Countries with lower taxes and a better quality of living?
I’m currently stuck in Denmark, and it feels like I’m in a never ending financial tug of war with the government, saying goodbye to 50% of my hard earned cash each month. Add a 25% VAT on everything and throw in some hefty taxes on utilities, electricity etc, and you’ve got a situation that has me questioning if this is the life I signed up for.
Living in a place where the cold weather feels like an extra tax on happiness, I’m craving a change.
I’m all about individualism, self-sufficiency, and independence. So here’s the big question: Where in the world are you guys finding that sweet spot between low taxes and a great quality of life?
As I contemplate my escape plan, Cyprus, Portugal, and Dubai are on my radar. I dream of living in a country where taxes don’t feel like daylight robbery. But, and it’s a big ‘but,’ my online income isn’t quite flexing its muscles enough for a move to the streets of Dubai just yet.
So, where are you residing? What’s the tax scene like in your corner of the world? Are you doing a happy dance every payday, or are you, like me, wistfully staring at your bank statement, wondering where all your money went?
And let’s not forget the living conditions. On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate your overall quality of life?
I’m not just asking for my benefit, this is a collective quest for a better lifestyle.
Your input is greatly appreciated!
(Just to be crystal clear, I’m not fishing for a lecture on why I should be grateful for my current Danish situation or any unrelated personal opinions. If your input doesn’t contribute constructively, save it for another time.)
I find the people who complain about high taxes are usually complaining from a very selfish point of view. They want all the benefits of society that has a great infrastructure but they don’t want to pay for it. They often scapegoat people who are less off than them, but fail to look upward at the people who are tenfold better off than them who are not paying their fair share, and getting all kinds of legislation, corporate, and other, sweetheart deals that benefit only them.
No, I'd like to opt out. I don't want to be robbed by my government by the barrel of the gun. I can manage myself just fine, and there is plenty of countries offering competitive tax rates
I’m sure you under estimate how much you get for free. Most people do. Here in NY, they complain about losing parking spaces to bike corrals. Then I mention that they park their private property for free on taxpayer dime. Then I hear crickets.
The issue is not that. I live in Germany and we literally have the highest and most complicated taxes in the world. I have no problem paying taxes, I only have a problem when it’s literally 45% of my income, of which half doesn’t even benefit me. People are paying for other people when they don’t even belong in the group who are even in risk of needing them.
Rent? Ok, at least I get something back but it’s a negative investment currently.
Insistence insurance? It covers the most basic stuff which higher income individuals don’t need because they can buy private insurance, so they basically pay for nothing.
Job insurance? Most high income individuals have a good work background, they don’t can find job super easy.
There’s more little insurance stuff that doesn’t benefit the higher income people at all and they can’t opt out of it. And all that for them to be carrying the whole tax system. 25% including health insurance seems reasonable to me, not 45%.
You are making the assumption that all of that tax money is being optimally spent to create a better society, which it most certainly is not. So while you’re correct that some of it certainly is, there is definitely wiggle room for criticism, depending on the country.
On the other hand a spoiled person like you want the state to pay your way.
You never stop to consider the men getting up at 5 am to slave in some manual labour so you can get your "free" and comfy government service.
Yeah no.
I’m from the UK:
We pay absurd rates for an NHS that only works if you need emergency surgery. Otherwise get fucked, have mental health issues? You’ll have killed yourself by the time you’ve reached the end of the wait list and even then, you’ll be given CBT which doesn’t work if you have an IQ above room temperature.
The police don’t do their fucking job because they don’t have the resources to do so. So burglaries mugging etc. go past uninvestigated. Good policemen are constantly leaving the service because wages are too shit.
Ambulance wait times if you don’t live in the city means you’ll probably die.
Inheritance tax that doesn’t work and merely fucks over the ever shrinking middle class that live in cities. The actually rich can just avoid it.
Public services that have been privatised which should actually be nationalised, have been asset stripped, these include: utility companies, public transport, inter city rail etc. Royal Mail has been around for 600 years, in 8 short years of privatisation they have managed to destroy it and make it bankrupt.
Water companies who constantly raise costs and need government bailouts because they haven’t bothered to invest in infrastructure and instead just stripped it of assets. They also massively pollute our water ways and over drain our natural acquifers to the point they will be completely dry in the near future.
The government has been selling public assets over the last 13 years, introduced policies that have literally caused people to die. They embezzled plenty of money especially over Covid. Tax bands have not at all moved with inflation to the point that I think they’ve been the same for the last 10 years. There is rampant wage stagnation (15 years worth of it) and thus brain drain. 1/3 of new doctors in the UK intend to leave the UK once their two years mandatory training is up. STEM graduates often are choosing to leave the UK or go into finance because the pay is shit or there’s no jobs.
Want a scape goat statement? Only 3 regions of the UK aren’t a deficit to the treasury. London only keeps a third of the tax it generates of which they can only directly control 7%. Yet we subsidise these moronic plebs up north and then they go do idiotic things like vote for brexit or the tories, which are the very things that are fucking them over. Why should I pay absurd tax on my shitty wage of which a majority has to get spent on rent, only for some cretin up north to tell me that Piotr is taking his job that he wasn’t going to fucking do anyway.
As a middle class person I can't afford a mortgage. Private sector rent is also high. I earn too much to qualify for social housing. My lower earning friends are therefore better off than me. We have the same lifestyle because they get a ton of rebates and they live in a cheaper and better place. I can save more, but they don't care because the welfare state will provide them so no need for savings. They don't see the point in earning more. Why do I bust my ass and take on more responsibility to earn more? Literally no point except misplaced pride, I was taught to 'work hard'. The joke is on me. Better to do the opposite.
Would you want to trade places with them?
Check out the concept but, borrow and die financial strategy.