The 50% Tax Rate

StevieJ

Pete111 wrote: »

It's funny, I've worked in HR within a variety of sectors for 12 years now and not once have I ever advertised for the position of 'Greasy pole climber' I would suggest that businesses which hired staff soley on their ability to schmooze and brown nose will fail very quickly indeed.

You may not have advertised but I dare say you employed a few

bendix

pqrdef wrote: »

Duh. Cheap labour.

Utter nonsense.

I'd hazard a guess and say that average networth of HKers is considerably higher than that of Brits.

Wages in my firm here are much higher than they are in the London office.

Have you ever been outside of the UK, except to Benidorm

StevieJ

bendix wrote: »

I'm not claiming anything. I now no longer give a damn what happens to the UK tax reserves, sorry.

I'm simply saying what I have opted for instead . . .

The problem is you will exect to come back if your dream ends in tatters.

bendix

StevieJ wrote: »

The problem is you will exect to come back if your dream ends in tatters.

No I wouldn't.

This is my last stop in my career before retiring to Thailand in 2-3 years. That retirement is fully funded. The home is paid for. Why would I go back to the UK? Nothing for me there.

StevieJ

bendix wrote: »

Interesting point though . . if a place like HK can thrive on a top tax rate of 15% (and few pay that much) and yet still manage to issue a tax rebate back to every single citizen this year of HK$6000 (around five hundred quid) because of it's massive budget surplus, and it only has a few million people, why can't Britain?

I look around HK and the streets are clean. Things work. Rubbish is picked up. Public hospitals take care of the sick. Public pensions take care of the elderly. The unemployed get benefit, but are also encouraged to find new jobs, there are no homeless people on the streets etc.

So what's going on?

Could it possibly be that the tax regime here is seen as fair enough to encourage high earners and entrepeneurs to say - yeah, i'm happy to pay that - instead of using tax avoidance schemes and emigrating to stop paying for a welfare dependent state like Britain ?

This, I think we have been here before :eek:

Hong Kong is both heaven and hell, depending on who you ask. Heaven to wealthy tourists and families of influential people; hell to poor immigrants and migrant workers. More proof that this wide gap between the rich and the poor is the latest report from the UN Development Program which ranks Hong Kong at the top of the table with the widest gap between rich and poor residents.

On the other side of Hong Kong are the so-called cage people, residents living in ultra small dwellings, barely able to make ends meet and end up begging in the busy streets. Food is expensive, so are other necessities, and so losing a job is a matter of life and death. Unfortunately Hong Kong’s suicide rate is relatively high and is often attributed to heavy financial losses.

http://asiancorrespondent.com/17593/hong-kong-tops-world-rich-poor-gap/

StevieJ

bendix wrote: »

No I wouldn't.

This is my last stop in my career before retiring to Thailand in 2-3 years. That retirement is fully funded. The home is paid for. Why would I go back to the UK? Nothing for me there.

Good riddance, we don't want you, that won't stop you sneaking back though with your tail between your legs after a revolution in Thailand.

bendix

Journalistic hyperbole StevieJ. Those cage dwellings exist, but they are an option accepted by mainland migrants who chose to come to HK on their own terms. Same applies to the traditional wealth gap argument - economic migrants, Philipino maids etc who come here seeking a better life.

Travel the world young man. See things for yourself.

bendix

StevieJ wrote: »

Good riddance, we don't want you, that won't stop you sneaking back though with your tail between your legs after a revolution in Thailand.

Oooooh . . nasty nasty. Do I detect a hint of sour grapes on your bitter breath?

And as for revolution, remind me again which country it was that had a massive breakdown in law and order and respect for privacy just last month?

Thailand has coups and such like. Big deal. I personally lived there through two - they barely impacted 99.9% of people's lives. While the army was firing on the redshirts last year, it was restricted to a square mile in the city which, if you didnt want to be invovled, you didnt go to.

Life is sweet there . . unlike the UK, foreigners and their input is appreciated and respected.

StevieJ

bendix wrote: »

Journalistic hyperbole StevieJ. Those cage dwellings exist, but they are an option accepted by mainland migrants who chose to come to HK on their own terms. Same applies to the traditional wealth gap argument - economic migrants, Philipino maids etc who come here seeking a better life.

Travel the world young man. See things for yourself.

Let us have a look then.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5hlF2RYdY0&feature=related

pqrdef

bendix wrote: »

Wages in my firm here are much higher than they are in the London office.

Your taxes aren't paying the wages in your firm. They're paying those people who sweep the streets and pick up the rubbish that you mentioned. The public services you boast about are maintained by an underclass that isn't even on your radar.

How else do you think it's done? You can't actually raise more money from people paying less tax.

Do you pay more tax or less in Hong Kong? Amounts, not rates.

If you pay more, you must be making a lot more money. So that's why you're there really, nothing to do with tax.

If you pay less, and HKers in general pay less per head, then it can't be about lower tax rates bringing in more revenue, it must be about services being delivered cheaper, or not at all.