US and see why they are like that: http://www.kiplinger.com/slideshow/taxes/T054-S001-most-tax-friendly-states-in-the-u-s/index.html "Before you start packing up your U-Haul, though, consider the trade-offs. Some states that have aggressively cut taxes have come under fire for cuts in social services, roads and education. You may be willing to pay above-average property taxes in exchange for excellent schools."
Well, I am more confused than most here about tax haha! I just started trading some stock this year and I have a broker in the US. I wired money into their account and commissions come out of that. I am thinking next year I may have to print out all the tax related documents and reports I can find on the broker website and take them to the local Tax office and ask their kind help in filling out the tax returns. I can report back how it goes by then! Until then I am kind of unsure on how much tax I will have to pay or whether anything is deductible such as losses or commissions? Sorry to be of little help. I do not speak Chinese well so I would not consider a local broker. I always have some degree of surprise or shock as well at how business is done here, so I would probably stay away from local brokers even if language was not a barrier.