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GT> I have been watching European
GT> rates recently, and have noted the following:
You should add that EVERY European country has its own legislation and that
not only includes taxes. E.g. in Germany, you must pay many mantadory
"ensurances" that often should be labeled taxes - half of that is payed by the
employer, percent of income before taxes:
- pension ensurance (19%)
- health ensurance (12-15%)
- unemployment ensurance (I think 14%)
- disabled care ensurance (2%)
Normal income tax (payed by the employee) is 25 to 53% with some minimum wage
untaxed. Bottom line: If you are reasonable well payed and have no children,
your pay check is about half your income or even less...
Taxes went up a lot since German unification. You cannot imagine the leftovers
of the former GDR. Within a few years, these "Five New States" will have a
completely new infrastructure, as much of the old infrastructure predated the
Second World War or was of extremely low quality.
