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Comment by csomar | Hacker News Reader

So by just being a digital nomad that makes money online you get access to a country that spent billions and maybe trillions of dollars building its infrastructure?

My opinion is that you are going to benefit from that, so here is what I think is a fair deal for digital nomads seeking to browse the USA:

Duration: 0.5-2 years. renewable after 5 years.

Cost: $5,000 for the visa + $600/month.

Work: No. But you can do consulting for accredited companies.

For that cost, I get access to a great infrastructure, culture, people, universities... I don't have to pay taxes, I just pay a monthly fee which is the equivalent of what I get.

Once I finish my tour, I just leave the country.

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If I were to visit a country, stay there for a few weeks or months, and write programs, I would be paying rent to a local landlord (which goes into the landlord's property tax), sales tax whenever I purchase anything, gas tax whenever I drive, and even income tax if I did consulting for a local firm. That's almost exactly the same as what ordinary citizens of my host country pay, and unlike them, I don't even get to vote (taxation without representation?) and I'm OK with that.

Now, why do I need to pay extra just because I hold a passport with a different color? Like everyone else in your country, I'm paying for my use of your infrastructure. Nobody's getting a free ride there.

And because you won the genetic lottery, you get to exclude access to a country that spent billions and maybe trillions of dollars building its infrastructure?

Doing off-shore contracting work while traveling can only ever be a net positive for a country. Money is repatriated from overseas and pumped into the local economy and no jobs are expatriated.

> no jobs are expatriated

Yes, but good luck convincing politicians and voters that one person doing paid work != another person whose job is now gone. As if the number of jobs was a zero-sum game.

I think you missed the point. The job will be performed whether the person is on the soil or not. It's next to completely irrelevant whether you accept someone or not - he'll do the job anyway with modern IT infrastructure.

That's obviously blatantly false, because we're still connecting to other people in real life, however it's a point where we're increasingly heading.

Well ok, I was just trying to provide some food for politicians

I think you missed the point. I'm clearly in agreement with both @samfoo and you.

and you gonna pay $5000 * number of countries that you visit? That's plain insane. Have you noticed how many countries are out there?

I'm fine with "pay taxes wherever you are" also given that you actually spend money on local economy by buying stuff there.

"Work: No." and "you can do consulting for accredited companies." are inconsistant.

Yes, hence the word 'but' between those two statements

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