Belize, the next Silicon Valley?
I've been a proponent of Belize as a corporate tax haven for a while, due to the fact that you pay no taxes on foreign income, but it wasn't until recently that I started looking at it for residence. What I found was the following (all figures are in USD):
Imagine this, you and 2 other people want to start a tech company. In any of the big tech hubs in the US, you're looking at spending at least $30k/yr per person (I'm being very conservative here), and you'll generally be living in at tiny apartment and eating ramen. In addition, you'll be taxed out the ass.
Now imagine the same thing in Belize. You can get a 2br house in most areas for $250/mo at most, you'll spend between $100-200/mo on food (really depends on how much you eat and how good you are at shopping around), you'll spend about $100/mo for a decent DSL connection, and you'll spend approximately $1500 on tourist visas, a work permit, and getting residency. All of this adds up to living comfortably for $7500/yr (assuming about $150/mo on food) per person.
Now, if these same 3 founders were to get a nice sized 4br house together for $550/mo (which is easily doable) and upgrade the DSL a bit to compensate ($150/mo), you're looking at $6100/yr per person.
Regardless of which option you were to go with, one thing is abundantly clear: a group of founders with $50k in the bank can easily live comfortably for 2 years in Belize with no outside income. This combined with the complete lack of taxes on foreign income makes it a perfect location for tech companies.
- Personal income tax is capped at 25% and doesn't apply to dividends from companies (meaning you can pay nothing if you start an IBC (international business company) and funnel your money through that), and there's no capital gains tax.
- Property taxes are approx 1% of the value of the undeveloped land, when outside cities, and extraordinarily low even in cities.
- Land, developed and not, is incredibly cheap. You can pick up a nice house inland for US$20k, and you can buy undeveloped industrial land for $1-5k/acre, depending on location.
- 3-4 bedroom houses can be rented for $250-500/mo, depending on location.
- Immigrating to Belize is as simple as flying down there, getting a tourist visa, and then applying for residency after 6 months. Citizenship can be applied for after 5 years. It really comes down to this: if you want to move there, you simply have to pay for it, and you don't have to pay much.
Imagine this, you and 2 other people want to start a tech company. In any of the big tech hubs in the US, you're looking at spending at least $30k/yr per person (I'm being very conservative here), and you'll generally be living in at tiny apartment and eating ramen. In addition, you'll be taxed out the ass.
Now imagine the same thing in Belize. You can get a 2br house in most areas for $250/mo at most, you'll spend between $100-200/mo on food (really depends on how much you eat and how good you are at shopping around), you'll spend about $100/mo for a decent DSL connection, and you'll spend approximately $1500 on tourist visas, a work permit, and getting residency. All of this adds up to living comfortably for $7500/yr (assuming about $150/mo on food) per person.
Now, if these same 3 founders were to get a nice sized 4br house together for $550/mo (which is easily doable) and upgrade the DSL a bit to compensate ($150/mo), you're looking at $6100/yr per person.
Regardless of which option you were to go with, one thing is abundantly clear: a group of founders with $50k in the bank can easily live comfortably for 2 years in Belize with no outside income. This combined with the complete lack of taxes on foreign income makes it a perfect location for tech companies.