Here are a few photos from the Tweak Town Computex party. Tweak Town is a TTZ Media affiliate and is owned by my friend Cam Wilmont. Cam moved to Taipei about a year and half ago and has been living here ever since.
Originally from Australia, Cam wanted a change of pace and decided to run Tweak Town from Taipei to be closer to his hardware sponsors. As an Australian citizen, Cam is able to enter Taipei Visa exempt for 30 days. How has he managed to stay in Taipei for 1.5 years? Every 30 days Cam would fly to the nearest Visa exempt city, which is Hong Kong, spends a day there, and then fly back to Taipei for another 30 days of Visa free stay. He has since found other ways to stay longer.
The tax situation is extremely interesting. Like Canada, Australia taxes its citizens based on residency – if you don’t live in the country, you are not subject to income tax. As far as Taiwan is concern, Cam is just a visitor and therefore not subject to income tax either.
Cam is not the only person I know who is using the power of the Internet to stick it to the tax man. My friend Carl runs his sites from Hong Kong. He has a little better deal than Cam when it comes to Visa entry. Hong Kong allows Canadians to stay 90 days without a Visa and the nearest Visa exempt city is Macau, which is a short hydrofoil ride away.
Here’s a few photos from the party. I bet you’re wondering how I get any work done?
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{ 43 comments }
John your lookin like your havin too much fun slow down
Seriously….wish I could party like a millionaire. Working on it…
And let the beer buzz begin!
I would be interested to learn more about the taxes at a future date. You hinted to some really great information. . . . is it evil?
Steve
Looks like a very fine evening of festive entertainment, John, but I’ve got one burning question — what’s the story on your drinking buddy? Besides Cam, I mean… Where on Earth (haha) did you find that funky little pink alien?
That is the Computex mascot. Every member of the media that attended the grand opening gala got one.
Ah, a special limited-run collectors-edition item/ souvenir. That limits the chance of being able to bribe anyone to give theirs up…
I gave mine away for a shooter. The poor doll in the picture was mine and somehow, John put a hole in the crotch so I pawned if off on someone else.
Lol um… there are SOME things that shouldn’t be shared on a blog.
Yeah, don’t ask how that got there. I don’t want to know either, though John did seem quite attached to it and even bought it a drink
That’s what I wanted to see. John partying it up. Now if we can only get shots of him dancing afterwards
Not pics, VIDEO!
That’s a load of bollocks. Cam should be refused entry to Taiwan cos he’s breaking his Visa conditions by ‘working’ in Taipei.
He should get a real visa and pay up on his tax to Taiwan – just like the rest of us poor tax paying slaves
If you think he’s scamming the tax guy, you should read about what some of the locals are doing! And they don’t fly out every month!
yeah– what the hell? that’s a pretty solid example of valuing money above morality.
Morality. Who’s definition of morality? Uncle Sams or mine? Uncle Sam blows a lot of my money on things I find immoral.
So does that mean it’s immoral for me to give my money to Uncle Sam:?:
do you send or receive mail? do you have any kids in school? did you go to school? do you drive on roads?
if any of the above are true, then by not paying taxes you are stealing. Not from uncle sam, but from your neighbours, friends, familly, et cetera.
I don’t mean to turn this into a moral issue but no laws are being broken here. Cam no longer lives in his home country so he does not use the mail, send kids to school, or drive on its roads. If you are no longer a resident, you are no longer subject to income tax even if you are still a citizen of that county. This is why many Canadians retire abroad.
The visiting country really have no problem with you being there because you are not working (stealing a job that could go to a local) and you’re spending money.
The US taxes its people on citizenship. No matter where you are, Uncle Sam wants his share. However, even Uncle Sam understands that if you are no longer using the resources of the USA, you should get a break. The break is $75K each year tax free. If you earn more than that while outside the country, you need to pay tax on it. Tax agreements with the other country may cancel the amount owed however.
I used to read Tweak Town for reviews of hardware back in the day when I assembled my first desktop. Good to see the man behind the machine. Dude, next time post a picture of the drink actually being poured on Stephen!
Uh oh! I think that flash drive took a u-turn
Errr…umm…hehe, I mean, next time post a picture of a drink being poured on Stephen Fung, the Hong Kong actor!!
Cam sounds like a smart guy. I hope Uncle Sam doesn’t introduce new laws to close such opportunities.
You look like you had a lot of fun.
That’s the thing about the Internet, you can take your work with you wherever you go. It’s now a level playing field. All the jobs are not in the city. You can have your job and fine pay whether you’re in New York, Hong Kong, or the Deccan Plateau of India in a small village.
The 21st century is unlike any other. Thomas Friedman’s book, The World is Flat, goes into great detail on this theme.
It’s really a global village.
I like how Pete Townshend and the Who expressed it their song, Mobile. “Watch the policeman and the tax man miss me, I’m mobile.”
Our laws, and more importantly, our attitudes to the laws, are still 19th Century! Our taxes are so very 20th Century, but the way some of us work and live is very much 21st century. It will be a while before the laws catch on to this reality…
I just finished reading “The World is Flat” — good stuff.
I agree with Greg. Internet and specially Google has influenced how people think about earning a living today.
You gotta love being able to avoid taxes. I never used to mind it that much… then I started making decent money and realized how much I really paid out.
I’m not sure I could live outside the good ole USA though.
I’ve often said that if the Average Joe had to shell out his tax dollars from their own bank account every quarter like us self employed people do, there’d be a revolution in about 6 months.
You gotta admit, Uncle Sam taking money out of a workers check before he ever gets it was one smart move on their part.
To live and work wherever is a dream. Thanks to technology, it’s not that impossible anymore.
I could never convince my spouse to agree to moving to another country to cheat taxes.
Funny, that might be the only reason I could convince mine to move lol.
good stuff!
I like the idea of evading taxes… As a Canadian in Canada, I know I’m tired of being taxed left and right.
But I guess I wouldn’t want to do anything that isn’t legal.
Anyway, it looks like you’re having a blast.
Take it easy!
You can find many great books on the subject. I dont know what will work in canada, but the main key is to pay all expenses before tax by a LLC or company.
So as usual, Mr Evil gets all the gifts!
Can we expect any Contests in the near future. If so, i am the first contestant! 
I think it is safe to say that we all wish we were there with John!
Lots… and lots… of beer.
Pretty interesting tax avoidance technique
John, you’re obviouly drunk on that 1st picture.. It’s not very flattering if you ask me
Nice to know.
Someday I will have to look deeper into some of those loopholes! Is that stuffed animal old enough to have a beer?
John,
Interesting topic, but a tip. Never talk about somebody else’s tax situation. Not worth the remote potential of a hassle, especially in light of my ongoing battles with revenue canada….
I would like to be a part of party
How drunk where you when you tried to por beer into a stuffed animal?
HAHAH nice John! You look SUPER DRUNK! awesome