[rcbdev]

I'm from Vienna - CoL compared to salaries here is pretty high but managable with social housing.

It's just that my friend working for a subsidiary of my employer in Zürich makes 3x as much, gets to keep a lot more of that money due to the significantly lower tax burden and then after that her CoL is ~2-2.5x what it is here.

Additionally, her salary is paid in CHF which is deflationary while I get my money in Eurozone Funbucks. As you might know, Austria has been a European inflation leader in the last 1-2 years (~10%).

Compared to the Swiss we are completely and utterly underpaid. For equivalent work and similar living conditions she's left with almost double the money at the end of the year. Note: We both do not live lavishly by any means.

[FirmwareBurner]

Yeah well, that's the cost of the Austrian welfare state and the "m'uh most livable city in the world" which is only so livable if you're on cheap social housing instead of paying private market rates.

And now the people expect even more handouts from the state to combat the insane inflation and the higher consumer prices than in Germany and even higher corporate and "high-icome" taxes to fund it all because that's what people vote for, whichever party promises more handouts and getting rid of foreigners, so say goodbye to all the skilled workers ever thinking about moving there to pay taxes.

The country is going down the drain and the rats are leaving the sinking ship. Last one to leave please turn off the lights.

[rcbdev]

Austria was never really a sought after destination for skilled immigrants since WW2 - just compare the quality of Turks or Yugoslavs that arrived in Switzerland vs. those that wanted to live in Austria.

This is even quantifiable to some extent when comparing the total economic output of the migrants in CH vs AT. Like night and day.

We're a tiny country governed by laws and systems created for and by a huge monarchy.

[FirmwareBurner]

Sure, but nobody in Austria wants to change that in order to improve the situation and make it attractive to skilled workers, high earners and investors both local and from abroad.

Ask on Austria subreddit and everyone thinks Austrian SW devs are overpaid and should be taxed even higher eve though a developer from Poland or even Romania or Bulgaria makes more than them, or unionized bus driver for the local public transport company makes as much as a SW dev while having better benefits and job security to boot.

Ask them if there should be any tax breaks for skilled foreigners to come here like in the NL and everyone will think you're crazy. People vote for worse conditions for foreigners and high earners out of spite and for as much welfare as possible for the idle and lazy who know how to work the system.

Given this, is it any surprise that no skilled foreigner with high earning potential wants to work in Austria? You reap what you saw. If you wage a pitches and forks which-hunt against skilled workers and high earners, but of course not on those with massive untaxed inherited wealth who pay zero taxes, that's what you get, an unsustainable Ponzi welfare and pension scheme that will collapse in the future.