Trump is creating a refugee crisis.
If you want a bit of a giggle, head over to Trumpugees.com .
It’s a website set up by a real estate brokerage in Canada – DeClute Real Estate.
It offers advice to Americans about how to immigrate to Canada, how to legally purchase real estate, but most importantly, “Escape the coming of Trump!”
You just don’t know with Canadians. It looks like a piss-take, but it could actually be real. They certainly have all the info you need if you want to make the move – plus a neat little sales funnel for their brokerage services.
And it did seem like a lot of Americans wanted to leave the night Trump won the election – the Canadian Immigration Website crashed due to a flood of visitors.
But is it really a thing? You hear a lot of Americans say that they’ll move to Canada with every election, but how many of them actually do. I can’t imagine it’s all that many.
I think the few that actually do bother looking into it would find that it’s kind of hard and kind of expensive, and actually, they really like the neighbourhood where they’re living, especially now that amazing new café has just opened up on the corner I mean, omg, have you tried their coffee?
Maybe I’ll just stay put and complain on the internet.
I mean it is kind of bullshit isn’t it? For starters, it’s a total pants-dropping brown-eye to genuine refugees. There are people living under political regimes that have explicit agendas to murder certain sections of the community. There are countries being torn apart by war.
All people have on Trump is that they don’t like the tone and flavour of the things he’s said, plus a whole bunch of imagined crimes that he’s secretly planning in his head.
That doesn’t make you a refugee. That makes you a selfish opportunist.
And if you don’t like where the country’s going, stick around and do something about it. Don’t just pack all your Mac gear into your electric hybrid and head for the border. Roll up your sleaves and get involved.
That’s how democracy works.
Democracy was not designed to give you exactly what you want all the time. If you’re not willing to work for democracy, why would democracy work for you?
Trumpugees.com also has a list of “celebrity Trumpugees” – famous people who have said they’re bailing on America if Trump wins. The list includes Miley Cyrus, Samuel L. Jackson, Rosie O’Donnell and Whoopi Goldberg.
I can just imagine how bummed Trump is about this.
“Don’t let the razor-wire gate at the border hit you on the arse on the way out…”
(Actually, I imagine Donald Trump is a fan of Samuel L Jackson. I mean, who isn’t?)
But personally, I think these celebrities will be quietly eating humble pie in the coming weeks.
I think that there isn’t all that much work for Hollywood A-listers in Toronto.
And once they realise how much tax they’re going to have to pay, I imagine they’ll turn their self-centred little tushies around.
And that’s the interesting thing about what’s shaping up in America. We’re looking at a pretty dramatic restructuring of the tax code.
Personal income tax is dropping to 25%, tops. Corporate tax is going to 15% (down from 35%).
But it’s not all one way. Californians just voted for higher taxes. Proposition 55 extended the “temporary” 13.3% tax rate on California’s high-income earners, the highest marginal tax rate in the nation to 2030. It applies to people earning over $250,000 – or 1.5% of the population.
It applies to celebrities.
And these celebrities are probably looking at a 25% Federal marginal tax rate and thinking, this all looks pretty good. They’re probably telling themselves stories about how, actually, they don’t really like the cold and they’re afraid of getting eating by mooses.
And at 25%, I think half of Australia is probably thinking about moving there too.
I don’t know how many people actually choose where they’re living based on tax rates. Personally I love Australia and the Aussie lifestyle. But still, there has to be a point…
But we know for certain that corporations don’t care much for lifestyle. They’ll set up shop wherever it makes the most financial sense. And if America goes to a 15% corporate tax rate – making it one of the lowest in the world – we could expect to see a lot more interest in US investment.
It’s what we saw in Ireland and the UK when they lowered their tax rates.
(Though Apple just got pinged by the EU for receiving “illegal state aid” from Ireland.)
No doubt about it. It’s crash or crash through with the Donald. His tax plan is about making the country more enticing for everybody, including indulged do-goody celebrities.
What do you think? Is he on the right track?