John McAfee regrets saving money on taxes

As reported in USA today:

He asserted that the government of Belize is rife with corruption, executions, bribery and extortion. He said police there want him back because he has become an embarrassment to Belize. He said police have raided his Belize property eight times.

"The reason I avoided the authorities is I believed then and I believe even stronger now ... the intent to question me has nothing to do with Mr. Faull's murder,'' he said. "I cannot ever return to Belize. The issues I'm discussing are hurting the government, hurting tourism.''

"The government was mad at me before,'' he said. "There is no hope for my life if I ever return to Belize.''

McAfee supposedly moved to Belize to avoid paying U.S. taxes. I guess he now wishes that he had just sucked it up and paid the taxes.

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Commenter HAR says:

McAfee appears to still be a US citizen, so he still had to pay federal income tax. Maybe in Belize he could avoid property and state taxes, but there are US states you can move to that don't have income tax. It's more likely that he moved to Belize so he could have a harem of hookers and be somewhere where he could feel like a big man.

In that case, I guess the reason for McAfee's move to Belize is a mystery.

Comments

[The Undiscovered Jew]

"I guess he now wishes that he had just sucked it up and paid the taxes."

Well, at least Belize got news headlines out of this incident.

[Kaz]

Haha, he should have sucked it up and gone to Singapore instead. Of course, Singapore is a horribly strict depressing place. But he could have just spent a few years there while he could get citizenship at much more livable country.

[Drole Prole]

I generally don't care for movies (it seems 99% of movies suck), but I'd value transfer some money - I've truly earned by creating actual value - to be able to watch a documentary or biography of this dude. How does a paranoid anti-tax libertarian go from founding and running a bloatware company to running for his life in Central America? This guy has really lived life for better or worse.

[HAR]

McAfee appears to still be a US citizen, so he still had to pay federal income tax. Maybe in Belize he could avoid property and state taxes, but there are US states you can move to that don't have income tax.

It's more likely that he moved to Belize so he could have a harem of hookers and be somewhere where he could feel like a big man.

[Mike]

McAfee made 200 million dollars when he sold his company, but by all accounts he has been losing money ever since. So he has no income to avoid.

[JerseyGuy]

Half Sigma,
OT but I'm not sure if you saw this linked on the Drudge Report:

http://www.10tv.com/content/stories/2012/12/08/columbus-apartment-application-crowd-loses-control.html

[Thagomizer]

It's not about taxes. McAfee likes drugs (bath salts) and underage girls (late teens so above the Belize age of consent). Living in the US would not be smart.

[Whiskey]

MacAfee moved to Belize to shelter his assets from massive lawsuits involving the insane "adventure tourism" company he ran in Colorado involving ultralight airplanes flying in the mountains. Predictably, a couple of his customers were killed and he's getting sued.

[Alex]

"It's more likely that he moved to Belize so he could have a harem of hookers and be somewhere where he could feel like a big man. "

There's partly that. I've seen articles on Reuters mentioning "lines of women" going in and out of his property.

"It's not about taxes. McAfee likes drugs (bath salts) and underage girls (late teens so above the Belize age of consent). Living in the US would not be smart."

There's also that.

It has nothing to do with taxes, except if he has some offshore companies to elude the mandatory federal income tax on all US citizens.

A smarter choice to elude taxes while safeguarding his security would have been any country in the world except Belize, Honduras, Panama and Africa (yeah I know, Africa ain't a country, but for me it is).