You are not mooching, but you are not being squeezed as much as possible.
If you spend $5 a day while earning $5000 a month, it's better to have one person who really loves the country and wants to stay paying income taxes, rather than 100 staying and paying VAT.
The typical government member in my experience tends to think in terms of "people will just pay more" rather than "they will go somewhere else".
EDIT:
Moreover: how should a government discriminate? If you are working for a company in Norway you are probably earning better than someone working for a company in laos.
If both of you are residing in vietnam, should I expect the latter to spend more in VAT than 50% of the vietnamese college graduates ?
> The typical government member in my experience tends to think in terms of "people will just pay more" rather than "they will go somewhere else".
That's a pretty stupid viewpoint in this context, considering I've already demonstrated my willingness to leave and go somewhere cheaper (Canada -> Vietnam). You'd think they'd rather have something from me than nothing.
If you spend $5 a day while earning $5000 a month, it's better to have one person who really loves the country and wants to stay paying income taxes, rather than 100 staying and paying VAT.
The typical government member in my experience tends to think in terms of "people will just pay more" rather than "they will go somewhere else".
EDIT: Moreover: how should a government discriminate? If you are working for a company in Norway you are probably earning better than someone working for a company in laos. If both of you are residing in vietnam, should I expect the latter to spend more in VAT than 50% of the vietnamese college graduates ?