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Estonia is running its country like a tech company

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Re: Estonia is running its country like a tech company

#141

Post by dullgiulio »

einpoklum wrote: post #86
AhtiK wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Important to note that this 20% corporate tax is applied to the taxable payment (e.g. dividend payouts). There are no taxes to pay for the yearly profit, which makes it much easier for companies that do plan to reinvest the income over the years or just hold it. Also, one should probably have employees or customers physically in Estonia, otherwise the company tax residency might change into other jurisdictions.. IANA…

Ah, so it's one of these tax-haven states which accelerates the global "race to the bottom" regarding corporations' tax rate? That's not a good thing IMHO.

It's clearly stated that the tax level is 20%, not a tax-haven at all. Estonia in general is very far from the ultra-liberal country it has been depicted in the past (especially by the US Republicans): it has average EU taxation, minimum wage, taxpayer-funded public healthcare, ...

Re: Estonia is running its country like a tech company

#142

Post by dullgiulio »

penetrarthur wrote: post #64
pavlov wrote: post #23

If you're thinking about starting a company in Estonia under the "e-residency" program, you should know that Estonian banks have recently become very skeptical about opening bank accounts for foreigners. It's not enough that you have an Estonian corporation, you'll probably be expected to demonstrate that your business has actual ties to Estonia. Finnish entrepreneurs are being denied bank accounts despite the close…

Banks are extremely nonfunctional in Baltic countries probably because of how little people live there. I think there is a large potential for good international banks.

Citation needed? My Estonian bank has offered instant payments in the EU for free for more than one year, an app that buzzes my phone at every payment I make with my contactless card, or use the phone directly as bank card... Without using Apple Pay. Something I rekon is still not common in many countries including the UK...

Re: Estonia is running its country like a tech company

#145

Post by dullgiulio »

Barrin92 wrote: post #120
DonnyV wrote: post #108

Income inequality is very large there. https://borgenproject.org/top-10-facts-about-living-conditio...

also, the per capita income is no higher than in Lithuania which one wouldn't guess given the barrage of articles about Estonia's 'innovative' government. Relatively sound advice is that whenever someone advertises to run the government 'like a business', the outcome is going to be 90% disappointing and hot air. This is essentially just a huge PR campaign, the electronic voting is a security disaster, and if you see…

The government has been running "on the blockchain" for a while, with projects like the X-road, which are also used by other countries (the other two Balitc countries and Finland).

It is a blockchain in the only way that makes sense: a cryptographically secure ledger run by a central authority (government).

Re: Estonia is running its country like a tech company

#147

Post by Barrin92 »

dullgiulio wrote: post #145
Barrin92 wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

also, the per capita income is no higher than in Lithuania which one wouldn't guess given the barrage of articles about Estonia's 'innovative' government. Relatively sound advice is that whenever someone advertises to run the government 'like a business', the outcome is going to be 90% disappointing and hot air. This is essentially just a huge PR campaign, the electronic voting is a security disaster, and if you see…

The government has been running "on the blockchain" for a while, with projects like the X-road, which are also used by other countries (the other two Balitc countries and Finland). It is a blockchain in the only way that makes sense: a cryptographically secure ledger run by a central authority (government).

well, that's weird because according to the institute that runs the entire thing (https://www.niis.org/blog/2018/4/26/there-is-no-blockchain-t...), there is no blockchain technology involved, it merely uses some hashes to link data together, as do plenty of age-old protocols.

This is a good example of why these PR campaigns are silly.

Re: Estonia is running its country like a tech company

#148

Post by ahodges22 »

jaydenseric wrote: post #57
socialdemocrat wrote: post #19

As a Norwegian I can relate to many things written here. Estonia is clearly ahead of us but this thing of not being the innovator but still using off the shelf technology was something I was forced to reflect upon while living in the US 15 years ago. It was surprising how the country behind so much technology innovation was so bad at using it. It was noticeable both in the private and public sector. It was something…

America is very backwards in tech for daily life. About 2 years ago I was blown away when I arrived at the San Francisco airport and had to buy a train card with a Visa card; the customer service guy got flustered and pulled an old carbon paper swiper thing out from under the desk, and asked for my signature. In Australia it's all wireless payWave or PayPass. My Chinese GF uses her phone to pay for things and conside…

Umm when did you go to San Francisco? They've had BART ticket vending machines there that take credit cards for as long as I can remember.

Re: Estonia is running its country like a tech company

#149

Post by Mirioron »

juskrey wrote: post #103

I had a pretty intense honeymoon with Estonia, even had a relatively popular blog on e-residency, have visited Estonia twice (great experience btw).. And, after four years, I have reopened my company in UK and trying to liquidate my Estonian one (today I have received a denial letter which says that only Estonian citizen can close my company).. In short: Vague frequently changing rules, introduction of strange comple…

As an Estonian I thought the e-residency system was pretty much a scam from the start. I didn't think anybody would fall for it, because the moment you ask "So what can I do as an e-resident that I couldn't before?" you realize that the answer is essentially "Nothing". But try saying this to other Estonians, they'll raise a fuss.

Edit: perhaps calling it a scam is inappropriate. It just doesn't seem like the program offers anything new over what other countries offer. I guess the nice thing is that it tries to be a package deal that's easier to market and find information about.

Re: Estonia is running its country like a tech company

#150

Post by ticmasta »

juskrey wrote: post #103

I had a pretty intense honeymoon with Estonia, even had a relatively popular blog on e-residency, have visited Estonia twice (great experience btw).. And, after four years, I have reopened my company in UK and trying to liquidate my Estonian one (today I have received a denial letter which says that only Estonian citizen can close my company).. In short: Vague frequently changing rules, introduction of strange comple…

So what you're saying is they are running the country like a start-up?
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