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We have a really talented engineer on our team (in the US), who has a green card and everything. He's taking a job in Brussels, he said very plainly hes not sti
by weatherlight 8mo ago
We have a really talented engineer on our team (in the US), who has a green card and everything. He's taking a job in Brussels, he said very plainly hes not sticking around to find out what happens next. I don't blame him.
- systemtest 8mo agoIf you are able to make it work in Belgium it's a great move. Free education, free healthcare, 20 days PTO minimum, public transport, 15 weeks of maternity leave, labor protections, basically no crime, no guns, no weekly school shootings, total tax rate of at most 60%.
- ryandrake 8mo agoThis person is leaving a regime where the physical safety and liberties of immigrants like him/her are in jeopardy, and HN starts a 50+ comment thread about high taxes. Peak commentary.
- rondaerth92 8mo agoAbsolutely not. What a depressing country. Soulless people. Literally. Try Belgium in winter. And today with the European white guilt it's full of Africans who hate not only their people , but European traditions and culture. This is the reality.
- garbawarb 8mo agoEspecially if the salary is the same
- joe_mamba 8mo agoDo you know any companies in Belgium that pay US salaries?
- archagon 8mo agoAnd world-class beer if you’re into that!
- mysterydip 8mo ago60% is a selling point? How high do they go elsewhere?
- phs318u 8mo agoThe top marginal tax rate in 2024 (assessed 2025) was 50%. But that's not the total tax take - that's the marginal rate of tax for income above 48320 euro. You can see the Belgian tax scale here: https://fin.belgium.be/en/private-individuals/tax-return/income/tax-rates https://fin.belgium.be/en/private-individuals/tax-return/inc...
- systemtest 8mo agoWhat I meant to say is that even if you have a very high income you will never pay more than 60% in total tax and social premiums. On €100,000 a year you pay €57,512 in tax (58% tax). On €60,000 a year it's only €32,405 (54%). See: https://be.talent.com/tax-calculator?salary=100000&from=year®ion=Belgium https://be.talent.com/tax-calculator?salary=100000&from=year... https://be.talent.com/tax-calculator?salary=60000&from=year®ion=Belgium https://be.talent.com/tax-calculator?salary=60000&from=year&...
- joe_mamba 8mo ago>even if you have a very high income you will never pay more than 60% in total tax and social premiums. Are there EU countries where you pay more than 60% for you make the "no more than 60% tax" sound like such a good deal? AFAIK 60% is pretty much the top end of income tax rates as far as EU goes.
- deleted 8mo ago[deleted]
- ncruces 8mo agoYes. Apart from the countries which live off of foreign direct investment, taxes are generally pretty high. Also, in many EU states, companies contribute to social security. In some this is indexed to profits, but on others this is indexed directly to wages, so if you count that bit, taxes directly attributable to your income can easily exceed 60% of what a company pays out. I don't know if Belgium is using that loophole when counting the 60%, though.
- joe_mamba 8mo ago[flagged]
- systemtest 8mo agoWhat you listed for the past 10 years in Belgium is an average week in Chicago. And Chicago had 2853 gun violence incidents in 2024. On a population of 2.7 million. Belgium had 184 incidents on a population of 11.8 million. That is about 67 times more incidents.
- joe_mamba 8mo ago>What you listed for the past 10 years in Belgium is an average week in Chicago. Wait a second friend, first you claim "basically no crime, no guns", then when confronted with the facts, instead of taking accountability and correcting, you move the goalposts to some high-crime US city. I'm sure Brussels is super safe if you use Mogadishu as the point of comparisons, but if we were to keep the discussion in good faith and stick to comparisons with EU cities, my eastern european city has literally zero crime and guns making Belgium look like a warzone by comparison. We have literally zero people killed by suicide explosives, guns or machetes compared to Brussels. How can people look at those crimes and go like "yeah, it's not so bad, you only have a relatively small chance of being killed" ?
- systemtest 8mo agoI meant compared to the US it has basically no crime. Total gun incidents in the US is 10x more than Belgium. And yes obviously there are guns in Belgian society but with no guns I was referring to how regular people don't walk around with guns. If you play football and your ball enters someone yard you don't have to worry about getting shot.
- rbanffy 8mo agoThese days in the US you need to worry about getting disappeared by a parallel police force.
- weatherlight 8mo agohe's taking a 50% paycut going from the US to Brussels, but its more than what he will be making in his home country i guess.
- BrandoElFollito 8mo agoThis is not easy to compare. When you take into account all the costs up to and after retirement this is another perspective. The cost of life is another factor. And then of course quality of life, but that's very individual.
- deleted 8mo ago[deleted]
- computerthings 8mo ago[dead]
- TacticalCoder 8mo ago[flagged]
- bradlys 8mo agoWhat country is he from?
- kamaal 8mo ago>>he said very plainly hes not sticking around to find out what happens next. Can't blame him, US residency really is a like a game of high attrition. Its your classic up or out scenario. Some times even a passport doesn't guarantee a stay. Sooner or later, you fall ill, lose a home, have a divorce. Its a unique combination of extreme luck, work, health and many other factors several of which are totally outside of your control. You either win spectacularly or exit trying.