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I want to live in such a way that I can develop open source software full time, find new ways to convert trash into usable products and not charge a dime for my services. Are there any viable means to accomplish this especially since you can't even have a place to sleep without paying the government a monthly fee?

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    Become a monk, or a nun. I'm pretty sure that at least in the US, monasteries and convents don't have to pay property tax. I personally find the lack of coding expertise among the clergy to be appalling low, anyway, so you'd be killing two birds with one stone :)
    – Nate
    May 17, 2013 at 21:16
  • Hi SlightlyCyborg, and welcome. At the moment, it's rather hard to see how this relates to sustainability directly, so your question is on hold (denoted by the "[closed]" in the title): no new answers can be added while it's in this state. If you can edit the question to make it directly related to sustainability, then please add a comment here starting with "@EnergyNumbers", and I'll help in reopening it once it's good to go.
    – 410 gone
    May 18, 2013 at 13:02
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    Squats could be a reasonable solution to you, hippie and open-source have compatible interfaces, one can say... It's a serious answer, if someone is not sure May 24, 2013 at 21:17

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If the govt offers reduced tax for particular types of ownership (eg non-profit organisation), then you could look at how you could use that as an option to make it easier.

The reality is that in most developed countries we need a certain minimum amount of money to do various basic things, such as own land. Many would consider that you are still getting the benefits that the govt provides, such as use of roads, police, and even national defense, so taxing every person a certain amount for these is justified. These things are all expensive.

Leasing: It might suit you better to try to find someone who will lease you a certain amount of land with some particular business arrangement. For example, if you planted and harvested a supply of firewood each year for the owner, you might have some land left over for your own purposes.

Tax optimisation: Another thing you could look at is finding land that has particularly low taxes (eg if the tax is value based, then find low value land, or if the tax is state-based, move to a state with lower tax).

Joining with a community of like minded people may provide a lower tax burden for each individual. In New Zealand, some of the taxes are based on the number of separate dwellings, so having a very large house with several families in would result in lower tax per person (however, if you separated the house into individual units, you'd increase your tax). Other taxes in NZ are based on land value, and whether or not you have a connection to the sewerage system. I remember hearing about one case where a land owner was forced to pay a share of the installation of sewerage pipes down his street when he didn't even want to connect to it, so look out for that kind of activity on residential fringes.

Compromise: If you explain your situation and invite people that you work for to donate an amount that they can afford, you might find you earn enough to cover your tax.

Note: To try to avoid these kind of problems getting worse for your grandkids, get involved in some kind of democratic lobby group to help prevent the problems growing over time and push for improvement instead.

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