3 ms·

Our sucess boils to a tourism increase (driven from political instability in other countries and a very laxed tax system for foreigners), cheap oil (that gave r

Our sucess boils to a tourism increase (driven from political instability in other countries and a very laxed tax system for foreigners), cheap oil (that gave room to increase taxes on petrol) and historically low interest rates.

slig 8y ago
> a very laxed tax system for foreigners Do you think this is one of the reasons (or the major one) that so many Portuguese people live abroad? [1] [1]: https://i.redd.it/2683a6np1g621.jpg https://i.redd.it/2683a6np1g621.jpg
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- rjtavares 8y ago
  No. The reasons some many people live abroad, IMO: 1. A culture built on world exploration. Our golden age myth is sailors leaving the country to find new lands. Our great epic book is "Os Lusíadas", a celebration of the discovery of a sea route to India by the Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama inspired by Virgil and Homer's epics. 2. Many people left the country between WW2 and 1974 (due to a ruling dictatorship, a colonial war, and economic difficulties). These were mostly uneducated people that went to France, Germany, Switzerland to become low wage workers. 3. A newer wave of emigration (of much more educated people) due to low salaries in Portugal. I know a lot of people (mostly engineers) that more than tripled their wage simply by moving to more developed countries: Germany, UK, Sweden... Similar to moving to SF/NY when you're in rural US.
  - slig 8y ago
    Thank you for the insight.
bogomipz 8y ago
>"Our sucess boils to a tourism increase (driven from political instability in other countries and a very laxed tax system for foreigners)" Can you elaborate on what or how the tax system is very lax for foreigners?
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- uxhack 8y ago
  There are a number of tax breaks for foreigners, meaning effectively if you have not live in Portugal for 5 years you do not pay hardly any tax. This is dependent on you getting good advice.
  - galfarragem 8y ago
    "Dividends are Tax free from the UK for 10 years, 20% on local income. EU passport if you spend 500k on property" https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18165995 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18165995 As an anecdote, Madonna is nowadays living in Portugal. Media says the reasons are the Lisbon sunlight and her son wants to learn soccer.
garyclarke27 8y ago
I moved here from UK mainly because of Brexit, attractive tax regime helped, also more English spoken than in Spain, more Brit friendly than Spain (not so many drunken UK hooligans), combination of stunning beaches and a safe large City like Lisbon is quite rare, Athens (basket case economy), Barcelona( v high crime rate). Also Great wine food and fantastic infrastructure, only spoiled by insane car & energy prices and totally inept drivers. Foreign sourced income is easy to get tax free for 10 years via dividends, local income tax is 20% but social costs still high to employ software engineers. Golden Visa also attracted me in case UK crashes out no deal, passport only requires €500k invested in property. Lisbon Cascais is booming because so many foreigners moving here and spending shit loads of cash on property, renovations furniture, services, schools etc, this has boosted the economy far more than Tourism increase, this also pays a lot of property related taxes and energy taxes and VAT 23%, so for the first time in donkeys years Portugal managed to balance the books last year. Many very rich successful entrepreneurs and professionals - huge numbers from Brazil, many Scandinavians, not as many Brits as expected (but now increasing), I was also surprised by how many US and Polish expats I have met living here.

slig 8y ago

> a very laxed tax system for foreigners Do you think this is one of the reasons (or the major one) that so many Portuguese people live abroad? [1] [1]: https://i.redd.it/2683a6np1g621.jpg https://i.redd.it/2683a6np1g621.jpg

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
rjtavares 8y ago
No. The reasons some many people live abroad, IMO: 1. A culture built on world exploration. Our golden age myth is sailors leaving the country to find new lands. Our great epic book is "Os Lusíadas", a celebration of the discovery of a sea route to India by the Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama inspired by Virgil and Homer's epics. 2. Many people left the country between WW2 and 1974 (due to a ruling dictatorship, a colonial war, and economic difficulties). These were mostly uneducated people that went to France, Germany, Switzerland to become low wage workers. 3. A newer wave of emigration (of much more educated people) due to low salaries in Portugal. I know a lot of people (mostly engineers) that more than tripled their wage simply by moving to more developed countries: Germany, UK, Sweden... Similar to moving to SF/NY when you're in rural US.
- slig 8y ago
  Thank you for the insight.

bogomipz 8y ago

>"Our sucess boils to a tourism increase (driven from political instability in other countries and a very laxed tax system for foreigners)" Can you elaborate on what or how the tax system is very lax for foreigners?

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
uxhack 8y ago
There are a number of tax breaks for foreigners, meaning effectively if you have not live in Portugal for 5 years you do not pay hardly any tax. This is dependent on you getting good advice.
- galfarragem 8y ago
  "Dividends are Tax free from the UK for 10 years, 20% on local income. EU passport if you spend 500k on property" https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18165995 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18165995 As an anecdote, Madonna is nowadays living in Portugal. Media says the reasons are the Lisbon sunlight and her son wants to learn soccer.

garyclarke27 8y ago

I moved here from UK mainly because of Brexit, attractive tax regime helped, also more English spoken than in Spain, more Brit friendly than Spain (not so many drunken UK hooligans), combination of stunning beaches and a safe large City like Lisbon is quite rare, Athens (basket case economy), Barcelona( v high crime rate). Also Great wine food and fantastic infrastructure, only spoiled by insane car & energy prices and totally inept drivers. Foreign sourced income is easy to get tax free for 10 years via dividends, local income tax is 20% but social costs still high to employ software engineers. Golden Visa also attracted me in case UK crashes out no deal, passport only requires €500k invested in property. Lisbon Cascais is booming because so many foreigners moving here and spending shit loads of cash on property, renovations furniture, services, schools etc, this has boosted the economy far more than Tourism increase, this also pays a lot of property related taxes and energy taxes and VAT 23%, so for the first time in donkeys years Portugal managed to balance the books last year. Many very rich successful entrepreneurs and professionals - huge numbers from Brazil, many Scandinavians, not as many Brits as expected (but now increasing), I was also surprised by how many US and Polish expats I have met living here.