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The high heat nationalism in the ex-yu managed to distract the populace from the fact that their countries are unreformed socialist era dinosaurs. They never re

The high heat nationalism in the ex-yu managed to distract the populace from the fact that their countries are unreformed socialist era dinosaurs. They never realized that even formerly poorer countries like Bulgaria and Romania reformed 10-20 years ago. Every single reflex and action of management in these outdated states is to grab more tax and control more of the economy. The mentality of the people is the same, every ill is prescribed to the state(or the politicians who lead it) and every problem is the state's to solve.

jeltz 5y ago
But isn't the correct reform her to make the freelancers pay taxes to put them on an equal footing with everyone else? They seem to have fucked up everything about the details, but the general direction seems the correct one: equal taxation for everyone.
- inglor_cz 5y ago
  In theory, everyone should be taxed equally. In practice, the tax burden tends to shift to those that cannot easily escape it. Small countries like Serbia need to take into account ease of emigration, too. That is a classic case of "is-ought". Taxation is a Darwinian system that exerts evolutionary pressure on individuals and businesses.
- visarga 5y ago
  There's a slight difference here - freelancers are bringing money into the country from outside. Local employees are just moving the money around. And even if the freelancers didn't pay income paxes, they still payed VAT (20%!). So the country already benefited from VAT and influx of capital.
  - necovek 5y ago
    And there were others who did the same yet paid all the taxes required by law. I was one of those. Should I ask for a return of my back taxes?
peshooo 5y ago
Unfortunately, Bulgaria is not in a much better place. We are in EU and NATO, but not many other differences. Our ruling elite hasn't changed much - still communist secret police related figures and oligarchs. Romania seems more reformed, they even managed to put some politicians in jail recently.
sbacic 5y ago
> The high heat nationalism in the ex-yu managed to distract the populace from the fact that their countries are unreformed socialist era dinosaurs. It's not so much nationalism as much as people _wanting_ their countries to stay unreformed socialist era dinosaurs. Many smaller communities here (Croatia) depend on government handouts or jobs in the public sector. Without them, those communities would cease to exist.

jeltz 5y ago

But isn't the correct reform her to make the freelancers pay taxes to put them on an equal footing with everyone else? They seem to have fucked up everything about the details, but the general direction seems the correct one: equal taxation for everyone.

inglor_cz 5y ago
In theory, everyone should be taxed equally. In practice, the tax burden tends to shift to those that cannot easily escape it. Small countries like Serbia need to take into account ease of emigration, too. That is a classic case of "is-ought". Taxation is a Darwinian system that exerts evolutionary pressure on individuals and businesses.
visarga 5y ago
There's a slight difference here - freelancers are bringing money into the country from outside. Local employees are just moving the money around. And even if the freelancers didn't pay income paxes, they still payed VAT (20%!). So the country already benefited from VAT and influx of capital.
- necovek 5y ago
  And there were others who did the same yet paid all the taxes required by law. I was one of those. Should I ask for a return of my back taxes?

peshooo 5y ago

Unfortunately, Bulgaria is not in a much better place. We are in EU and NATO, but not many other differences. Our ruling elite hasn't changed much - still communist secret police related figures and oligarchs. Romania seems more reformed, they even managed to put some politicians in jail recently.

sbacic 5y ago

> The high heat nationalism in the ex-yu managed to distract the populace from the fact that their countries are unreformed socialist era dinosaurs. It's not so much nationalism as much as people _wanting_ their countries to stay unreformed socialist era dinosaurs. Many smaller communities here (Croatia) depend on government handouts or jobs in the public sector. Without them, those communities would cease to exist.