Death and taxes.

They say two things in life are certainties: death and taxes. I disagree—because paying zero tax forever is easier than you might think.

All the details in today’s letter →

📖 ESTIMATED READ TIME: 5 minutes 40 seconds

Gods and grapes.

Among the rolling hills of ancient Greece, where olive trees whispered secrets to the wind and the sun cast golden hues over sprawling vineyards, lived a wise and wealthy man named Xanthippus. His estate, nestled in the fertile plains of Attica, was renowned for its bountiful vineyards.

Commoners and nobles alike coveted the wines produced on Xanthippus’ land, resulting in a booming trade that filled his coin purse to bursting. Yet, with great prosperity came the ever-looming shadow of taxation, a heavy burden that threatened to siphon away his hard-earned wealth.

Land taxes in ancient Greece were a significant obligation for property owners. The more abundant the land, the greater the tax—a policy that weighed heavily on Xanthippus, as his success made him a prime target for Athenian tax collectors. Year after year, he watched a substantial portion of his wealth whisked away to fill the state's coffers. Determined to preserve his hard-earned riches, Xanthippus sought a lawful means to mitigate this relentless financial drain.

One evening, inspiration struck as he strolled through his vineyards under a canopy of stars. The Greeks held their gods in the highest reverence, and land dedicated to a deity was deemed sacred and—also crucially—exempt from taxation. Such land was considered the property of the divine, beyond the reach of mortal governance. Seizing upon this tradition, Xanthippus devised an ingenious plan: he would dedicate his entire vineyard to Apollo, the god of the sun, music, and prophecy.

He commissioned the construction of a resplendent temple at the heart of his land, complete with a gleaming statue of Apollo and altars for offerings. Priests were appointed to conduct regular ceremonies, and the land was opened to pilgrims seeking the god's favour. By intertwining his property with religious devotion, Xanthippus altered its status in the eyes of the law.

Tax collectors of Athens, bound by the laws and fearful of offending Apollo—a deity capable of great blessings and terrible curses—could not levy taxes on the newly consecrated vineyards.

Xanthippus’s move did not go unnoticed. Word of his ingenuity spread, inspiring other landowners to consider similar dedications. Soon, the practice of dedicating property to gods became a quasi-religious tax loophole. Aristocrats dedicated entire estates, temples, and groves to the gods, effectively creating tax-free zones under divine protection. The tax collectors of Athens were increasingly stymied, forced to acknowledge these dedications lest they anger the gods and face the wrath of the pious citizens who fervently believed in honouring divine will.

Xanthippus’s story reflects an ancient truth: tax codes are never as ironclad as they seem. It also reminds us that where there is taxation, there will always be innovation to avoid it.

Getting to zero.

Today’s topic of discussion is simple: how to not pay tax again. Ever.

We live in the highest taxed time in human history, something I’ve spoken about many times before here in this newsletter.

If you live in Europe, North America, or even Australia, chances are you’re sending half of every dollar, Euro, koruna, złoty, or lev you make to your government in taxes.

Sometimes, even more.

Consider me: My base tax level in Iceland is 46.25 percent, but with additional taxes like VAT, road taxes, and import duties, I pay about 70 percent tax to the Icelandic state.

In simple terms? I work from January to the middle of September to pay the government, and it’s only what I make from the third week of September until the end of the year that’s mine to keep in my own pocket.

Iceland isn’t unique in this. All the other Nordic nations, as well as Belgium, Israel, Japan, and many others have real tax levels (when factoring in sales tax and other taxes) that hover between the 60 to 70 percent mark.

Regardless of how good the quality of life is in your home country, there’s no valid argument that paying half your earnings to the state is okay.

It’s diabolical.

It’s legal modern-day enslavement.

Things may have changed considerably since the time of Xanthippus. Still, one thing has remained the same: even in our modern world of digital transactions, strict reporting, and ‘Know Your Customer’ laws, paying very little or no tax is not only possible, but easier to achieve than you might think.

And it won’t require dedicating all your assets to a Greek god, either.

The only main caveat? You can’t be an employee in order to achieve zero tax.

If you’re employed by someone else, the avenues to reduce what you have to pay to the state are almost non-existent. This is because, by default, your taxes will usually be taken from your paycheck and sent to the government before it ever hits your bank account.

With that aside, this is the simple formula to paying zero taxes forever:

STEP 1 → OFF-SHORE YOUR BUSINESS: Incorporate your business in a nation with no corporate tax, or where companies don’t pay tax if owned by a foreigner or non-resident. Somewhere like Bahrain, Vanuatu, or the British Virgin Islands, just to name a few of the available options.

STEP 2 → IMPLEMENT LOCAL MANAGEMENT: This is the key step to getting your taxes to zero. There’s a lot of terrible information out there (primarily from passport bros on X) saying stuff like “Bro, all you gotta do is set up a company in Latin America for zero taxes!” Unfortunately, it’s not that simple. If you own an off-shore company and still primarily operate it from the country you live in, your home nation could still make you liable for corporate taxes where you live. And they will. The key is not to manage the day-to-day operations of the company yourself, which can be handled by local staff and a CEO in the jurisdiction your off-shore company exists in. You’ll still be on the board of the company (which the CEO must answer to) and can still remain the sole shareholder; in other words, you still have full control of your own company. However, you need to prove the company has “local” management, and isn’t being primarily operated by you in the country you live in.

STEP 3 → ZERO TAXES: Done the above? Enjoy the rest of your life without ever having to give taxes to your government—or any government—ever again.

There is one more caveat to this three-step process: it doesn’t work the same for citizens of the United States.

Apart from very specific fringe examples (like Eritrea’s diaspora tax, and Myanmar’s tax on citizens who earn a salary in another nation), the United States is effectively the only nation on Earth that enforces citizenship-based taxation. Meaning that even if you don’t live there, you still owe taxes to greedy Uncle Sam.

There are ways to mitigate taxes even as an American; however, it’s a little more complicated than the three-step scenario I described above.

But this is just the cliff notes version.

There are, of course, nuances and other considerations to doing this legally, depending on the business you’re in, the nation you live in, and so on.

I’ll be sharing more about those nuances in an online community that every reader of this newsletter will be able to use from next week.

And it costs nothing.

Stay tuned for all the details next Sunday.

Written by Leon Hill.
Founder, Anticitizen.

This newsletter is for educational purposes, and is not financial advice. Please do your own research, and consider risks involved with investing or purchasing any asset.