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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

#181

Post by Sir_Vival »

dpau wrote: post #168
helpPeople wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 :(

That does provide healthcare - Medicare and Medicaid, which I believe covers about half of the US population. One reason some are opposed to going to a government paid system is the fact that we spend so much on that where if the costs were simply doubled it'd be a rediculous expense.

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

#182

Post by AtlasBarfed »

jhoechtl wrote: post #118
gruturo wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seconding this. I was recently for 2 weeks in Santorini, which is considered pretty expensive compared to the rest of Greece, and everything was actually very affordable (esp. if you learn to keep your distance from the more tourist-infested areas). The whole time during my stay I kept thinking how nice it would be to work from there. Clear blue sky, beaches and fresh grilled fish. Wow.

I have been to santorini this summer. It's an area which is not comparable to the rest of greece. A raxi to dea sunset during the afternoon can easily be 30 eur and we are talking about a distance of 7 km. Maybe off-season it's affordable. But combined with Mykonos it's an area where the term highway robbery comes ro mind.

Isn't the weather extremely bikeable? or are the roads super dangerous for that?

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

#183

Post by blaser-waffle »

dpau wrote: post #168
helpPeople wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 :(

> At 50% I'd expect the US to provide at least some healthcare :(

So would many Americans. But those defense contractors need their cut. And non-US projects tend to be more expensive than other countries as well.

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

#184

Post by cpursley »

h3333 wrote: post #157
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 once read a fictional story about a 20 year old selling his remaining lifespan except 3 months for 30 yen. Imagine how awful that life must be if it only sells for 30 yen. He didn't know it when he sold his lifespan, but his future self would have spent his remaining life in a hospital after an accident. The moral of the story is that it turned out to be a good deal. Those flats are the same. The $15,000 is probabl…

They're cheap because of the population decline, lack of local jobs and overbuilding / speculation leading up to 2008. The flats are fine and many have never even been occupied.

In Bansko, most are within walking distance to the main ski lift, the old downtown area, coworking and other public spaces.

It's really a unique opportunity for those who work remotely and want to live in an outdoors-oriented place in Europe with low cost of living and amazing food.

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

#185

Post by blaser-waffle »

barsonme wrote: post #173
lotsofpulp wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

.

No, that’s a common misconception. In reality, Washington, Oregon, and Idaho all suck. Don’t move here, you’ll hate it.

Especially stay away from Boise. Place is a hellhole.

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

#186

Post by agota »

middleload wrote: post #133
Zenst wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting that you say that, lets look at Poland. They saw a decrease in skilled workers and young who moved around the EU for better opertunities. This saw many parts of Poland become ghost towns. This got to a head and the goverment in Poland got to the point that they introduced a new TAX system. One comparable to USA TAX for nationals in that it didn't matter what part of the World you lived in or earned your m…

This would infuriate me to no end. It's not enough that I'm forced to leave my home because of corruption and other problems? You dare come after me and ask for money? I would give up my citizenship the fastest I could.

You are not really "forced" to leave, you choose to leave, presumably for financial reasons.

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

#187

Post by barry-cotter »

mihaifm wrote: post #27
the_mitsuhiko wrote: post #5

Since a lot of the emigration is to other EU countries it can be comparatively easily reversed. It’s harder for Serbia, Bosnia etc.

It's pretty much irreversible. Most of the emigration comes from Eastern European countries which hardly get any imigrants of their own. Very few people who leave choose to return. Within a generation (two at most) they fully integrate into the foreign culture, so that population is lost.

Poland gets to plenty of immigrants. I doubt it’s the only former Warsaw Bloc nation that’s true of.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukrainians_in_Poland

In January 2016 the Embassy of Ukraine in Warsaw informed that the number of Ukrainian residents in Poland was half a million, and probably around one million in total. Ukrainian Ambassador to Poland, Andrii Deshchytsia, noted that Ukrainian professionals enjoy good reputation in Poland and in spite of their growing numbers Polish-Ukrainian relations remain very good.[13]

According to the NBP, 1.2 million Ukrainian citizens worked legally in Poland in 2016.[14] 1.7 million short-term work registrations were issued to them in 2017 (an eightfold increase compared to 2013).[4] Ukrainian workers stay in Poland on average 3-4 months.[15]

The number of permanent residence permits increased from 5,375 in 2010 to 33,624 (14 September 2018), while the number of temporary residence permits increased from 7,415 to 132,099 over the same time period.[3]

About 102,000 Ukrainian citizens received Karta Polaka,[16] of whom some 15,500 obtained permanent residence permits in the period from 2014 to March 2018.[17]

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

#188

Post by theflyinghorse »

chosenbreed37 wrote: post #178
theflyinghorse wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not feeling at home doesn't really ever go away, you just understand the culture around you better and can fit in better.

> Not feeling at home doesn't really ever go away, you just understand the culture around you better and can fit in better. True. Would you concede that dependent on one's background/circumstances some cultures might be easier to adjust to?

I would say so, yes! If a Ukrainian national moved to say Russia or Belarus I doubt they'd feel foreign to the land at all.

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

#189

Post by peteretep »

felixge wrote: post #169
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'…

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?

> I suspect a lot of the "too good to be true" tax evasion stories in this thread

Considered by whom and for what purpose? Bulgaria certainly aren't going to complain if you start declaring your income as arising there, for example via a Bulgarian company.

Much more important is where any other country who might have a claim on your tax think you are resident, and if you manage to not be resident elsewhere, you're doing fine.

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

#190

Post by soperj »

dpau wrote: post #168
helpPeople wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 :(

Medicare and Medicaid cover about 1/3 of the us population.
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