Best Place in the world to live?

[Matthew Kane 1,343]

I never expected this thread to last this long.....I have been away for a while due to work.

 

Just wanted to say all the best everyone and keep on boasting about the place were you live.

 

If you ever get a chance you must see this movie from Australia called the Castle, it is a must see for everyone:

 

[HawkDsl 50]

That's because we don't bankrupt families to pay for others

 

Instead, we bankrupt ourselves trying to pay for our own families.

 

Politics aside:

 

San Diego , Ca. USA is the best place to live. 360 days of sunshine, 86 (F) degrees average temp year round. Short Driving/Flying to the beautiful west half of the USA.

[TurboTomato 90]

Anyone who loves paying higher taxes is welcome to pay my taxes. Anyone interested please ping me and I'll let you know how much I owe. You can then contact the Internal Revenue Services and tell them you're paying the taxes for Huascar Lopez.

 

Out of interest how much tax do you pay as an overall percentage of your income? Maybe we can confirm or debunk a few myths... :wink:

[Airbus Commander 563]

Out of interest how much tax do you pay as an overall percentage of your income? Maybe we can confirm or debunk a few myths... :wink:

Well lets see here, lets run some numbers:

 

Edit: Hold on, what am I thinking posting my income like that on the web...

 

Total Tax: Not important.

Total Family Income: Not important

Tax as Total Percentage: 33.24%

And then we get €280 back every month as child benefit, so that's €3,360 back each year directly as money from the state.. If you include that as a tax credit, then total tax works out as Not Important which is a percentage over all of 32.07% rate of tax. seems fair given what we get in return.

 

Regards,

Ró.

Edited September 3, 2012 by Rónán O Cadhain

[TurboTomato 90]

Do you have NI and a level of Person Allowance in ROI Ró?

 

Doing a quick calc (not taking into account my other half's income) I pay about 24% overall, but then my income is rather less than Ró's

[Airbus Commander 563]

Do you have NI and a level of Person Allowance in ROI Ró?

 

Doing a quick calc (not taking into account my other half's income) I pay about 24% overall, but then my income is rather less than Ró's

May do, but not by those names? What are they exactly?

PS. Sorry about the income thing, I did you the calculations on a word document then posted them here with out thinking straight.... :blush: :wacko:

 

Regards,

Ró

[TurboTomato 90]

S'alright, your secret is safe with me

 

Person Allowance is the income you earn that's not subject to income tax (£8105 in the UK), and NI is the abbreviation for National Insurance - effectively just another tax calculated from your gross income. In theory it pays for the welfare state.

[Airbus Commander 563]

S'alright, your secret is safe with me

 

Person Allowance is the income you earn that's not subject to income tax (£8105 in the UK), and NI is the abbreviation for National Insurance - effectively just another tax calculated from your gross income. In theory it pays for the welfare state.

Ah, right.

 

First on the personal allowance, we pay tax on everything, then we get a thing called a tax credit. So to take a simple example, lets say income was 30,000 with a 33% tax. You'd have a tax bill of 10,000, but say you had tax credits of 6000, then the tax you have to pay is 4000. Basically tax credits are similar to your personal allowance, like if you earned 18,000 with a 33% rate, then you tax bill is 6000, but your tax credits are 6000, so you pay no tax. However, say you earned 15,000, tax rate of 33% means you have to pay 5000 in tax, 6000 tax credits mean you have no tax to pay, but you DO NOT get the extra 1000 back, it doesn't count towards anything. Does that explain clearly enough my answer?

 

With regards national insurance, we have a thing called PRSI, Pay Related Social Insurance, it's a set percentage taken from the tax we pay, and it's earmarked for social welfare (Dole) and State Pension once you retire. Think that's pretty much the same thing as you're talking about, but it's not a seperate tax AFAIK, it's included in there...

 

Regards,

Ró.

[Dave Morgan 68]

Hi.

 

San Diego , Ca. USA is the best place to live. 360 days of sunshine, 86 (F) degrees average temp year round. Short Driving/Flying to the beautiful west half of the USA.

 

That sounds very attractive.

 

I thought I'd try another change of direction with some photos of home... anyone else have favourite pics?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The only drawback is 360 days of rain a year...

 

Cheers,

D

[TurboTomato 90]

Ok yeah that makes sense.

 

NI is separate in the UK and can be used rather sneakily - politicians will say some spiel about not increasing the main rate of income tax (or even reducing it) and then increasing the NI rate in the small print of the budget. Another good one is to shout about increasing your personal allowance (great, more income not subject to tax!) and then lower the rate at which higher rate tax kicks in but keep rather quiet about it...

 

Would be interested to hear what our overseas counterparts have to say :smile:

 

*Nice pics*

 

Are you in the Brecon Beacons Dave?

[HawkDsl 50]

I'm Curious about the Rock Pile there.. I'm a big fan of ruins.

[Ps762 0]

Hi!

 

Sorry to write so late and maybe off topic but thought I'd give an answer (for what it's worth). For me the best place to live is with my family. I really don't care where that is. Of course if there's a computer there with FsX too that is even better! My family is from Northern Iraq originally and although Iraq is probably the World's worst country to go to it would be nice to visit my "homeland" or even live there one day. However this is extremely unlilkely so I fly there occasionally in Fsx which is probably better than the real thing anyway!

 

The country where I have lived though where people were by far the happiest and most friendly was Vanuatu in the South Pacific. it is not nirvana or anything and there are problems like anywhere but it was interesting because the people there had absolutely no desire to move somewhere "developed" and make lots of money. They were happy with each other!

 

Many thanks.

 

P.

[Huascar 179]

I am at about 20% tax rate. In the U.S. we have a progressive tax system. If you make more than 250k you're taxed at a 35% rate. The president wants to increase it to 40% for those making for than 250k. It's not as bad as it is in some European countries but that's where Mr. Obama wants to take our country.

 

Essentially, the welfare state seeks to transfer wealth from the productive class to the non-productive class of our society in the name of social equality. It hasn't worked in Europe and it sure won't work in the United States. The European societies are over-taxed and it is why you're seeing high unemployment and its economies on the verge of collapse. And Germany has to pay for the irresponsible countries such like Greece? Welfare programs should only be reserved for the incapacitated, those who can't make it own their own. But if you have a set of hands and brain, you're must find your way.

[Matthew Kane 1,343]

I thought I'd try another change of direction with some photos of home... anyone else have favourite pics?

 

Here is a picture from Battle hill overlooking our valley and town we live in down below. This is where I do most of my mountain biking:

 

This is where I currently spend my weekends, skiing the glaciers up on Mount Ruphehu:

 

 

[Airbus Commander 563]

Well, seeing as we're posting pics of our homes, here's where I grew up in Galway on the west coast of Ireland:

 

 

 

 

Nice, eh? Tis home anyway, regardless of how barren and infertile it is...

 

Oh look, a sheep...

 

Regards,

Ró.