markvdb

5 ms·

31.
by markvdb 2mo ago
Just replacing expensive fossil energy with cheap renewables and storage doesn't help. The problem is Jevons paradox. Cheaper energy means more consumption. A sensible global policy could be: - Tax carbon positive energy consumption to
32.
by markvdb 2mo ago
By EU standards, that is expensive and low power for balcony power. It this US regulatory capture, China import rates, something else, all of the above?
33.
by markvdb 2mo ago
- There is no "we", but it would take "we" to fix this. - There is a global scale issue, but no consensus on this being a problem. Not at the global, continental, local or individual level. FFS, there are idiots proudly
34.
by markvdb 3mo ago
Not necessarily. At least in Flanders (northern ~half of Belgium), this was shifted onto consumers by making them pay for peak quarter consumption. Using more than 2.5kW for 15 minutes in a row on average means you pay a lot more for your f
35.
by markvdb 3mo ago
The core of the EU system is much more elegant. It sets a day-ahead production price per 15 minutes at auction. In EU countries with reasonable distribution cost, dynamic rates are a quite popular way to shift consumption to when cheap elec
36.
by markvdb 3mo ago
Conserving energy makes sense regardless of nearby data center electricity consumption.
37.
by markvdb 3mo ago
Same here.
38.
by markvdb 3mo ago
This holds for Belgium too. The notary class here are overpaid self-dealing monopolists selling you mediocre service at best. We were just required to pay 801€ for a bog standard piece of paper. A web form would have served us better and mo
39.
by markvdb 3mo ago
Of my many many acquaintances with Belgian CIT liable companies, exactly one used to do their own taxes. They still outsourced salary payment though. That is even trickier than taxes. There's an entire sector specialising in wage admin
40.
by markvdb 3mo ago
Substance would be real activity happening in Estonia: - Where are the decisions made? - Where is the work being done? Why would I otherwise pay 66% in taxes in Belgium when I could just set up an Estonian ltd, get limited liability and pay
41.
by markvdb 3mo ago
You mean German CIT and German PIT I assume. How happy would the US IRS be with that?
42.
by markvdb 3mo ago
Belgium mandates peppol for b2b transactions since January 1st. This at least carries the potential of simplifying things for honest businesses.
43.
by markvdb 3mo ago
OECD CFC rules have become much stricter in this regard...
44.
by markvdb 3mo ago
...and move to Ireland.
45.
by markvdb 3mo ago
> If you think about starting a company, spend some time to think through what it would mean for you to be a Delaware C Corp or an Estoinian one. It will increase your chances of success as you can focus on what matters. Moving to Estoni
46.
by markvdb 3mo ago
Substance in Estonia is usually required. A rented address does not suffice for that.
47.
by markvdb 3mo ago
Not incorporating would be very fiscally suboptimal here (.be) for anything tech related. Your marginal tax+ social security contributions rate would be ~66% starting from 50k€ gross...
48.
by markvdb 3mo ago
> If you can file all of the taxes and other legally required paperwork yourself, you can be set up in a week or two. Is realistic in the Netherlands to try and fulfill all formal paperwork requirements? In my native Belgian city, outsou
49.
by markvdb 3mo ago
Of course not. They'll just claim your llc needs to pay local corporate income taxe, VAT, pay local social security, dividend withholding tax, ... on top of whatever needs to happen to keep US authorities happy.
50.
by markvdb 3mo ago
> You'll never get waste management below about 300 years with fission, because that's basically what you get from the fission products. That's at least one and probably more like five wars over the reactor territory. I&#x
51.
by markvdb 3mo ago
If I set up a US llc as a Belgian while residing in Belgium, Belgian tax authorities will claim the center of control is in Belgium and claim it is a Belgian company.
52.
by markvdb 3mo ago
He mentioned German exit tax is keeping him from doing that.
53.
by markvdb 3mo ago
Yes. Can't just emigrate. No substance in the US meaning your llc would be liable for tax as if it were an llc in the country where you reside. You'd basicly double the liabilities and administration for no good reason.
54.
by markvdb 3mo ago
3 to 4 months is standard procedure in Belgium.
55.
by markvdb 3mo ago
The real problem becomes substance in Estonia? Residence, local director, office, ...
56.
by markvdb 3mo ago
Especially as a solo entrepreneur, your llc would have to have substance in the Netherlands. Otherwise, it risks getting requalified as a country-where-you-reside llc. Why would you otherwise voluntarily subject yourself to the extreme comp
57.
by markvdb 3mo ago
That could work _if_ your company has actual substance in the US. Otherwise you just expose yourself to much bigger problems.
58.
by markvdb 3mo ago
The following one-liner works for (exactly) 8 pages: pdfjam in.pdf '1,8,7,6' --angle 180 --outfile /dev/stdout | pdfjam /dev/stdin '1-4' test.pdf '2,3,4,5' --nup 4x2 --landscape --frame fals
59.
by markvdb 4mo ago
> I guess we should stop having large, complicated projects. Potable water mains, road and rail networks, the power grid, the internet, bridges, medicine, etc, are all too complicated for humans to manage. I'd rather see this simpli
60.
by markvdb 4mo ago
Compact, mass produced nuclear energy projects with no nuclear proliferation risk and radioactive waste management time limited to less than one human generation's professional career span. That seems like a decent baseline to me. Not

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