🇵🇹 Portugal is calling

Wanna know what happens when rich people from your country leave your nation and settle in another country?

The Problem...

There is been a slight buzz around the global economy that the High Networth Individuals (HNI) across India (even across the world) are moving toward other friendly nations.

That’s because, unfortunately, there is over imposition of taxes in India and every tax in India is going up and a lot of taxes will continue to go up. This creates a ruckus for High Networth Individuals who will be forced to pay huge taxes. Hence a lot of HNIs are migrating to other countries such as Estonia, and Portugal and apparently these nations are opening up their borders to rich people and they have no problems in terms of embracing these people, in fact, Middle Eastern countries are welcoming a lot of rich Indians.

But why particularly Portugal?

Portugal is still recovering from the 2008 Financial Crisis and has a rapidly shrinking population with a huge brain drain. In 2021, Portugal recorded the largest population decrease in the last 50 years. It is in dire need of foreigners to live, work and spend money there to recover. That's why the Portuguese government is looking to attract high-tech remote workers with favourable benefits through the so-called NHR program.

(Source: Rebase)

And to boost more attraction towards Portugal, the government has announced exciting and exclusive perks such as -

• 0% tax on all foreign-sourced income.

• 0% tax on crypto - All cryptos are considered normal currency and capital gains derived from spot transactions are not taxed.

• Foreign-sourced dividends are 0% taxed

• 0% wealth tax. Most Euro nations levy a heavy wealth tax if the threshold wealth limit exceeds but not Portugal.

• After 5 years of living in Portugal, you can apply for Permanent Residence (PR) in Portugal. This is much faster as other Euro nations take 10 to 15 years. Once you get the PR, you can apply for Portuguese citizenship and this is the best part - Portugal passport is the third most loved passport in the world with visa-free access to 160 countries.

• Foreigners can have 100% land ownership and real estate.

• And much more like - Fluent English speakers, Fastest growing in the EU community, Friendly-people, Remote work friendly.

Why this is gonna be a big problem?

So if High Networth Individuals (HNI) are gonna exit from their home countries, it is gonna create huge problems for their respective nations.

Why so?

For instance, if Ambani or the Tatas or Adani decide to leave India and settle in Portugal considering the fact that they need not pay that much tax in Portugal; India will miss a lot on their Treasury and it can create a huge dent in the economic growth of India. Worst case scenarios - it might even lead to hyperinflation like the one in Zimbabwe or recent Sri Lanka going bankrupt.

Additional info: Bangladesh, which beat India in 2020 in the per capita gross national income which means an average Bangladeshi earns more than an Indian, has approached the IMF (International Monetary Fund) for loans. To set some context about IMF - IMF financing is meant to help member countries tackle the balance of payments problems, stabilize their economies, and restore sustainable economic growth.

If that is gonna be the case for Bangladesh, then think about India and when HNIs of India leave their native and settle in a place where they find low or zero taxes.