Switzerland used to be a place people kept money safe and hidden from the IRS, well no more. Mostly what was going on in Switzerland was illegal, and it was being protected by Swiss Banking Privacy laws. Now that the game is up, Americans have been looking for other legal alternatives to save on taxes and keep your money safe.
Tennessee has a ZERO income tax rate for residents. Compare this to
California 13.3%
Hawaii 11%
New Jersey 10.75%
Oregon 9.9%
Minnesota 9.85%
District of Columbia 8.95%
New York 8.82%
Vermont 8.75%
.. and others.
Like Switzerland, TN is landlocked and mountainous, yet conveniently located in the middle of America.
If you live in Knoxville, you are about 4 hours from:
- Charlotte, NC
- Atlanta, GA
- Nashville, TN
- Louisville, KY
- Cincinnati, OH (about 4.5 hours)
- Columbia, SC (about 4.6 hours)
2 hours from:
- Asheville, NC
- Chattanooga, TN
3 hours from:
- Greenville, SC
- Huntsville, AL
Tennessee has a strong banking system, an active business community, and business friendly rules. CNBC ranks TN #5 out of 50 states for being business friendly (the reason it wasn’t #1 is diversity and poor health).
Traditionally, Europeans kept money in Switzerland because it was a well protected neutral territory. Hitler kept money with the Swiss, as did IBM. Switzerland and Tennessee are both highly defendable should a ground war ever erupt, or any kind of mass migration. Both are subject to only mild natural disasters, compared to low lying states like Florida, for example. Although the New Madrid fault line runs through Western Tennessee, it’s a state not known for active Volcanoes or Earthquakes. Generally speaking, the mild climate and fertile soil provide ample harvests.
Tennessee and Switzerland are both at the economic and cultural crossroads of an entire continent (in the case of Tennessee, it’s at the center of the East Coast, Midwest, and South). Highway 75 goes from Tampa, FL to Detroit, MI. If you are driving in many directions across USA, you may end up driving through Tennessee.
Tennessee could be energy independent, should it choose. Oak Ridge, TN is the place where Nuclear Energy was invented, and the Department of Energy, and the US Military, still operate the complex to this day. Not only is Tennessee powered by Nuclear plants, but the Tennessee Valley Authority, a state run organization, setup a wide scale dam system creating beautiful scenery as well as clean hydro power.
The United States is a wide, diverse economy. Similar to the European Union, it is a super state, comprised of many states and cultures. Tennessee is similarly suitable to offer protection from catastrophe whether they are natural disasters or economic (no state income taxes, lower cost of living, work remote). Perhaps this is more pronounced since the pandemic, where remote work is more accepted. Before the pandemic, it may have been necessary to live in a big bustling city like New York for example.
References
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/07/13/top-states-for-business-tennessee.html
