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Could you share some of your experiences working in Chile? Where did you move there from? Did you already know Spanish? Have you enjoyed living & working there?

by icey 15y ago

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andrewcooke 15y ago
[having problems with hn slow response] see http://www.quora.com/Hows-life-in-Santiago-Chile http://www.quora.com/Hows-life-in-Santiago-Chile for more background. i am here because my partner is a chilean academic with tenure here. in general, it's a good place to live. personally, i am not the most outgoing or relaxed person on the planet, and sometimes living in a different culture - and it could be any other culture - gets to me. but the only negative thing i can think of about living here is that the work culture in large companies (my first job) emphasizes hours over productivity. if i were coming here to run a startup i would use a more results-oriented working environment (i don't care if you work at home, but you fucking get stuff done) as an incentive. a lot of people really hate the enforced long hours. you need to speak spanish. but people will be friendly and tolerant when you screw up. you can learn while you are here. a chilean lover is as good a way to learn as any ;) PS - just thought of a negative (as i went outside). the winter air quality in santiago is terrible. if you have asthma you don't want to be coming here. another negative would be the differences in wealth, although i imagine that's more shocking to a european than an american (i have no idea why i am paying such low taxes compared to europe - why isn't more of what i earn being used to help the poorest people here?). PPS - some positives: good food (you have no idea how good a hot-dog can be); good beer (really - it's exploded the last few years with a bunch of micro-breweries); a more entrepreneurial attitude than europe; a more sane social attitude than the usa; low crime rate (despite what people here seem to think...)
- bugsy 15y ago
  Should be noted, the taxes in Chile are not only lower than Europe, they are also lower than in the US unless you are a member of the ultra elite rich that has a team of tricky accountants who shuffle assets to remote islands to make sure you don't pay your share. How can they do it? Well they don't maintain a global imperialist war machine that costs trillions to maintain, nor do they give away trillions to criminal bankers.
  - andrewcooke 15y ago
    heh. that happens here too. i had someone come round trying to sell me some off-shore banking services here in chile. the "salesman" was the son of an english diplomat. i am from "normal" english stock. it was a socially uncomfortable meeting.
  - econgeeker 15y ago
    I don't have an authoritative source, but I recently read that Chile assesses: - Up to %40 income taxes - A form of social security taxes - taxes capital gains as income - %17 corporate taxes - %19 VAT Taxes (might have that and corporate reversed) and, the piece de resistance: - a %35 excise tax on taking money out of the country!
    - andrewcooke 15y ago
      tax on earnings are listed here - http://www.sii.cl/aprenda_sobre_impuestos/impuestos/imp_directos.htm http://www.sii.cl/aprenda_sobre_impuestos/impuestos/imp_dire... - and the 40% rate applies to earnings over $12,500 a month (it's banded). there are also incentives for investment that count against that (so you invest the money in a pension fund, say, then that lowers your effective wage for tax purposes, i think (not completely sure)). the 35% tax is described here - http://www.sii.cl/portales/inversionistas/imp_chile/impuesto_adicional.htm http://www.sii.cl/portales/inversionistas/imp_chile/impuesto... - and applies to earnings of people who don't live or have residence in chile. so it wouldn't apply to someone under this grant. also, it's not in addition to other taxes (so it's 18% over VAT, if that would have been charged - again, this is just from skimming the docs). [edit: you need to translate the fourth paragraph to understand the "additional" nature. here's a link in english http://www.thisischile.cl/frmContenidos.aspx?SEC=187&ID=1242&itz=&eje=Negocios http://www.thisischile.cl/frmContenidos.aspx?SEC=187&ID=... that says This tax applies to those who are neither residents nor residing in Chile and ranges between zero and 35% on total revenue depending on the type of income (e.g., for services, royalties, interest, transportation payments, insurance, capital gains, and dividend distributions). In the case of utilities, the “First Category” tax can apply as a credit towards the additional tax.] in general, chilean laws and taxes are all described online. you don't need to post uninformed speculation - you can search for the details. disclaimer: i just skimmed the links, and am no expert, so my summary may be incorrect.

Could you share some of your experiences working in Chile? Where did you move there from? Did you already know Spanish? Have you enjoyed living & working there?

by icey 15y ago

Could you share some of your experiences working in Chile? Where did you move there from? Did you already know Spanish? Have you enjoyed living & working there?

deleted 15y ago

[deleted]

deleted 15y ago

[deleted]

andrewcooke 15y ago

[having problems with hn slow response] see http://www.quora.com/Hows-life-in-Santiago-Chile http://www.quora.com/Hows-life-in-Santiago-Chile for more background. i am here because my partner is a chilean academic with tenure here. in general, it's a good place to live. personally, i am not the most outgoing or relaxed person on the planet, and sometimes living in a different culture - and it could be any other culture - gets to me. but the only negative thing i can think of about living here is that the work culture in large companies (my first job) emphasizes hours over productivity. if i were coming here to run a startup i would use a more results-oriented working environment (i don't care if you work at home, but you fucking get stuff done) as an incentive. a lot of people really hate the enforced long hours. you need to speak spanish. but people will be friendly and tolerant when you screw up. you can learn while you are here. a chilean lover is as good a way to learn as any ;) PS - just thought of a negative (as i went outside). the winter air quality in santiago is terrible. if you have asthma you don't want to be coming here. another negative would be the differences in wealth, although i imagine that's more shocking to a european than an american (i have no idea why i am paying such low taxes compared to europe - why isn't more of what i earn being used to help the poorest people here?). PPS - some positives: good food (you have no idea how good a hot-dog can be); good beer (really - it's exploded the last few years with a bunch of micro-breweries); a more entrepreneurial attitude than europe; a more sane social attitude than the usa; low crime rate (despite what people here seem to think...)

bugsy 15y ago
Should be noted, the taxes in Chile are not only lower than Europe, they are also lower than in the US unless you are a member of the ultra elite rich that has a team of tricky accountants who shuffle assets to remote islands to make sure you don't pay your share. How can they do it? Well they don't maintain a global imperialist war machine that costs trillions to maintain, nor do they give away trillions to criminal bankers.
- andrewcooke 15y ago
  heh. that happens here too. i had someone come round trying to sell me some off-shore banking services here in chile. the "salesman" was the son of an english diplomat. i am from "normal" english stock. it was a socially uncomfortable meeting.
- econgeeker 15y ago
  I don't have an authoritative source, but I recently read that Chile assesses: - Up to %40 income taxes - A form of social security taxes - taxes capital gains as income - %17 corporate taxes - %19 VAT Taxes (might have that and corporate reversed) and, the piece de resistance: - a %35 excise tax on taking money out of the country!
  - andrewcooke 15y ago
    tax on earnings are listed here - http://www.sii.cl/aprenda_sobre_impuestos/impuestos/imp_directos.htm http://www.sii.cl/aprenda_sobre_impuestos/impuestos/imp_dire... - and the 40% rate applies to earnings over $12,500 a month (it's banded). there are also incentives for investment that count against that (so you invest the money in a pension fund, say, then that lowers your effective wage for tax purposes, i think (not completely sure)). the 35% tax is described here - http://www.sii.cl/portales/inversionistas/imp_chile/impuesto_adicional.htm http://www.sii.cl/portales/inversionistas/imp_chile/impuesto... - and applies to earnings of people who don't live or have residence in chile. so it wouldn't apply to someone under this grant. also, it's not in addition to other taxes (so it's 18% over VAT, if that would have been charged - again, this is just from skimming the docs). [edit: you need to translate the fourth paragraph to understand the "additional" nature. here's a link in english http://www.thisischile.cl/frmContenidos.aspx?SEC=187&ID=1242&itz=&eje=Negocios http://www.thisischile.cl/frmContenidos.aspx?SEC=187&ID=... that says This tax applies to those who are neither residents nor residing in Chile and ranges between zero and 35% on total revenue depending on the type of income (e.g., for services, royalties, interest, transportation payments, insurance, capital gains, and dividend distributions). In the case of utilities, the “First Category” tax can apply as a credit towards the additional tax.] in general, chilean laws and taxes are all described online. you don't need to post uninformed speculation - you can search for the details. disclaimer: i just skimmed the links, and am no expert, so my summary may be incorrect.