So you're telling me, to avoid paying taxes, some people would like to live on a boat, to pay for accommodation, fuel, electricity, water treatment, post services, security, ship crew, food for that crew, maintaining ship infrastructure, medical facilities, schools, setup up rules of conduct? Good thing those are not taxes.
Yeah and it would still be massively massively cheaper than what they pay in a country. You’re talking about costs that pertain to 60,000 people rather than 330,000,000 people. The rich pay most of the taxes, their tax burden would be like 1/50th of the cost.
Everybody's talking about the ship itself but I'm here just wondering how on earth would the people ever be able to visit any country the ship's visiting. Since, you know, the idea was that people could give up their citizenships. I imagine it's quite difficult to visit a country without a passport.
You do not actually have to give up your citizenship for something like this. Many people hold citizenship in more then one country, and usually you pay taxes depending on where your permanent residence is (determined by where you live the majority of the year).
@@daftwulli6145 not to mention that if you spend 6 months or more living outside your country you don’t have to pay taxes for that year in your country, at least that’s what I’ve been told.
Let’s not forget about the security costs either, that much rich people all concentrated together in a slow moving target in the middle of the ocean is bound to attract a couple of pirates at least
What? Explain yourself or delete your comment. Your saying a bunch of starving ethiopians are going to the middle of the pacific to hold up the biggest ship in the world- with a permanent population? Not to mention the police force the ship would have as well. I don't think it's anything they would need to be concerned about. You know where the pacific is right?
@@istyl2525 Somalia is the location of worry. Pirates are a concern there. All they would need is a few well-placed explosives to take the ship hostage, or make whole ship go boom. Super large ships need lots of fuel and fuel is flammable.
pff, what do you expect from crazy religious shepperds sitting in caves in far east? hijacking planes with curtain knifes and precisely pilot them into towers? or sinking a ridiculous large vessel? no way! 🙄
i imagine that if such a ship were ever fully built and worked exactly as intended there'd be quite a lot of countries imposing sanction on such a vessel
Assuming this is possible, which is a fat assumption, this would be the world's largest terrorist attack target. The way the design is now, it would take a lot to sink it, but it would be absolutely possible, and probably not that hard. How many USS Cole style attacks could this withstand? Four men on four different small boats loaded with explosives ramming it at critical points would likely bring this to the bottom of the ocean, and that would be hard to defend against.
@@Nebulasecura You must be stupid if you think I don’t know that. I bet you didn’t know about the numerous terrorist attacks in China performed by the certain Uighur Muslims 🤷🏽♂️ But yet you guys don’t like the camp they made to correct people who are suspected to be a part of the organisations behind the attacks
I can foresee a few small problems with renouncing all of your citizenships to avoid taxes. 1) In most countries your obligation to pay taxes doesn't depend on you being a citizen. 2) Some places don't officially recognise renunciation of citizenship and 3) Even if they do most of them only recognise renunciation if you are citizen of somewhere else. Not if it would make you stateless.
At this point you might aswell make a cluster of smaller ships that float on the ocean. Maybe somewhere near a geothermaly active area for underwater geothermal power. Add some fish farms and whatnot around it. Viola a tax haven like nothing else and its save from flooding too. I mean until the ship eventually breaks.
A more realistic idea would be to build several smaller versions of this ship and have them sail in a convoy And of course having ferries to get people to each ship It’s still a floating city just built in more manageable sections
Are we sure this isn't actually the original inspiration for Wall-E? That whoever at Pixar hadn't once heard about this thing and that's where the initial seed for the story came from?
I went to college to be a naval architect. I distinctly remember sending this guy my resume when I graduated cause I had no standards and I needed a damn job.
I think the worst part of living on this thing is that all of your neighbors would be the kind of people who would move to a big floating island to avoid taxes.
@@edopronk1303 I disagree. I always found people who advocate for a state to take money and do whatever with it to be the most egoistic, selfish and not at all social. Poor people want the money to be given to them, rich people who advocate for it want it as a weapon agains competition. Both groups talk that crap to make them appear as morally superior. Not ever have I found a single person of good character advocate for high taxes.
As a Somali pirate, I am really hoping they can overcome any obstacles and get this exciting project afloat soon! Edit: Your fictional solutions to thwart my fictional piracy are all lame. Prepare to be boarded.
@People of China live free and destroy the CCP People of China live in solidarity and prosper under wise leadership of Xi Jinping and destroy libertarian freedom boat with glorious people’s navy.
@People of China live free and destroy the CCP The People's Liberation Army Navy's array of future artificial reefs will gloriously puncture the hull and sink the Tax Dodging Future Dream Boat regardless of how much money the libertarians spend or mercs with money that is in no way a tax.
I remember reading about this in a monthly science magazine back in 1999 or 2000. I was in elementary school and still somewhat fond of cruise ships, so there was a fascination to the idea, though I was skeptical about it becoming reality. Through the years since, I don't think I ever heard about it again until this video.
Explains most architecture in these days. 111west57th, 432parkavenue, Burj Khalifa and most buildings in Qatar which are just a greedy inhuman just built up area of their troubling city layout and horrid weather for a city, terrible childish construction, and slavery carried from fathers in Nepal. There's also 700 other glass "art" pieces being shoved into Chicago, Manhattan, San Francisco, Hollywood, Florida, France, London especially, Guangzhou and Shanghai, Seoul, Singapore, and Africa which is a whole entire other tragic story with their oasis city.... their delusional... Wish they could of had their happy moments like america in the 20th century, understanding what having wealth means better than the hellscape they are turning their cities into thanks to immaturity to a surplus of self made choices and the large addition digital technology has plagued our ideals with for a beneficial future. These days, our scientists are just people who used to play on an arcade, and our architects are kids that watched too many scifi movies, a lack of care for are historical background only thinking forward and wanting, instead of what we already have. We don't need a PS5, a virtual reality set, 5G and a Tesla (not as though that is anything impressive), Alexa to tell you the weather, a bot to turn your Christmas tree on, a self driving vehicle is pathetic, uber pickup because the thing you go to meant for easy lazy people called a drive through, wasn't enough apparently, and a fit boy when half of the people today can barely keep fit and usually only wear it as a piece of jewelry because nothing says leisurely like a hot pink artificial band with a ominous glossy black square in the center listing all the things it knows about you.
Let's not forget the physics of trying steer/stop this thing. The forces involved would be immense. It seems to me that most of the problems with this project could be solved by having multiple, smaller ships instead of a single, enormous ship.
I mean they can dodge taxes but its really because they aren't using any benefits from the taxes (i.e. police, hospitals etc) anyways, so I don't think there's much wrong with that. If the pirates get them, just don't expect any military to help either LOL.
I think you may have overlooked the log ships from the 1800s early 1900s. They were enormous. They basically just used huge chains to make absolutely humongous, ocean going log rafts. Mind boggling in scale.
Honestly, I don't think it's possible for a non-government entity to build a nuclear powered anything? Maybe I am wrong, but it could be very dangerous for a nuclear power plant to be out in the open without any military protection... Just my thoughts...
@@goonerOZZ That is not an issue when you are designing such a vessel. Building yes. Using yes. Dangerous oh yes but Running a ship of this size on disel is the most insane part. It would need a tanker refilling it constantly just to keep it stable. No wonder it is still in the design stage.
I have to imagine there would be security. And seeing as they're staying in international waters, that security can have machine guns and surface-to-water missiles.
@@Joemamahahahaha821 you think he would know? No one knows because the thing hasn't been fucking built, although i'd have to imagine quite a few, not just for somali pirates but for onboard pirates too, the thing would have it's own police dpt
"I chose the impossible. I chose... Rapture, a city where the artist would not fear the censor, where the scientist would not be bound by petty morality, where the great would not be constrained by the small! And with the sweat of your brow, Rapture can become your city as well."
An underwater city called Rupture? Seriously? What's next -- maybe he renames his Freedom Ship the Titanic, or designs a yacht called the Mary Celeste, or a spaceship called the Challenger ...
@@seanbigay1042 It was a typo, intentional or not. Obviously he meant Rapture, which has a completely different meaning. Rupture, an instance of breaking or bursting suddenly and completely. Rapture, a feeling of intense pleasure or joy.
This seems like a great idea to get seized by any nation with any navy at all. There are a lot of nations that would like to nationalize something that expensive, or take the passengers captive for ransom or tax. And since none of them would have citizenship, it wouldn’t even cause a diplomatic incident.
Could you imagine sentencing yourself to life on a prison ship? The only way to avoid US taxes is to transfer all of your money out of the country without the government noticing and then renouncing your citizenship. With no passport you can't leave that ship, you are stuck on it for life.
Eh retirees do it all the time, its not that bad if u think about it. Hotel style living arrangement, movies, pools, gyms, restourants, entertainment all close to u
Yeah traveling the world in luxury continuously without having to pay taxes sounds fucking rough. Also I'm pretty sure this video and the guy who came up with the idea described it...sooooo
I mean I can easily design a spaceship the size of the sun in 5 mins. It takes doing the actual engineering of it to be considered "seriously designed".
@@Omar-if3vd I think the difference here is that it’s actually designed to be physically possible and have a feasible business plan for existing (tax havens and vacations). People would be taking it a lot more seriously if someone like Elon Musk got their name on the project. Colonizing Mars is way crazier and more ambitious than this shit, and somehow people take it seriously.
I believe it is clearly serious in the sense of "Designed with the intent of actually bringing it about," whether or not you believe it's serious in the sense of "Perfectly sane, reasonable, practical, and economical."
@@innosam123 How do you keep your money safe from governments that really want it. The US government puts serious pressure on other country's banking systems when they send the tax man after you.
I wonder what the light manufacturing is for... They're already going to have to import every scrap of food, why not just import all the manufactured stuff as well? Maybe the reason for having it is so that the people who can afford this have some common laborers to exploit in the manner to which they have become accustomed? For some odd reason, by the way, I look at those pictures and the phrase "deathtrap in a fire" comes to mind.
I see two major flaws: either make the ship shorter to fit at least the Suez Canal or make it longer to accomodate a full private jet enabled double runway (for the rich CEO on board) to land some modern jet planes on.
I love how this entire project was designed to avoid paying taxes but the residents would still have to regularly pay money to the ruling body of the country in order to keep it functioning. I think there's a name for that
And don't forget their own mercenary army to protect them. Just imagine one day their mercenaries decide they'll be the new government. They can't demand the mercenaries because they don't accept any external law, so not law system to defend them. That will be beautiful.
@@ejethan123 Well if you choose to emigrate into a different country that would also be completely voluntary and consensual. And that's basically what that ship is intended to be, its own country.
"no taxes but we will need some money every month for upkeep costs, gas, paying the crew etc. and then we'll probably need police and healthcare and your kids will probably want to go to school so we'll need money for that every month, we'll just take a percentage of your income to cover that but no taxes!"
We? Yes, there would be upkeep and fuel costs. Crew costs too. Police and fire would need funding, to some extent. Healthcare could be entirely private though. So could schools.
I know right? By paying to live there you're paying to help it run and function. You can call it whatever you want. Technically it would just be called "part of your rent", but hell, call it a snozberry pie if you want, I don't give a shit. Whatever you call it, you're still paying taxes. Oh I just remembered, if you want to tax someone but you dont want to use the word tax you use the word 'fee'. Like how postmates taxes you double, but they split it in half, one is a 'tax' and the other a 'service fee'.
There's also going to develop a huge class divide. As stated, there is a fairly large crew on board. Alot of those "fees" (uh..hm...taxes) would go to their pay, upkeep and support. We all know the nature of the privileged rich and we all know what the nature of their "utopia" will be.
@randomguy8196 What about the workers on this ship? They would have to live in it as well. It's almost like you can't have a society of just billionaires because its poor people who do the actual work that keeps a society running. So fuck them I guess? Well they tried that in the gilded age and guess what happened? labor riots happened.
“I shouldn’t have to pay taxes!!! 🤬” “Oh, I’m just gonna charge you guys a little HOA fee to keep the ship running. You totes understand, right? 😇” -the douchebag who designed this ship
Never mind the fact that many of these rich folks had made their money on the backs of tax payers that helped to build the infrastructure ultimately making their businesses possible. Also, what happens if a country wanted to seize this ship and did it militarily? Let me guess, they would look for help from countries to use their tax prayer paid militaries. Funny how they would benefit from others paying taxes, but are appalled when they are asked to pay taxes themselves.
I’d imagine that maintaining such a super massive ship would be difficult, and engineering it’s structure to be hospitable for civilians would be a nightmare.. then imagine the noro virus outbreaks on the ship
That's only the preliminary cost estimate. The conception phase is not finished yet, and it probably nearing the billion. That's the kind of project where the actual costs can get to 1000% to 10 000% over the original estimates.
@@sasugage2168 The USS Gerald R. Ford cost about the same as HK's W Kowloon railway station plus its underground HSR link between in & mainland China I recall
This ship would make for a great setting for a disaster movie. Imagine 100 000 people, most of whom shady Wall Street bankers with no real life skills, all rushing to the lifeboats at the same time.
I feel like I saw a movie with a similar plot a few years ago. It didn't go too well for the rich people. Or the poor people. Or... anyone, really, now that I think about it.
A pirate commando boards the ship and take command of it. They demand a ransom of $100 000 000 for everyone aboard or they'll detonate a nuclear device in the middle of it.
How would that work in an emergency, if the ship held that many people, a rescue effort would require so many ships it would be unreal. Not to mention that the planned route went through loads of bad areas, Cape of good home, the sea near Somalia.
Okay, so there are several concerns I have with the project. One, ships need to be able to flex in rough seas. I’m almost certain that something like this would tear itself apart at sea, just based on the limits of the material alone. Two, this thing would disrupt sea traffic ANYWHERE it goes. Even parked out at sea, she would likely block major shipping/commercial routes. Her very presence would leach a port city dry from all the resources she’d need to take on, and all the goods she’s blocked off, each stop. Thirdly, the fuel consumption would be MASSIVE. Modern cargo ships, some of the largest vessels currently in existence, already use about 63,000 gallons of diesel per day. And given that she’s constantly on the move, she doesn’t have any set refueling locations. She could singlehandedly drain an entire port city of diesel, causing shortages in the area for weeks or even months. The sheer volume of resource consumption would likely lead many nations to deny her entry into their waters, meaning that resupplies would be even farther between. There’s a good chance that, after a few consecutive stops denying her entry, she would run out of fuel entirely and be stuck out at sea. Then you’d have to try and get help evacuating 100,000 people from a ship dead in the water. Freedom Ship not only sounds stupid, it is a logistical nightmare.
Do you really think port cities, which are basically Walmarts of the sea, are gonna say "Uh, know, we really do not want to sell everything on our shelves all at once, even when we knew for months that you are coming"? This ship won't work for many reasons that you mentioned, but not the ports thing.
@@dougerrohmer it’s not an issue of selling. They’ll sell to the ship just fine. It’s an issue of, other ships can’t get through to replace the resources it consumes, and it’s draining so much of it that everything else doesn’t get anything. It would cause shortages everywhere it goes. If that creates enough public tension, the city/county might not have a choice but to deny harbor, or they risk an uproar.
@@Nikolai_The_Crazed If the ship physically blocks access, that's one thing. But these things don't happen overnight - they can predict their orders weeks in advance and adjust stock level accordingly, unless their is an international shortage of something maybe.
@@dougerrohmer Well, there is a limit to how much a port can carry. We’re talking about something the size of a literal small city. They don’t have limitless space for cargo, and we’re still talking about a logistics nightmare just to get this thing fueled. The trucks and ships needed to bring more stuff in might not have enough left if a large portion of the diesel is going to a floating city. Because this thing isn’t just supplying for the time being, they’re stocking up in advance in case a trip runs longer than it has to. The largest container ships can hold about 21,000 containers, and that’s considered pushing the limits on what a port can handle in a day. The port in the city of Los Angeles handled about 30,000 containers a day last year, and it’s one of the busiest in the world. And a port isn’t necessarily a place where things are sold, it’s a transit hub. They transport the goods, they’re like UPS. They take the stuff coming in and make sure it goes to the right place. This thing would need a supply chain all of its own. Because of the volume of trade, this thing would need its own ports just to keep it stocked and fueled, because it would otherwise put a massive strain on the port. It would reduce the carrying capacity of a port for days or even weeks on end, as ferries take the goods back and forth bit by bit. All with a behemoth lingering off the coast, blocking major shipping from coming in, and siphoning tons of fuel just to keep the tank full while she waits. Because they need electricity, and they’re gonna get most of it from the engines running. So the port has nothing coming in, and it’s possibly well above half capacity, trying to get as much of their cargo out to the ship as fast as possible. Since nothing can get in, and things are only going out, it causes shortages further down the supply chain, while they struggle to find other ways of getting the goods into their city. Shortages mean scarcity, and scarcity means a price hike. With a jump in prices and lack of stock, it would only be a matter of time before the city gets enough complaints to tell the port to deny the ship passage and bar it from coming back. This thing is a logistics nightmare to keep running, and would basically cause a small economic crisis everywhere it goes. I’d say it’s pretty spot on to say this thing would be impossible to keep running, just based on that alone.
@@dougerrohmer Oh, and need I forget, transporting that many goods into the area by means other than cargo ship would be difficult to say the least. A cargo ship can carry so many containers, it would take up a train almost forty four miles long. For one ships worth of goods. You could use trucks, but there aren’t enough of them, and they cause traffic jams, slowing down shipping even further. You could try planes, but not many can carry a single container’s worth of stuff, let alone several. The reason ports work so effectively is because they get a large volume of material in before it’s even needed. So most of it doesn’t get sent out right away, the truck and trains have plenty of time to get things moving. If you’re carrying materials in from other ports because one is closed down, that’s a major delay, and if you don’t make up that time then you risk losing ground and creating a shortage. But if you push too much at any given time, you could also cause an accident, causing substantial delays and even bigger shortages. A port is basically the back bone of shipping in a given area, if you block it off like that it causes major problems.
If a 40mph wind gave birth to one of the best memes of 2021, imagine if this thing got partially stuck in a hurricane? We'd be able to see the sea floor without needing a submarine.
@@GreenBlueWalkthrough I apologize if my original comment wasn't clear, but this is what's commonly known as a "joke". Please let me know how else to explain the concept of a "joke" within a RU-vid comment, or how I can improve my jokes. P.S. This reply is what is commonly referred to as "sarcasm".
Im amazed he didnt talk about the massive threat something like this would just have from the ocean itself, extreme storms and waves ect have a chance to cause massive damage to such a massive money sink.
@@jokerplays6139 did you watch the video? That would be just the investment to build it, I’m sure once it’s built a more reasonable price would be generated.
My favorite part is how it says the ship will have zero taxes, but then says they will have to pay some small fees to cover maintenance of the ship and salaries for the workers on the ship. Aren’t those taxes?
Listen, take it from a Japanese ww2 enthusiast. Building the biggest ship ever isn't necessarily a good thing. We built the biggest and most powerful battleship to ever exist, it was called the IJN Yamato. It truly was a magnificent creature. But unfortunately being the biggest battleship in history makes you really easy to hit so it ended up being sunk. Quite literally the definition of glass cannon. It packs a massive punch but it was also very vulnerable to aerial attacks and torpedos due to its sheer size
I think some countries actually switch the comma and decimal point in notation for base 10 numbers. So 1,370 Km could mean 1.370Km which is more reasonable obviously.
@@absolutely1337 yes in the form of condo fees and/or HOA’s...fact is is that it’s something totally bombastic to which the ultra hoarding rich can eventually complain about n be miserable w their billions...and still play victim
ya know, this just screams the kinda crazy idea that ends with a mass class uprising of the hired crew taking over the ship after being forced to live in the furnace room.
Whatever mercenary army they decide to hire could just hold the entire ship hostage and ransom off every single billionaire, and they wouldn’t be able to do anything about it since the ship doesn’t abide to any other countries’ law
I remember when Discovery channel and National Geographic were running back to back documentaries on this 'project'. It might be insane but you gotta admit, it's fun to think about.
"You won't have to pay any taxes! Though, you will have to pay regular administration fees to support the infrastructure of the ship, but we assure you that those will never skyrocket to the level of taxes you have to pay now!" Well, they say there's a sucker born every minute...
For real, like what to these idiots think taxes they are trying to dodge are even intended to do? Suckers ready to pay taxes as long as it is not literally called taxes...
A big difference is that those taxes are probably some fixed amount per month. But in a normal country rich people will pay a fixed percentage of their income on tax at best, and increasing percentages as they get richer at worst. No matter how high the costs per month get on this ship, their will always be people whose income is so great that even a small percentage tax on their income will dwarf the fixed monthly fees needed to live on this ship.
@@dekippiesip Lol no, the operating costs of a ship goes up as the ship ages. And for many other safety reasons, it’s not worth living on a large ass ship to evade taxes. Hell, just go to some poor country with shit tax laws, that’s what the “normal” shady rich bitches do.
@@Laura-Yu that sounds like a better deal for now yes. If such countries come under pressure to change their tax laws at some point, then this concept may become feasible however. In my country you pay almost 50% tax on your income in the highest bracket. For even multi millionaires this ship is going to be cheaper than living in my country. And in some countries that upper rate is even higher. Look at it this way, you don't pay taxes on this ship, you basically just pay very high rent. Like rent, the amount you pay is not income dependent. So a small low key millionaire pays the same monthly fees as a billionaire. It's this income independence that makes this ship a better deal than paying taxes in almost any country, with some notable tax havens as exceptions.
I spent 5 minutes on Twitter today, so all I can think of is how convenient it would be to have a huge chuck of the ultrarich in one, big, sinkable ship.
I dont know why they didnt think of building smaller ships that you could anchor and attach together into 1 big complex when not moving and when moving, detach into the smaller ships. Seems to me a way better idea as your building it in working pieces and if project fails half way, you still have working ships.
@@Kukainis Anarcho-Capitalism is an oxymoron though, it leads to unjust hierarchy which anarchism fights against. Anarcho-Communism fits perfectly since communism is a stateless, classless, moneyless society.
Waterworld meets Snowpiercer, what could go wrong? How many service personnel needed to work on that ship? And the people refusing to pay taxes are going to agree to tip the army of service workers or even pay them living wages ?
@@Sentient_Blob It surely is would, it has no framework,or even a keel, no freeboard or bulbous bow either. Designing does not take materials or such into consideration. But functionality has to be considered. This ship does not even have lifeboats. Or ladders. It GG if you fall overboard in tbe middle of the Atlantic Ocean... Not only because you can't get up again, or the ice cold water. The water turbulence that's caused from the lack of a bulbous bow will drag you under water.
@@illturralli Dont forget the fact that this thing is supposed to be long-term, including during Hurricanes and *rogue waves*. Meaning it's gotta survive far more beatings than most modern ships could even survive.
I started designing this idea around 6 and stopped designing this idea around 8 years old. I don’t see how they can look at this and not think “that’s gonna sink”
