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Bulgaria is the world’s fastest-shrinking country

bbc.com

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Re: Bulgaria is the world’s fastest-shrinking country

#161

Post by rhacker »

nradov wrote: post #146
drpgq wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aren't Californians moving to Idaho and Oregon

The last few years there has been a significant increase in people moving from California to Texas. Texas now has the fastest state population growth rate.

Makes sense - I was in Wimberly about 4 years ago and it was so peaceful and quaint - it was a retirement town. Went over there again about 5 months ago and the downtown was bursting at the seams with cars. Same time of year - you can no longer walk across the street without looking - it's a danger zone now. Filled with hipsters and their wives and 2.2 kids.

Re: Bulgaria is the world’s fastest-shrinking country

#162

Post by jccalhoun »

cpursley wrote: post #25

A side effect of a stagnant economy and population shrinkage is that Bulgarian property is really cheap. You can purchase a modern flat starting around $15,000 (or rent for really cheap) in a ski community with a very strong remote worker presence (Bansko). If you do this right, you can also become a resident and benefit from a flat 10% income tax which is lowest in the EU. No affiliation; I just find this type of ar…

Cheap real estate was my thought reading the article. I can see a ton of rich people coming in and buying up tons of real estate in Bulgaria.

Re: Bulgaria is the world’s fastest-shrinking country

#163

Post by photonios »

cpursley wrote: post #25

A side effect of a stagnant economy and population shrinkage is that Bulgarian property is really cheap. You can purchase a modern flat starting around $15,000 (or rent for really cheap) in a ski community with a very strong remote worker presence (Bansko). If you do this right, you can also become a resident and benefit from a flat 10% income tax which is lowest in the EU. No affiliation; I just find this type of ar…

Same thing in Romania. If you have a bachelor degree and you're employed as a programmer or data analyst or something in that area you get an income tax discount. For everyone else, there's a flat 16% income tax. A programmer or disabled? 10%

Re: Bulgaria is the world’s fastest-shrinking country

#165

Post by UserIsUnused »

walshemj wrote: post #138
_hao wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you have 5 years of experience as a Senior Back-end engineer you can get something between 2000€-4000€ net (after taxes) in the Bulgarian currency lev - BGN. The Lev is pegged to the Euro at 1.95BGN for 1€. In the capital where the tech jobs are located with that kind of salary you can afford anything you want.

And what salary would you get for Google in London? FYI as an experienced professional I have just been pitched a couple of civil service jobs in London grade 8 to Grade 7 at around 75k - and that would give me about 6.5 k That's the eqvielent of a full Colonel / GS15 if its the higher grade. And I bet a FANG in London pays way more than that as do train drivers

With with a much higher pay, London is still much more expensive.

Re: Bulgaria is the world’s fastest-shrinking country

#166

Post by gdy »

chewyland wrote: post #131
Iwan-Zotow wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> and Russian influence wtf are you talking about? you are in EU and NATO, what is the problem?

The problem is Russian influence. They continue to be locusts in EU countries and want everything to be bad and miserable and poor. Source, Canadian living in BG for 6 years.

That is a disgusting russophobia. You should be ashamed.

Re: Bulgaria is the world’s fastest-shrinking country

#167

Post by Waterluvian »

This got me thinking about the post-colonialism modern era of steady state nations (and some would hope for: borders).

Is it possible that a valid terminal state is a country being merged into another? I wonder if we're just assuming that shrinking country == bad by default.

Re: Bulgaria is the world’s fastest-shrinking country

#168

Post by dpau »

helpPeople wrote: post #150
alipang wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a company in Bulgaria while working remotely for a high-salary EU country, and it's almost shocking to realise how much you spend on taxes in most European countries when you see the difference in your bank account. It's quite a good deal if you want to be a digital nomad since it's an EU country and you can get a really small apartment for almost nothing to use as your official address while travelling. (You'…

How bad is it? I pay more than 50 percent of my income in various taxes in the United States. Before anyone asks, federal income, Medicare, Medicaid, social security, state income, state sales tax, local property tax, and lesser- luxury and gas tax.

That seems steep? What about health insurance? I worked for a few years in The Netherlands and paid a little over 50% of my salary in taxes, however in return I had access to amazing government resources and some of the best health care in the world. At 50% I'd expect the US to provide at least some healthcare :(

Re: Bulgaria is the world’s fastest-shrinking country

#169

Post by felixge »

alipang wrote: post #80
cpursley wrote: post #25

A side effect of a stagnant economy and population shrinkage is that Bulgarian property is really cheap. You can purchase a modern flat starting around $15,000 (or rent for really cheap) in a ski community with a very strong remote worker presence (Bansko). If you do this right, you can also become a resident and benefit from a flat 10% income tax which is lowest in the EU. No affiliation; I just find this type of ar…

I have a company in Bulgaria while working remotely for a high-salary EU country, and it's almost shocking to realise how much you spend on taxes in most European countries when you see the difference in your bank account. It's quite a good deal if you want to be a digital nomad since it's an EU country and you can get a really small apartment for almost nothing to use as your official address while travelling. (You'…

Don't you have to spend > 50% of your time in Bulgaria in order to be considered a tax resident there? I suspect a lot of the "too good to be true" tax evasion stories in this thread depend on lying about your true place of residence?
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