Digital Nomadism During a Pandemic
Travel Taxes, Regulations, and VISAs
I’m going to take a step away from cryptocurrency briefly to talk about a collection of experiences I’ve been having recently. Mrugakshee and I have been doing a fair bit of travelling.
Canada to El Salvador to Guatemala, back to El Salvador, back to Canada, then to the UK, and eventually reaching India. If travelling wasn’t expensive before COVID, it is now. Not necessarily because of inflation, and the price of flights, UBERs, busses, trains, hotels, and AirBnBs, but because of COVID tests.
The test itself, but also the cost of getting yourself to the location where the test must be done. I’ve taken to calling this whole phenomenon of needing a test before leaving any area or country a travel tax. It’s a bit of a tongue-in-cheek label for what is taking place, but I stand by it. Allow me to elaborate.
The COVID Travel Tax
I’m currently reading a book called Daylight Robbery by Dominic Frisbee. (I wrote a previous letter of mine on a podcast that Frisbee and Breedlove did together.) Frisbee talks a lot about taxes, their purpose, and the unintended side effects of imposing them. The first thing I’d like to do is start with a definition of tax.
Tax — A compulsory contribution to state revenue, levied by the government on workers' income and business profits, or added to the cost of some goods, services, and transactions.
My first acknowledgment is that the money going to pay for COVID tests is not necessarily going to the government. Hence my tongue-in-cheek label of “tax” being applied to the tests requirement for me to travel.
That being said, the tests are obligatory, and taxable by the government. The business that is providing the service must charge tax for these COVID tests. No matter how you look at it, travelling now requires you to pay for a COVID test.
I am suggesting that these government imposed testing requirements are a tax on your time and effort, as much as they are a monetary tax paid to the businesses that provide the service.
My Travels and COVID
To leave Canada we required two PCR tests - $300 +tax = $345.00 CAD
To leave El Salvador we required two PCR tests - $115 USD = $294 CAD
To leave Canada (again) we required two PCR tests - $300 +tax = $345 CAD
When we got to the UK, we required two Rapid Antigen Tests - £30 = $102.03 CAD
It seems like Canada was giving Indian Nationals a hard time to enter the country. In response, India revoked giving Canadians an eVISA to travel to India. An eVISA is one that can be issued online, rather than in person. Now the only VISA Mrugakshee and I can get is a physical “sticker VISA”. This means that Mrugakshee and I need to go through a third part to receive an Indian VISA from the Indian Consulate.
When we leave the UK to go to India, we will need two PCR tests; again, not sure of the cost just yet.
Our current total, just on COVID testing alone is $1,205.06. This number is still growing as we come across new regulations, restrictions, and changing requirements. This number is aside what we’ve paid for hotels, UBERs, and flights getting around, and being in the place we need to be to actually do the physical tests.
The Bar for Travel Has Just Become Higher
I would say this newsletter of mine is about economics in general. Not just bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, but commentary on the general economic circumstances that everyday individuals are faced with.
We have a narrative that you go to work 9-5, and save a little bit of your paycheque every week to maybe take your family on a 1-2 week vacation once a year. But with inflation now at a 40 year high, and testing requirements costing travellers hundreds of dollars per person, who can afford to travel?
The answer is “the wealthy”. I’m not pointing to a specific group of people, nor am I placing blame, shame, or fault. I am simply just stating that the means to travel have gotten that much further out of reach for the average individual.
Putting Opportunity out of Reach
One of the reasons I think this is a concern, is that with travel comes opportunity. This is a big reason why Mrugakshee and I have decided to travel. The world of cryptocurrency is growing so fast, and Halifax, Nova Scotia simply does not have much happening in the way of cryptocurrency development.
We left to seek opportunity, meet new people, and to scratch our itch to travel. The cost of travel has already covered itself in some ways simply because we’ve met new people that have presented us with new money making opportunities.
But if one cannot afford to travel in the first place, then they cannot afford to purchase the chance to expose themselves to new financial, and business opportunities.
The Business of COVID Testing
My other qualm with all of this government mandated testing is that businesses have sprung up around the requirements. I have no problem with businesses filling a need, but the need has arisen from government mandates. As a result, testing citizens for COVID has become a big business in just 2 short years.
According to the Wall Street Journal, a portable COVID testing facility costs about $1.2 million to set up. That facility can then process between 3,000 and 5,000 tests per day in a population dense area like Madison Square Garden. The tests can cost $200 per day.
Some quick math will tell you thats between $600k and $1M per day. Any entrepreneur can tell you that this sort of setup is a dream as far as profitable businesses go.
COVID tests are government mandated
✅ For Travel
✅ To Work (Depending on your field)
✅ To go to School (Depending on your school)
COVID Tests provide you with a level of comfort, knowing you’re negative
The result is only good for days in some cases, weeks in others, and for travel, it’s a one-time result that will get you through a border.
The business requires a one-time setup fee, followed by an ongoing expense of supplies in the form of COVID tests.
The result is that COVID testing is a lot like a subscription service. I wouldn’t be surprised if a COVID clinic ends up creating a subscription wherein a once-per-month payment will get you up to one test per day.
Regardless of how you feel about COVID testing, I have a question. Should we be allowing COVID testing to become such a big and profitable business?
Businesses rightfully have an incentive to protect the interests of their shareholders as well as their own interests. But what happens when the pandemic is no longer happening? When COVID testing is no longer required? What happens to these businesses, and the people that are employed by them?
I don’t see the business owners and employees of these testing facilities just rolling over, closing up shop and accepting their loss of employment.
Putting aside whether or not we should be mandating COVID testing, and having people foot the cost, the business of COVID testing has created a moral hazard, and a conflict of interest.
There is an incentive, and now capital, to keep the businesses open and operational long after COVID has subsided as a threat. The alternative model would be one wherein COVID testing is provided by the government so that businesses do not have their own set of incentives to remain open do not spring up.
Cryptocurrency Has Made Travel Easier
All of this being said, cryptocurrency has definitely made spending this money much easier. We’ve paid for most of these expenses with our Crypto.com VISA debit card which has given us 5% cashback on all of our purchases. It’s given us automatic currency exchange functionality, and allowed us to spend anywhere there is a VISA terminal or ATM.
I went out on a bit of a tangent and limb in this letter, venturing into what some of you might find to be questionable or controversial territory. So I welcome your thoughts as I am by no means married to my ideas.
Let me know what you think in the comments, or reply to my email.
Cheers,
Keegan