FREEDOM SHIP - The World's First Self-Sustaining Mobile Community

[Klubmasta Will]

anybody have any info on this?

http://www.freedomship.com/index.html

apparently, it is legit enough to have been reported by reputable media.

the FREEDOM SHIP is a massive sea-going structure that will house its own full-time community while circling the globe. it is, essentially, a movable floating *country*.

despite denials on its website, it is obvious that one of the main goals of the Freedom Ship is to enable its super-rich community members to avoid paying income tax because they will no longer "reside" in any specific country.

the effects of this could be quite substantial. take away the taxes being paid by the richest 100,000 people (and corporations) in the world and the result could be quite noticeable.

other than that, though, i wonder what it would be like to live there? the cheapest residential units are under $1 million.

 

[deep]

snowcrash, anyone?

 

[Jeremy Jive]

I've scene episodes on this thing before. Somtimes on TLC some on CITY and other stations. It looks pretty cool but there has been some bad press too.

It looks all fine and dandy but they don't know how it will hold up in large waves. Large shipping vessels are made to bend and flex in the waves but they do not how this will react with its enormous size.

If I had the money to waste I would do it. Looks like fun.

jeremy -ships ahoy- jive

 

[Quirkz]

If a ship is not registered in any country it and everybody on it is not protected by any countries laws. I doubt the world's richest would be up for that.. Besides, rich people don't get/stay that way by hiding out.

 

[matty]

First big iceberg they hit this thing is going to be renamed atlantis.

Seems a little fishy to me.

 

[bucky]

a boat full of rich people... where's the pirates!!!!

 

[Klubmasta Will]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Quirkz:
If a ship is not registered in any country it and everybody on it is not protected by any countries laws. I doubt the world's richest would be up for that.. Besides, rich people don't get/stay that way by hiding out.</font>

according to their FAQ, the ship will be governed by the laws relating to international waters and whichever country's flag they are flying. (i assume that means they will change the flag depending on which major country is closest.)

as for "hiding out", they can legally *reside* on the ship and still spend the majority of their time in other countries. they can also continue to do business in those other countries (and their businesses will continue to be taxed at the corporate level). the difference is that those individuals will possibly be able to take money out of their corporations as salary which would ordinarily be taxed by the country in which they reside.

i'm sure there are dozens of other ways that rich people would be able to use this "residency" exception to avoid paying taxes while still maintaining their current level of international business.

 

[Cheeka]

is it real?
For a venture that is trying to attract highrollers they have a pretty terrible website!

great idea though... if it isn't real - maybe it should be!!

 

[Ditto Much]

A fake shell corporation on the isle of sark and a swiss bank account. In total this would cost you less than $5000 bucks to open / purchase. Why go see going when there are perfectly simple ways to do the exact same thing already?


The problem isn't avoiding the income tax. The problem is that the money needs to be laundered if the taxes weren't paid on it.

 

[Quirkz]

international law would work fine if there was a country to insist it was respected. It'd be like going to court without a lawyer..

 

[labRat]

i hear kevin costner is one of the first members to join.

 

[Klubmasta Will]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Ditto Much:
A fake shell corporation on the isle of sark and a swiss bank account.</font>

those things only allow you to hide where money comes from.

if you want to extract money from a corporation, the only ways to do it are through salary or dividends and most countries tax inviduals on those sources of income based on where you reside.

 

[Tonedeff]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Klubmasta Will:
according to their FAQ, the ship will be governed by the laws relating to international waters and whichever country's flag they are flying. (i assume that means they will change the flag depending on which major country is closest.)

</font>

Well my maritime law is a bit rusty (haha), but I'm pretty sure the way it works is that a vessel has to be registered to a specific country, and you can't just fly any old flag you wish.

But there are certain countries (eg. Liberia, Panama, Honduras) that are notorious for offering "flags of convenience," meaning they will approve your registration and turn a blind eye to the metric ton of heroin and prepubescent swedish boys stored in your hull, or whatever illegal activities you engage in.

If the ship is its own country, why can't they just register with themselves and fly their own flag?

 

[Illogistix]

Not the first exactly Will.....

I saw this on A&E biography about L. Ron Hubbard.

In the 1970's Scientologist's were being persecuted inside the U.S. pretty hardcore for some tax dodging-related shit. Eventually instead of fighting the courts, they fled the country.

So when their fearless leader, L. Ron Hubbard, decided to take matters into his own hands, he took all his highest representitives, and put them on a huge Ocean Liner.

They spent 3 years (not sure about the duration) on this vessel, just going about from one port to the next. Many countries (Germany) banned them from docking in their ports, and even threatened to fire on them attack them if they did.

It was even stranger on the boat. Aparently it was all about some hierarchial (Star Trek-esque) system, where each person had a "level-nomination." The Top level people lived on one deck, and had all the fun. And each successive lowel level, got stuck on lower deck's with all the chores and shit. They got pissed on, until they prayed enough to attain a "higher level" standing.

It was some fucked-up floating cult, until they decided to come back to the States. Now Scientology is viewed as a religion , and the Organization don't have to pay income taxes, and is worth billions of dollars.

All from a weird dude that used to write Science Fiction novels...

 

[Quirkz]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Ditto Much:
A fake shell corporation on the isle of sark and a swiss bank account. In total this would cost you less than $5000 bucks to open / purchase. Why go see going when there are perfectly simple ways to do the exact same thing already?
</font>

It costs a lot less the 5000$ to get an account/corporation in a tax haven. There's literaly hundreds of locations for tax havens, and they compete with each other, so the cost is quite low.

 

[lucky1]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Cheeka:
is it real?
For a venture that is trying to attract highrollers they have a pretty terrible website!

great idea though... if it isn't real - maybe it should be!!

</font>

A friend of mine showed me this site a while ago and we could never fully decide if its real or not. In the end we just laughed it off because of the quality of the Website.

 

[Cheeka]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by lucky1:
A friend of mine showed me this site a while ago and we could never fully decide if its real or not. In the end we just laughed it off because of the quality of the Website.</font>

I know!

Can you imagine spending a Mil on something from that site?? haha - what a piece of shite it is!!

 

[lucky1]

Seeing how they don't even have a real photograph of the ship on the page, I be a little weary of sending them any money.

 

[Balzz]

Why not just move to Monaco? *shrug*

 

[Ditto Much]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Quirkz:
It costs a lot less the 5000$ to get an account/corporation in a tax haven. There's literaly hundreds of locations for tax havens, and they compete with each other, so the cost is quite low.

</font>

Really I thought this was the easiest safest and cheapest route. If you could fire me any info on thisit would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
(oh yeah its just so I can point these out to my local MP's and have them made illegal to all the lefties out there. I would never dream of not paying &gt;%40 of my wages to society for use as they see fit)

 

[Soundstream]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Quirkz:
It costs a lot less the 5000$ to get an account/corporation in a tax haven. </font>

My dad told me last weekend that he got an anonymous off-shore account. He told me to do the same and he'd put money in there for birthdays and x-mas instead of us having to go through the hassle of buying and wrapping presents, LOL. He says he wants me to learn about foreign investment. He also doesn't like Canada's tax system.

Cheers ... Ian

 

[Klubmasta Will]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by lucky1:
Seeing how they don't even have a real photograph of the ship on the page, I be a little weary of sending them any money.</font>

*lol* it's not like anyone's going to just mail them a $1 million cheque with a cover letter saying "hey, mail me my keys when the construction's done!"

obviously anyone seriously considering investing in this venture will do quite a bit of due diligence beforehand.

upon further review of that site (which is a crappy site but they admit they are doing website "renovations"), it seems there are residential units that are quite a bit cheaper than $1 million, especially if you don't need a window facing the water.

 

[lucky1]

THe websit looks like it was made five years ago. "Websit Renovations" lol badly needed. Pastel colours are so early 90's.

 

[kodos]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by deep:
snowcrash, anyone?</font>

bang on

next meme, please!

 

[LoopeD]

It's supposed route:

Looks like a disaster waiting to happen - apparently condos start at 140,000 U.S. or something like that.........

d