So… I’m vacationing in HK before I start my new gig next week and was l researching the tax differences.
HK: max income tax is set at 17%. No VAT. No cap gains. No sales tax. So basically you max out at 17%.
NYC: I’ll pay about 37%. Then stack on the 7% sales tax…
In terms of living, HK and NYC are about the same. Infrastructure seems a lot better in HK, which shows that nyc poorly manages its finances in comparison.
So I find myself thinking… Wtf?! Seems like this might be a better choice if I could pull it off one day and don’t mind living in Asia.
The layout of HK is pretty cool. I remember walking down and up these open escalators everyday since the area was basically a huge hill. Lan kwai fong is a great place to check out. The local areas are also really close by. I’m also a huge fan of the Octopus card system and wish they had it in the US.
But if you can’t speak cantonese or read chinese I’d recommend making some local friends quickly b/c u need those to go to local places.
There is no question that HK is run much more efficiently than NYC. Compare the taxes, cleanliness, subway, roads, etc. in HK to NYC. While there is congestion in HK and real estate prices are high, this is due to their restrictive geography, which they can’t change.
However, HK achieves this efficiency by being a far less democratic society than the US. Elections are done through panels of industry representatives (and the President of HK is called the “Chief Executive”). Homeless shelters in HK literally have cages for the hobos. Social safety nets are much worse than the US.
HK is a good place to live if you are educated and successful, and can take advantage of the open economy. NY is perhaps more suitable if you care about income equality or believe that everyone should get a decent standard of living (regardless of luck, talent or effort).
Well, so far I am the only one at our monthly expat-eskimo-get-togethers and don’t get me started on the igloo, it didn’t even last a week but the low income tax and the swiss chocolate make up for it!
I often think about this, “where would i be making the most money” but the question always goes back to “why do I need the money for”.
Think about it, are you making money for the sake of making money or are you using money to buy safety and justice, health care, good education for your children, moderate climate, clean water and air, culture, etc…
I wouldn’t want to live in a city ONLY because i make the most after-tax income, that doesn’t mean much to me. I’d rather make less but i get to enjoy other things for FREE like some of the things i mentioned above.
I’m sure somebody put quality time into that article, but it doesn’t seem comprehensive… I mean I live in one of the least expensive large cities in the US that doesn’t show up anywhere on that list. I don’t have any first hand experience of Switzerland, but my ex gf spent a summer there and said everything was quite expensive, so I don’t know if salaries are that much higher to compensate.
It would be interesting to know exactly what definition they are using of each of those cities. For example, Zurich itself is pretty small, less than 400k people, but the Zurich MSA is closer to 2MM people. Which Zurich are they talking about? Similarly, is NYC just the 5 boroughs w/ 8MM people, or the MSA with 19MM people?