For most successful traders I bet it is. If you have money even a quasi shitty place can be good too. And they can afford to travel, for vacation. If it were true what you are saying we would be seeing expat traders all over the world... Let's face it, this whole issue is in the interest of a very small % of traders...
I agree that, since capitalisim is a kind of zero-sum game, the amount from lowering tax is exactly same as your increased income (disposable income after tax).
I'm a full time trader since 2001 and in 2011 I moved from Norway to Latvia. The main reason is because of my Latvian girlfriend, but other considerations were lower taxes and substantial lower living costs (about 1/3 of Norways). Besides, Latvia is just a cheap 90 mins flight away from friends and familiy. I'm very happy I made this choice. Latvia is very poor compared to Norway, but I still enjoy it. Nice experience to live abroad. Right now it seems unlikely I will move back. If you have the chance, go for it!
[pasternak] It will be helpful in this forum, if you can compare the tax system (difference) for the two countries. Specially security tax.
Security tax? You mean social taxes? This is a complex question. All I can say is that my tax burden in Norway was about 28% and 1.1% tax on my wealth/assets. Latvia is between 5 to 15% and no wealth taxes. But you get what you pay for: healthcare system is worse, roads are worse etc. But I'm fine with that.
It might be possible, although I never been in the two countries before, that Norway has hugh sales tax so that the tax is accumulated for your old retirement. Therefore you may not be losing in the long run. What I was asking was / How much brokerage/tax for trading sucurity/future in two countries? Almost same as UK or US? How about Latvia? Some country has bigger trading expense (brokerage+tax) than others. Also some country has NO capital gain tax for the portion in his security/future profit.
VAT 21% in Latvia and 25% in Norway. There is no connection between that and pension, for example. Pension is based on your contribution in social taxes. I have taken a choice and decided to save to my retirement on my own. Actually,I have already done it. Capital gains tax is now 27% in Norway and 15% in Latvia. In Latvia it's easier to do tax planning and can get down to 5-10%.
Cool. Especially is VERY IMPORTANT. Do not depend on the national pension, as you see the bad case in Greece. I am happy to see same person who save retirement ON MY OWN. The same is true for myself too. IMHO Stock market is good for this OWN RETIREMENT.
There are CapGainTax-free countries, for example, HongKong and South Korea, at least. But there is trading tax, as soon as you buy or sell, in addition to brokerage. Usually it is 0.3% tax rate so that with initial cash of 10K, for example, you should pay 240*$3 to GOVERNMENT per year, if you buy and sell ONCE every day. Therfore, in every year you pay $720 (72%=3/4) out of every 10K, no matter you make profit or loss, in each year. In this case of ONE TRADING everyday, most trader pay MORE TAX than CapGain Tax like US. Can you make yearly profit of annual (before-tax) 72% EVERY YEAR? If so, your (after-tax) profit will be zero. Also there is brokerage too. ********************************************** There is NO FREE LUNCH. Someone prefer CapGainTax like US while someone prefer HK/Korea, depending his trading logic(How Often He trade). Suppose your (before-tax) profit curve shows annual > 72%, such as 92%, then your (after-tax) profit of annual 92-72=20% WILL NOT BE TAXED for CapGain. After you show annual 92%, then you can fly. Before that, you will lose MORE if you fly.