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Comment by blensor | Hacker News Reader

Except that developers from countries that earn on average less than their US counterparts have an incentive to work for a US company remotely but a developer from the US does not have many incentives to work for less for a company abroad

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The politicians will fight back with work visas and limits etc. protecting domestic work forces should be a primary concern for politicians.

Advancing the interests of all citizens, not just protecting the outsized benefits of one group, should be the primary concern for politicians. Think of how much boring process automation software could be written for so many businesses, if development were cheaper.

This was the logic used for outsourcing manufacturing. Now we American consumers can get as many low-quality plastic toys as we want at bargain basement prices and throw away perfectly functional electronic devices every few years in order to get newer, shiner ones. The cost was cutting a swath of destruction across hundreds of formerly vibrant towns across the middle of the country, which are now home mainly to hopelessness and drug addiction. I'm not sure the trade-off was worth it.

It is not in the interest of american people to make goods and services consumed by americans more expensive.

See: Tariffs, Mercantilism, Imports.

Visas and similar restrictions are not a factor for remote work.

Yes, they are. Having an LLC based in Texas, trying to hiring a remote employee in NYC. I have to comply with all local NYC laws and taxes. Luckily it's a developer. If it was a sales person, it could make the whole company liable for income tax in New York state.

Even worse when you talk international. An Amazon USA based employee is forbidden from working remotely in India, because of all the legal issues it would cause for Amazon USA.

It's a very complicated issue, in which each individual government is fighting to get a slice of the tax pie. Reference article: https://therealdeal.com/2021/05/07/ny-tax-officials-crack-do...

Why don't you hire them as a contractor?

Not everyone wants to work as a contractor. It also limits the amount of control you have over their output. It also is not a complete failsafe, as the state can say you treated them like an employee, thus they are an employee.

What does any of that have to do with visas?

There's many other companies abroad capable of offering compensations that can compete with the US.

Anecdotal, but plenty of contacts who would have never accepted an on-site position in UAE, Hong Kong, Germany (for reasons ranging from personal, political, or just sheer affordability), and are now contracting as individuals at companies based in such regions, for substantially above the Bay Area average for their experience.

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