WELCOME TO PANAMA, THE NEW FLORIDA

摘要

Prospective retirees: Panama wants you. The pitch? A plane ride just 21/2 hours from Miami enables thernnewly poor to swap a wretched retirement in the U.S. for one befitting a royal in the balmy Central American nation. Cash out! Emigrate! Feel rich! Panama-the new Florida.rnSpin aside, Panama is increasingly popular among retirement-age types looking to hedge against-or skip out on-the recession. The Migration Policy Institute, a Washington-based think tank that studies the movement of people around the world, says the chief factors prodding professional-class Americans to flock to Panama include its First World health care available at Third World prices and the country's pensioner program, which offers some of the deepest retiree discounts in Latin America. Seniors get up to half off on nearly everything, including movies, motels, doctors' visits, plane tickets, professional services, and electric bills. Expats also pay no tax in Panama on foreign income. Nor are they required to pay property tax for the first 20 years.