There are a few things:

1. Sovereign countries are permitted to care about whatever they want, for whatever reason they want. They can enact any laws they wish, protect their border however they wish, and grant anyone the right to work in their country based on whatever reason they may have. When a country is not granted the right to permit (or not permit) someone from entering/working, they lose a part of their sovereignty.

2. How would a country enforce its own tax laws without a formal entry/authorization process?

3. How would a country enforce international tax treaties without a formal entry/authorization process?

4. Working abroad, without any kind of work visa, would make it incredibly easy to evade paying taxes in your own country.

>4. Working abroad, without any kind of work visa, would make it incredibly easy to evade paying taxes in your own country.

But you're working abroad for a company that's treating you as if you are living in your own country and is, presumably, depositing your paycheck into a bank in that country. The fact that I'm traveling somewhere (on business or pleasure) during a given month basically doesn't affect anything. I travel maybe 100 days a year, in part outside the US. I don't consider myself a digital nomad but the reality is that I'm outside my home country for a decent chunk of the year.

Depending on the country you go to and its particular tax treaty with your home country, the fact that you are traveling AND working (I'm not capitalizing 'and' to be an asshole, rather I'm capitalizing it because I don't want to mislead people into thinking that being a tourist can fuck up their taxes) affects just about everything. Depending on the country, the type of income, and my authorization to be in that country, the funds earned when I am physically in another country could be taxable in my home country, in their country, in both countries, or (very rarely) in neither.

That may be true. (I'm not an accountant.) But, in years of travel to dozens of countries I have never remotely been aware of or filed taxes to a foreign country because I attended a conference or worked remotely for a few days. And that's included when I've had an explicit business visa in some countries.

Then, there is a very high chance that you have broken some tax laws.

Well, I suspect that pretty much everyone who travels does then. I can guarantee that no corporate executive who travels to dozens of countries a year is filing tax returns in those countries.

That executive wasn't entering those countries on a tourist visa, but neatly submitted that they are travelling for business purposes and have the appropriate business visa.

There is a limited range of activities permitted on those, including attending meetings and conferences.

Or they entered on the country on the US Visa Waiver Program or similar programs in other countries, which is surely the most common way to travel between first world countries (apart from inter-EU travel, which is more permissive again) and allows you to travel either for tourism or for business.

Yes, I would assume those executives get business visas where required, just as I do. In addition to meetings and conferences, those visas at least implicitly allow for continuing to do whatever is required for their "day job" back home.

But mostly, US and EU citizens in particular have visa waivers or, at most, a visa on arrival that lets them do normal business travel things. They just can't take a local job.

To the upthread comment, neither myself nor anyone I know has ever been aware of any particular tax implications associated with ordinary business travel.

Can you give an example of the "neither" case?

> The fact that I'm traveling somewhere (on business or pleasure) during a given month basically doesn't affect anything. I travel maybe 100 days a year, in part outside the US.

It can affect your taxes dramatically. Bump that up to 335 days / year outside the US, and you're entitled to the foreign earned income deduction, which last I checked was about $120,000.

That's not evading, though; it's a formal deduction.

The country might like its own culture and peace just fine, and not appreciate an influx of freelancers and their local influence, regardless of any the monetary benefits.

The local poor might also not appreciate raised rents that benefit the few owning houses for rent (the AirBnB effect but with longer term "nomad" stays).

Western ex-pats in the developing world have a long history of being and behaving as self-entitled scum, which doesn't win many sympathies.

Besides hipster "nomads" are among the most insufferable of people.

But even more so, and on a more serious note, a lot of those laws are to discourage mass immigration from even poorer places, not the occasional "digital nomad".