Old Thickos versus Young Educated

[vetran]

Ahhh but back then we had something to trade. It was the old ones that destroyed out manufacturing industry with constant strikes and poor manufacturing quality.

yep now we have a race to the bottom for the wages.

[bobspud]

It doesn't actually work like that. If you worked in another European country or two you would soon learn that.

The likes of the large companies you mentioned have offices in the country, and if the tax and/or employment laws demand it comply.

You are basically blaming the UK government for being tulip by having a complex tax code with loads of loop holes which large companies exploit, on the EU.

Actually I have done quite a bit of traveling in the past it never affected my UK salary as an employee. Back in 2002-3 I spent a year traveling between Sweden and then Holland working on a UK telecom's projects for a large provider my UK wages stayed the same. I didn't contribute any more cash in those local countries taxes or pay local equivalents of NI. I just had a nice company credit card that honoured euro denominations and worked for a UK business that paid me in £ at home while I went on a expenses fuelled jolly. The company in question didn't operate offices in those countries we just rocked up and then sent them the bill and fled. Wether or not that was legal is not my issue but its how it worked. The company is long gone now so I guess we will never know how they accounted for my time in those countries. In the last year agents working for have HP approached me several times for roles that would be paid out of Germany in € while I worked from home in England on German projects and as far as they were concerned it was fine to just pay tax in the UK and ignore the Germans altogether. I declined as the only people I want to meet less than HMRC are their German cousins

[bobspud]

Somewhat ironic. I had a UK client which I won over local talent because I din't have to charge VAT.

Long live 'cash accounting', works in most EU countries expect for, guess which...

Err I think you are supposed to tell the client that they are responsible for paying VAT to HMRC on the invoice you send them...

[VectraMan]

Im guessing you don't bill your clients in UK£ or run your renumeration through a UK Ltd entity while working in the EU? To me there should be no difference between my UK limited company sending a consultant to France for a month or HP doing the same. In reality my company will get screwed up the wazzoo while HP can do what it wants. so much for no barriers for trade...

It's a fair point, but a) it's the same the world over, would be the same whether we're in the EU or not, and is nothing to do with the EU; in fact it's amazing when we constantly hear how every aspect of our lives is run centrally from Brussels nobody picks up on the fact that every state has its own tax system. And b) The Kippers would be the screaming bloody murder if those foreign types could get away with working here whilst paying taxes in their home country.

[bobspud]

It's a fair point, but a) it's the same the world over, would be the same whether we're in the EU or not, and is nothing to do with the EU; in fact it's amazing when we constantly hear how every aspect of our lives is run centrally from Brussels nobody picks up on the fact that every state has its own tax system. And b) The Kippers would be the screaming bloody murder if those foreign types could get away with working here whilst paying taxes in their home country.

They already do. Have you never looked at how an intracompany transfer works for the likes of Tata and Wipro? No employee taxes are being paid in this country.

[NotAllThere]

+1

Why the young ones back home don't flock to EU universities for free education is nothing more than a lack of knowledge. I remember the UCAS form filling days. Studying abroad doesn't come into it. The number of US students here in Munich alone has jumped a fair few since the time I've been here. None knew more than 50% of courses were taught in English let alone knew they were paid for by the state. So much win.

There are quite a few places that accept English speakers. But for the majority of reputable universities, although the course are taught in English, for a Bachelors, local language ability is required. If you can speak fluent German (well, B2) you can study at Basel or ETHZ for ~£500 a semester. Or in Germany for nowt.

Where you can really save money is on Masters and PhDs. Those are usually in English. Of course, post Brexit, you'll be fuxed.

[darmstadt]

They already do. Have you never looked at how an intracompany transfer works for the likes of Tata and Wipro? No employee taxes are being paid in this country.

And what's that got to do with the EU? Surely that's due to the absolute shambles that is the UK tax system?

[darmstadt]

+1

Why the young ones back home don't flock to EU universities for free education is nothing more than a lack of knowledge. I remember the UCAS form filling days. Studying abroad doesn't come into it. The number of US students here in Munich alone has jumped a fair few since the time I've been here. None knew more than 50% of courses were taught in English let alone knew they were paid for by the state. So much win.

There are quite a few places that accept English speakers. But for the majority of reputable universities, although the course are taught in English, for a Bachelors, local language ability is required. If you can speak fluent German (well, B2) you can study at Basel or ETHZ for ~£500 a semester. Or in Germany for nowt.

Where you can really save money is on Masters and PhDs. Those are usually in English. Of course, post Brexit, you'll be fuxed.

Actually it's a slight fallacy that you don't pay in Germany, tuition fees on the whole are free but there is an administrative charge each semester plus after around either 4-6 semesters then there is a basic fee.

[SueEllen]

They already do. Have you never looked at how an intracompany transfer works for the likes of Tata and Wipro? No employee taxes are being paid in this country.

And I suppose you are blaming that on the EU rather than UK?

[sirja]

I am still undecided but leaning ever closer to voting remain. I just feel the 'Out' guys have simply not articulated a clear picture of how the country will compete in a post exit world. They keep blowing all this hot air about 'We will trade with the world blah blah' . Of course we will continue trading, we already trade with most of the world anyway, the point is we will be in a very weak position to strike Trade Deals with other major countries. The reason it's taking so long for Canada and the EU to strike a trade deal is because the EU can drive a hard bargain due to the size of it's market. The same thing with TITIP. The UK on it's own would not have such leverage so it's either we continue to trade on basic WTO rules, or we strike trade deals with other countries, on much worse terms than we could have got being in the EU. To put it bluntly , I simply can't see how the UK would be able to trade with China, India, Canada, The US...etc on more favorable terms outside the EU than in it.