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Tax-Free Storage Wars
- gowld 8y agoTL;DR: overcomplicated international tax laws lead to deadweight loss for non-productive work in the tax avoidance "industry". Municipalities grant property tax exemptions so that local politicians can hobnob with billionaires.
- schoen 8y agoI think your summary misses a main point of this article. Entrepreneurs set up a very high-security art warehouse in Harlem (New York) with a main selling point that it enjoys a formal exemption from Federal import taxes on fine art. However, no such taxes exist in the U.S. The author believes that the tax exemption provides a kind of cachet for the warehouse even though there is no practical benefit, and that customers may not even realize that they don't get any financial benefit from storing artworks there.
- dsfyu404ed 8y agoRelevant xkcd https://xkcd.com/641/ https://xkcd.com/641/
- bmpafa 8y agoThis reminds me of something I read once about pain reliever marketing. 'no other pain reliever acts faster' == 'they all act exactly the same speed' Lies, damn lies, damn damn lies, and marketing.
- maxxxxx 8y agoIt's like duty free stuff that you can often buy cheaper at the store even considering taxes and duties.
- homero 8y agoPeople with that kind of money just believed him? Surely they have accountants that plan this stuff for them.
- lathiat 8y agoThe article does however make one concession which is that while art is duty free, other items such as antiques (e.g. a lamp or desk) are not unless they are over 100 years old. So there is some possible use still. But largely it's a status symbol for the high security storage location.
- mxuribe 8y agoAs impressive as digital hackers might be at wielding systems with their mastery over tech dark magic...that pales in comparison to the impact that of the hackers who hack legislation and tax avoidance. I'm constantly astonished (and often saddened) by stories such as these relevant to the 1%-ers.
- hkmurakami 8y agoimpact is just leverage. Leverage is not just financial.
- extra88 8y agoPlanet Money did a show about freeports and art storage. https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2018/02/09/584555705/episode-823-planet-monet https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2018/02/09/584555705/epis...