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Comment by sneak | Hacker News Reader

> Professional athletes pay taxes to every state where they play a game.

The same is not true of businesspeople.

Programmers do not pay taxes to every state in which a hotel is situated in which they write a line of code.

Corporate salespeople do not pay taxes to every state that hosts a conference in which they close a deal.

CEOs do not pay taxes to every state that hosts an event at which they speak to the public and recruit a new staff member.

Perhaps the tax authorities expect them to, but in general this is simply not done, any more than your bartender is claiming their cash tips.

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Again Dunning Kruger is in full effect.

It is perfectly legal for tax authorities to demand taxes for EVERY ONE of your situations you mention. They usually give a certain leeway because it’s impossible to catch every instance but if you blatantly disregard the tax laws in the country where you are at, you are setting yourself up for legal troubles.

Just because you can do it because the authorities don’t pursue it doesn’t mean that you can do it. You are saying “do it because no one will catch you” is advocating for tax evasion. You can also commit murder and possibly get away with it, it doesn’t mean that you didn’t commit murder.

> You are saying “do it because

I didn’t tell anyone to do anything. Please stop claiming this, it is false.

You should re-read what your wrote. You are advocating for tax evasion by not paying the country where you are working and violating immigration laws by working under the pretense of a tourist visa.

https://sneak.berlin/20191201/american-communication/

I’ve re-read it literally six times since I posted it.

You are mistaken, and have taken your own assumptions about what I was intending to communicate or perhaps implying (such as the idea that I was referring to interstate or international travel) as literal fact about what I did actually say.

This is objectively an error.

I did not advocate nor instruct anyone to do anything.

You're giving off big hall monitor energy here.

You could live and work only in states without income tax and you wouldn't be doing anything illegal ;)

Most states also have a "state unemployment fund" or similar that all employers are required to pay into by law, usually run by a totally different organization than the income tax people ("department of business development" or such).

State income tax is not the only burden employers are expected to shoulder.

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