Why tax-havenry is the killer app (was Halo from orbit -- bandwidth

> If the orbital society sets itself up as a tax haven, and as you
> argue imposes no income tax or capital gains tax, then how does
> it benefit from establishing itself as a tax haven?

It attracts these guys to set up permanent-residency:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_billionaires_%282008%29

It also attracts the middle-class, and the better-paid of the
skills-class, because the savings from the lack of an income tax
offset the higher living-expenses.

Aside from attracting productive residents, it creates a
comparative advantage...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparative_advantage

...over tax-nations by decriminalizing the production of value.
It is not an intrinsic comparative-advantage for orbital
nations, since any nation can go tax-free...
http://www.google.com/search?q=cia+monaco+tax

""""""
The state has no income tax and low business
taxes and thrives as a tax haven
""""""

...but as long as most Earth-nations remain tax-nations, the
comparative-advantage exists.

Income for the state can be derived by leasing space. The more
space one takes up, the more he pays. If one wishes to pay less
of this "tax", all he need do is take up less space. Even in
that case, one would still be free to produce as much value as
he liked, with no risk of the criminal penalties (tax
liabilities) that would be invoked for such an "offense" by
typical Earth-nations.

Additionally, there are some efficiencies involved in zero
income/capital-gains/business taxation:

* no "tax shelter" games (SUV purchases for write-offs, etc.)
* no Certified Public Accountants
* no personal-time wasted "doing taxes"
* no administration (IRS) costs
* no "non-profit" (501c3, etc.) market-distorting corporations