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It's the best city in the country. I wish we had a bit more investment in infrastructure but the central government funnels most of the money into Catalonia. A

It's the best city in the country. I wish we had a bit more investment in infrastructure but the central government funnels most of the money into Catalonia. Also higher wages for IT would be good.

bwb 5y ago
Agreed... I wish I could live there, but the wealth tax makes it impossible as I would owe 70% or more of my income :( Which sucks as I just started a new business and was going to hire and build the business there but moved to Portugal instead. Spain really makes it impossible to have a startup with their broken tax system. I hope the Feb 2022 conference fixes that mess.
- Darmody 5y ago
  Yeah, Spain is a tax hell and the goverment keeps telling us they are actually lower than the European median, which is kind of true but also a big lie. Some European countries have higher taxes (VAT and income) but also many exemptions to help new businesses which will end up generating wealth and paying taxes. I don't know if you've heard about our last "startup law". New companies will pay a corporate tax of 15% instead of 25% the first years, which is stupid because no company makes money their first years so they don't actually have to pay anything. As a piece of propaganda it looks well but it's useless. Then we have our broken pension system which eats almost 40% of the annual budget and everybody I know under 55 knows for a fact that they won't get one when they retire.
  - bwb 5y ago
    Ya, I saw that startup stuff and laughed :) Especially since the wealth tax punishes giving equity to employees as well. IE, if someone has stock options or stock in a company worth $1 million they have to pay taxes on that every year, and if the company folds they are screwed and have nothing, they don't even get a tax credit for what they paid in on that valuation. It is one of the worst thought out tax systems I've ever seen. Nobody who invests in startups can ever live in Spain due to this system (verified this with several large accounting firms). I also laugh as everyone just puts their money into real estate and that way they avoid the wealth tax by hiring someone at low wages and saying it is a business. But, that drives up the cost of housing... I love taxes, but they have to make sense and work as a cohesive system. My dream is they increase property taxes, drop the wealth tax, and better align the progressive taxation for families. Some of the latest moves are weird as they also punish families by taxing individual units of the family...
    - Darmody 5y ago
      Culturally the "empresario" or business man is considered evil in Spain and hence he has to be taxed and subdued. That's why people want to be funcionarios. They get a job for life where they can't be fired and nothing are expected from them. I guess I'll have to move in the end if I don't want to spend my whole life earning less than 30k, paying high taxes and receiving nothing in exchange.
      - bwb 5y ago
        Ya, it is weird to watch as I am a dual American/EU citizen and somehow both Spain and the USA are failing to make the economic system work for 70% of their citizens. Spain has gone way too far in protecting labor, and the USA falls very short. And, both situations nobody has a real future... just low pay, less options, and less dependability. I feel for young people in Spain, you graduate and then you get shuffled around in "permalance" positions by horrible bosses. The stories I heard were insane. I hope you end up somewhere good. I've met a lot of Portuguese lately that are working remote for German and American companies which was working well for them.
        Darmody 5y ago
        I've been thinking about Estonia. Relatively high wages in IT and everything is cheap. We'll see...

It's the best city in the country. I wish we had a bit more investment in infrastructure but the central government funnels most of the money into Catalonia. Also higher wages for IT would be good.

bwb 5y ago

Agreed... I wish I could live there, but the wealth tax makes it impossible as I would owe 70% or more of my income :( Which sucks as I just started a new business and was going to hire and build the business there but moved to Portugal instead. Spain really makes it impossible to have a startup with their broken tax system. I hope the Feb 2022 conference fixes that mess.

Darmody 5y ago
Yeah, Spain is a tax hell and the goverment keeps telling us they are actually lower than the European median, which is kind of true but also a big lie. Some European countries have higher taxes (VAT and income) but also many exemptions to help new businesses which will end up generating wealth and paying taxes. I don't know if you've heard about our last "startup law". New companies will pay a corporate tax of 15% instead of 25% the first years, which is stupid because no company makes money their first years so they don't actually have to pay anything. As a piece of propaganda it looks well but it's useless. Then we have our broken pension system which eats almost 40% of the annual budget and everybody I know under 55 knows for a fact that they won't get one when they retire.
- bwb 5y ago
  Ya, I saw that startup stuff and laughed :) Especially since the wealth tax punishes giving equity to employees as well. IE, if someone has stock options or stock in a company worth $1 million they have to pay taxes on that every year, and if the company folds they are screwed and have nothing, they don't even get a tax credit for what they paid in on that valuation. It is one of the worst thought out tax systems I've ever seen. Nobody who invests in startups can ever live in Spain due to this system (verified this with several large accounting firms). I also laugh as everyone just puts their money into real estate and that way they avoid the wealth tax by hiring someone at low wages and saying it is a business. But, that drives up the cost of housing... I love taxes, but they have to make sense and work as a cohesive system. My dream is they increase property taxes, drop the wealth tax, and better align the progressive taxation for families. Some of the latest moves are weird as they also punish families by taxing individual units of the family...
  - Darmody 5y ago
    Culturally the "empresario" or business man is considered evil in Spain and hence he has to be taxed and subdued. That's why people want to be funcionarios. They get a job for life where they can't be fired and nothing are expected from them. I guess I'll have to move in the end if I don't want to spend my whole life earning less than 30k, paying high taxes and receiving nothing in exchange.
    - bwb 5y ago
      Ya, it is weird to watch as I am a dual American/EU citizen and somehow both Spain and the USA are failing to make the economic system work for 70% of their citizens. Spain has gone way too far in protecting labor, and the USA falls very short. And, both situations nobody has a real future... just low pay, less options, and less dependability. I feel for young people in Spain, you graduate and then you get shuffled around in "permalance" positions by horrible bosses. The stories I heard were insane. I hope you end up somewhere good. I've met a lot of Portuguese lately that are working remote for German and American companies which was working well for them.
      - Darmody 5y ago
        I've been thinking about Estonia. Relatively high wages in IT and everything is cheap. We'll see...