about the tax
so south africa wants to take 40% of my global income on all my trading activities. then i have to pay another 14% in VAT on everything i purchase. then if i buy a car there's about 100% tax on that. and then there's about 60% fuel levy, all the local taxes, ground tax and so on. and then all the hidden taxes.
if i stay in south africa i'd lose about 70% of my income, while for example all those taxi millionaires don't pay one cent.
south africa's internet is probably among the top 10 most expensive in the world. to put it into perspective. a hotel room in thailand for a month with unlimited dsl internet is cheaper than my phone bill in south africa.
added to that, even with all those taxes the country is having rolling power cuts, as they didn't use the taxes to add capacity.
as a trader i need internet and electricity. having had poor and extremely expensive services probably delayed me for at least three years. eventually i gave up and had to hire servers in other countries to run my software.
the short answer is no. i'm not doing it. 70% of my income for rolling power cuts and internet that's being delivered at a 1000% mark up? don't think so. not going to happen.
then there's exchange controls. if i build wealth in south africa i can't take it anywhere else. so between the tax and exchange controls i can't think of a single reason to do anything back home. i'd rather pay tax to the thai, at least they paid for my diving medical the other day.
and if it doesn't make sense to me, it's not going to make sense to anybody who has enough resources to have options. in other words, everyone with 5 spare cents will go. and this is true for most countries. the world has changed. the rich shop around for the best tax rate. heavy taxes kill the golden goose.
hong kong will charge me 17% and if i run it through to singapore it will cost me 0%. i'm not working in either of those countries, or any other country, and i am no longer a taxable resident in south africa as i'm never there. and haven't been back long enough for some time to become one.
i'm afraid everyone's going to sit in the dark in south africa in a decade or so, wondering where the hell the money went. it's in the east. do come visit...
if i stay in south africa i'd lose about 70% of my income, while for example all those taxi millionaires don't pay one cent.
south africa's internet is probably among the top 10 most expensive in the world. to put it into perspective. a hotel room in thailand for a month with unlimited dsl internet is cheaper than my phone bill in south africa.
added to that, even with all those taxes the country is having rolling power cuts, as they didn't use the taxes to add capacity.
as a trader i need internet and electricity. having had poor and extremely expensive services probably delayed me for at least three years. eventually i gave up and had to hire servers in other countries to run my software.
the short answer is no. i'm not doing it. 70% of my income for rolling power cuts and internet that's being delivered at a 1000% mark up? don't think so. not going to happen.
then there's exchange controls. if i build wealth in south africa i can't take it anywhere else. so between the tax and exchange controls i can't think of a single reason to do anything back home. i'd rather pay tax to the thai, at least they paid for my diving medical the other day.
and if it doesn't make sense to me, it's not going to make sense to anybody who has enough resources to have options. in other words, everyone with 5 spare cents will go. and this is true for most countries. the world has changed. the rich shop around for the best tax rate. heavy taxes kill the golden goose.
hong kong will charge me 17% and if i run it through to singapore it will cost me 0%. i'm not working in either of those countries, or any other country, and i am no longer a taxable resident in south africa as i'm never there. and haven't been back long enough for some time to become one.
i'm afraid everyone's going to sit in the dark in south africa in a decade or so, wondering where the hell the money went. it's in the east. do come visit...
Labels: new south africa, non tax resident, tax
posted by elkart coetzee at
1:26 AM
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