Why Amazon's HQ is in this tiny country

[@m25533]

As a person who was born in Luxembourg and still lives here, I can tell you that there are actually some small mistakes in your video as you only interviewed 2 people but I must say your tour guide did an excellent job, otherwise you did an awesome job, a great video nonetheless. At the pharmacy everything is definitely not free! You will actually be refunded up to 80% by the healthcare department (or deducted right away upon presenting your social security card and these rates might vary depending on which medication you buy, many things in the pharmacy are not essential like lotions, cremes etc. so your refund for those types of products will be 0, that's how they generate most of their revenue). As your tour guide mentioned many youngsters are indeed moving out in order to get the most out of their salaries. There's a 50% risk among youngsters to fall below the poverty line because of the ridiculously high housing prices. The value of Real estate in Luxembourg has actually increased on average 7% per year going as high as 15%. Luxembourg is also a big melting pot, there's a big multinational community. People come here from all over the world, almost 50% of the residents are foreigners. You have people from many different nationalities and walks of life all living harmoniously and peacefully in the same place and there isn't a big segregation among the different socio-economic classes, they don't live very far apart as they're actually neighbours. It's not a perfect place to live in but still a great place, I love how many people from different nationalities come together. Small fun fact: The constitution is written in french as it is one among the 3 offical languages of Luxembourg and most people are capable of speaking atleast these 3 languages. I myself speak 5 languages and there's a famous news anchor that speaks 6 languages and also comes from Luxembourg, you may have seen some clips online of a guy speaking 6 languages effortlessly in front of a camera for CNN in various parts of the world.

[@DJ-K9]

True

[@MrIhcene]

I'm among the youngsters who work in Luxembourg and lives in France 😅 And I agree with you about the most of what you said

[@seal_seal]

Yeah even with the prescription I never got anything free from the pharmacy.

[@jeannedarc6957]

Bro it’s such a bliss to grow up speaking multiple languages 😢, I’m lowkey jealous

[@zenychua5465]

IT IS TRUE THAT LIV GROUP OF COMPANIES IS ONE OF THE TOO COMPANY IN LUXEMBOURG ANG IN THE WORLD

[@AnthonyLauder]

I lived in Luxembourg for a few years, working as a software developer at a bank. The salary was incredibly good. Plus, the bank gave us rent-free flats in the center of the city, and gave us a ridiculously high daily allowance for meals and other "incidental" expenses. This meant that I, and most of my colleagues, could save 100% of our salary, and live very well off just the daily allowance. Looking back on it, the amount of money involved was ridiculous. I can really understand why people continue to be drawn to the country.

[@awayfrmkeyboard]

hey mate may I know why you moved out?

[@AnthonyLauder]

@@awayfrmkeyboard I got a job in Dubai, for even more money.

[@eversons5659]

what programming language did you work with in luxembourg?

[@AnthonyLauder]

@@eversons5659 When I was there, it was all C++

[@aloksaraswat9427]

Hey ✨ Thanks for sharing your experience But I wanna know something from you...can you give me your Instagram ID or something

[@afarro]

So the locals are moving out because it’s getting more expensive and at the same time multi-national companies and their labour are pouring in … I think I’ve seen this movie before .. not good in a long run.

[@cigh7445]

Sounds like Ireland to be honest. It's a situation that benefits the affluent in society but not everybody.

[@tanyatatyana8323]

@@cigh7445 it sounds like boundless corporate greed, supported by the state. while the citizens take their bags and leave... This is how wealth is translated these days... Welcome profit, goodbye humanity and community!

[@cigh7445]

@@tanyatatyana8323 Exactly Tanya. In Ireland the top 10% (mostly the people who were already affluent anyway were able to capitalise on the opportunities) have benefitted a lot from the modern eras economic neoliberal zeitgeist - "'We' have never had it so good" they say from their ivory towers where they obsess about 'modernisation' and 'progress' while all authentic indigenous culture melts around them into Anglo-American citizenry for whom local 'culture' is merely performative. In fact, I believe that financially 40% of Irish society benefited from Ireland's 'Celtic Tiger', but the cost of this 'progress' is rarely acknowledged, not to mention the less visible 60% who didn't benefit as much

[@gobot4455]

Lol. Luxembourg was never cheap.

[@marlotree6909]

You will own nothing but you will be happy. Yip, the beast will take care of you but it will OWN you!

[@alex_v1983]

Unfortunatly this video presents a lot of incorrect info. Is clear that these persons talking about taxation and finance in LU have no financial knowledge to talk about financial matters, one of the guys is a nurse. Healthcare in LU is not free, I’m not sure how they came with that idea. Companies are taxed in LU.

[@Atrigraphy]

Be careful with those statistics: The GPD is often calculated by adding up all the money received by all the participants in the economy. We have about 500k active workers, of wich 220k are border-hoppers and actually live and pay rent in the neighbouring countries. This means that about a 3rd of the wages LEAVE Luxembourg! If you don't come from 'old' money here, you will struggle HARD to be able to afford any type of living accommodation... and that's talking rent. Buying a place is almost impossible unless you and your partner earn well above 5k each NET a month and have previously saved up a few hundred k...

[@tommyschintgen8464]

Absolutly true Buying a house for let's say a normal family with 5 members you need around 1.5 million euro to get a house with some small garden. At least from where I come from in Luxemburg (Roodt/Syr) That's just a simple house if you want something better and bigger it's way more expensive

[@alr6111]

You need to do more videos on interesting countries like Luxembourg, Cayman Islands, Cyprus, etc.

[@aaaaaa-hh8cq]

Luxembourg : its people are rich asf

[@jehsuwhbbsbbs350]

Also the Netherlands, we have a lot of tax advantages for multinationals.

[@maazkalim]

{Only-&-only to the OP: }“interesting”: Saw what you did there!

[@m25533]

@@aaaaaa-hh8cq No see that's where you are wrong, actually the majority of the population isn't rich, they're not poor either, but living in Luxembourg is very expensive and housing prices are ridiculous. While you can lead a relatively comfortable life working a normal job people still have to make some small sacrifices in order to own a house or an apartment in Luxembourg, so many young people usually move out to a neighbouring country and settle near the border and commute. PS: I live here and was actually born here so consider this as a first-hand account of how it is actually like living in Luxembourg.

[@Bambotb]

​@@jehsuwhbbsbbs350thats hiw you get a job

[@bogos5162]

People just don't realize that "free" means pre- or post-paid. Also the guy at the end says than many Luxemburgians are moving out sometimes it means they will live in a neighboring country but still working there. Also, for those who don't even know where Lux is located, this is a tiny country surrounded but 3 much bigger countries. some time ago I spend time there with Luxemburgian friends and, for ex. they say they bought books, meat and cheese in France, fruit and vegetables mostly in Belgium, and went to the doctor in Germany (bc"the doctors in Lux were too much like American doctors") and so on. On the other hand, cars and petrol were cheaper in Lux. Mind you, it is always short distances. This is also a difference btw Lux and Sing or Dubai

[@martinbanks7194]

Well Singaporeans do their groceries in Malaysia during weekends and they fill their vehicles with heavily subsidised gas which is illegal for foreigners 🤣. however I've never seen Singaporean renting or buying properties in malaysia

[@aqiluii]

@@martinbanks7194 Don't fill your vehiche with ron95 here. People will take picture and call you cheap skate.. 🤣 Ron97 also cheap for singapoean 👍🏽

[@m25533]

Luxembourgers* please do your research, thank you. Coming from Luxembourg myself, I can tell you people are moving out because of the ridiculous housing prices that increase up to about 7% per year on average and can increase their value way north of 15% per year which is quite ridiculous,so young people actually tend to move out and settle in a neighbouring country on the border. Going to the doctor in Germany is only really advantageous for people living in Germany. Doctors in Luxembourg are not at all like American doctors, whoever told you that is lying. I've lived all my life in Luxembourg and it's quite fascinating how many misconceptions and misinformation there are about this country.

[@trym3btch713]

@@m25533 voll denger Meenung 💪

[@endor8witch]

@@m25533 wrong! It's Luxembourginon

[@abishekmoosad342]

You know it hits different when one of your favorite content creators is showing my workplace in Luxembourg (KPMG) in one of his videos. Thanks for sharing Luxembourg to the world 😎

[@uptin]

Aww thanks so much! Wish I met you while I was there (Happened to be the Grand Duke celebration!)

[@rajeshkurichiopalli3051]

Lier

[@simjiasin7709]

Hey, mind sharing your experience and ways to land yourself this job in Luxembourg. Much appreciated!

[@abishekmoosad342]

@@uptin actually I was there at the celebration night. If you saw my office building looking like a beach, it's cause they host a beach party before the fire works 🤣. But seriously your reply made my day 😃

[@TheAlchemist1089]

Yo, is it easy for Indian nationals to immigrate to Luxembourg? I'm currently in the US. But taxes are high here 😒

[@theislandgirladventures]

"Luxembourg feels like Disneyland". Indeed, many places in Europe are felt like a giant theme park.

[@aaaaaa-hh8cq]

😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@jasonlucas2328]

Where is the dark side, for example, homeless people? Disneyland doesn't have homeless people because they need to pay to get in and can't sleep there overnight.

[@tanyatatyana8323]

@@jasonlucas2328 dark sides are everywhere, but people in they travel moods don't have time to face them...

[@CecilBranford]

From the perspective of an European, America feels like a Hollywood film 😂

[@lewitm4591]

@@jasonlucas2328 I live in Luxembourg and yes of course there are homeless people. Just as much as in other European countries in fact

[@LuxPlanes]

was nice seeing familiar places in this video, dont see much about Luxembourg on the internet very often. nice and informative video!

[@Expatemirati]

Thanks for this video. You are still my favorite KZbinr. I subscribed to your channel to watch these kinda videos. I love the way how you explain things in a very simple and comprehensive manner. Keep up the great work Uptin.

[@uptin]

Love to hear that, thanks for the support

[@ErikWP]

There's an extremely easy reason. How "rich" a country is, is for some reason determined by it's GDP divided by the number of residents. Most of the GDP in Luxembourg is generated by the thousands of workers living across the borders, in Germany, France or Belgium. However, they pay taxes in Luxembourg and so do the companies employing them. Luxembourg has nowhere near the "rich" vibe as Singapore or the UAE though. Cost of living in Luxembourg is insanely high and there's nowhere near as much variety in food as in Singapore.

[@andreif.2412]

As a Luxembourger, these kinds of videos always piss me off in how they get the basic facts wrong. People come visit the centre of the city, make their videos in the idyllic sceneries around the historical parts, or like here the business district, and say how everything is amazing and rosy. Fact is, there's a whole rest of the country, the south/south-east isn't nearly as nice and quite derelict. Think of drawing random borders around any more important city, or parts of it. If I were to visit the City of London proper, or Munich, then obviously I don't take those experiences as representative of the whole country. Inner West London is wealthier by many factors than Luxembourg with a multitude of the population, just pity it's not a country to make it on its own in the statistics to make headlines. Amazing GDP per capita headlines to quote in videos, what you don't hear is that 45% of the workforce aren't living in the country so they don't appear in the "capita" part of GDP per capita. And yes they do that because they can't afford it here - literally underpaid with a large percentage of working poor. Amazon not paying taxes by saying that their profits are negated by investments have nothing to do with Luxembourg tax laws. They can do that in many other countries even within the EU. That lady talking about pharmacies being free evidently doesn't have a clue of what she's talking about and the fact that things like that make into the video is just absurd bad fact-checking. What people should be talking about why companies come here: The flexible legal system in regards to the ICT sector. There's very strong and swift legislature in matters such as IP law, ICT security laws (many are EU headquartered here for this), all things that aren't related to tax or money.

[@ddt77ta]

Well said, thx

[@abishaipatel20]

Thank you for your comment

[@smileyhelps]

Typesch Lëtzebeuer ëmmer am Meckern.

[@woganchang]

Absolutely well done ! Well, as a student major in tax, I have to say that even in the past those giant tech didn’t pay no taxes, we just can say that they paid extremely low tax (while it was huge in lump sum for Luxembourg public finance) by using legal entity and international tax loopholes to minimize their tax. On the other hand, despite the global minimum taxes, I believe that Luxembourg government and big four tax team (represent their clients)will still cut a favorable tax deal to maintain attractive to foreign capital. To sum up, as they still capable to maintain their cutting edge compared to other EU member, the global minimum tax will dramatically boost Luxembourg public finance. Still a big win for Luxembourg.

[@rajeshupadhyay5683]

Well said! I am also here to learn how to invest after listening to a lady on tv talk about the importance of investing and how she made 7 figure in 3 month, somehow the video taught me nothing and left me even more confused, I'm a newbie and I'm open to ideas on how to invest for retirement

[@lezliewhicker8450]

@@rajeshupadhyay5683I'll suggest you lookup Teresa Jensen White, this is her name online, she's now the real investment prodigy since the crash and have help me recovered my loses

[@helginator]

Tax havens is not good for environment and global economic at all. I think system were the company's can set up tax heavens is exploitive for the country they are in even if that country get a benefit.

[@BriefNerdOriginal]

Very similar to what Switch does and how workers in Switzerland live. It's a shame that big corporations pay no taxes while shops and private citizens are taxed. It's also not sustainable, as the moment some of those corporations change location, the whole system falls apart.

[@CultureKonnect]

I recently learnt that Apple has more than 70/90 Billion dollars in Ireland and hasn’t moved it to US to avoid paying taxes. Probably Amazon accumulates all it’s Europe revenue in Luxembourg?

[@wats77]

Extremely well made video Uptin loved seeing the local and the expats' POV. Your content's quality is really consistent and it is educational. Keep up the great work, your long time fan.

[@uptin]

Thank you soo much!

[@4evertrue830]

No this video is not well done He needs to explain how much the country earns to pay for all the services it renders to the people for FREE.

[@BugattiChiron1500]

6:53 "companies like Luxemburg" *nice*

[@prettygaby18]

I studied abroad in Europe and visited Luxembourg. I didn’t realize it was one of the richest countries, but was surprised when the tour guide told us the rent prices

[@SirD1]

How much are rents?

[@Sashashka]

@@edfiridosa if you want a parking space and a separate bedroom in the city centre you easily reach 2k minimum

[@alr6111]

This is the video I have been waiting. Couldnt have come in a better time. Keep up the hard work!!!

[@gomezanderson1723]

I came here to learn how to trade after listening to a guy on radio talk about the importance of investing and how he made $460,000 in 4 months from $100k. Somehow this video has helped shed light on some things, but I'm confused, I'm a newbie and I'm open to ideas.

[@gerradeanderson2204]

The market has plenty of opportunities to earn a decent payouts, with the right skills and proper understanding of how the market works.

[@calebsarah9985]

@@gerradeanderson2204 Very true, a huge part of my portfolio growth has come during this bear market. I've been able to scale from $350K to $970K in a short period of time.

[@gerradeanderson2204]

@@calebsarah9985 I have made quite a stride on my own but How are you able to make that much?

[@gerradeanderson2204]

@@calebsarah9985I am aware of the benefits of consulting with a professional but haven't found one yet.

[@calebsarah9985]

@@gerradeanderson2204 It's by simply ìnvesting in the Crypt0 market, although I'm able to achieve with the help of my broker; NORA HENDRIX.

[@theyeshhh]

I love this channel. I get to know about so many new things! Great work.

[@aidenwinter1117]

Now this is a country with actual good brains working in the government

[@RayMak]

Tax is not always the solution. Happy citizens, happy country.

[@auguaauaguga6517]

At first I thought your channel is a tech channel then I realized it's about Countries and Cities Good content BTW

[@uptin]

I make videos about Tech, Money and Cultures!

[@Sashashka]

The last part kinda got me. It’s true that many Luxembourg-born people can’t afford to live here anymore because real estate prices are becoming insanely high. We are nearing 1 million € as the AVERAGE price for a house and ~600k € for an apartment. Rent is also ridiculously high. It’s sad really.

[@hanlosingit]

As a Singaporean, I was taken by surprise that you've mentioned Singapore. I would love to see a comparison betwixt Luxembourg and Singapore. I'd understand that you might have little expertise about Singapore (since most of your videos are Euro-centric) but I would love it if you could find your counterpart here and have a conversation about them, especially about free healthcare and transportation. I see some parallels with Singapore's economic status (i.e. higher living wage, higher rent) but I am no expert in it to understand fully.

[@uptin]

I actually lived in Singapore for a few years, and I'm going there next month!

[@caseybanana8114]

“Free” healthcare

[@hanlosingit]

@@uptin Looking forward to that video! 😄

[@asylum9868]

@@hanlosingit oviously Luxembourg is better

[@tanyatatyana8323]

@@caseybanana8114 nothing is free in Luxembourg, yep..

[@Minzalin]

I remember when you had a few thousand subscribers. So happy to see you growing, you deserve it.

[@brownsound69]

Great video! The housing situation that's happening in Luxembourg is exactly the same that's happening here in the State of Goa, India.

[@stephanelaranjeira5909]

Living in Switzerland and knowing very well Luxembourg here is my 2 cents: If you are rich, already own a house or work in real estate it’s a good country, otherwise run away like it’s the plague. Rents are higher in Luxembourg (with exceptions like Geneva, Zurich, Gstaad etc) but the salaries are almost half of the ones in Switzerland. Taxes are also lower on Switzerland for private persons so the math is quite simple to do! Yes we got no free TP or healthcare, but the majority of a family expenses are in housing. Most of the regular joes Luxembourgers that got rich was only because of the enormous real estate price hike, they brought something on the 80/90s for cheap and now is worth a lot. If you are young with nothing, good luck buying something there!

[@TheSoloExpat]

6:55 companies like Luxembourg 😂 didn’t know they were a company too

[@DistopiaKosaki]

🤣

[@aqdasikram]

so the core reality of their system is the last couple of sentences of the local guy. "yeah! most luxembourgian are moving out, living on borders or in belgium, germany and france". this is sad ... just a soft form of "red indian elimination".

[@LegendNinja41]

yep, have their population has foreign nationality.

[@charlyf9521]

It’s not the majority of the Luxembourgish that are moving out even though there are a lot. There are statistics that can show that

[@alexlong3714]

The corporate might not pay tax, but their employee do. So the higher the pay, the more income tax is collected , hence it is able to meet all it's public expenses. That is the way to go, no ? Provide full employment for it's population. Technically, the EU's employees based here, are also paying their income tax. Income tax in Luxembourg is charged on a progressive scale with 23 brackets, which range from 0% to 42%. Workers must also pay between 7% and 9% as an additional contribution to the employment fund. The first €11,265 is offered tax-free, with the lowest rate of 8% kicking in thereafter.28 June 2022 Luxembourg recorded a Government Budget surplus equal to 0.90 percent of the country's Gross Domestic Product in 2021. source: STATEC, Luxembourg

[@AnthonyLauder]

I worked in Luxembourg for several years, as a programmer at a bank, and paid zero income tax the whole time I was there. Plus I was given free accommodation and even a generous "expenses allowance". The bank did this to attract highly qualified people from abroad, and I had many colleagues who (like me) were able to save 100% of their tax-free salary, and live a very good lifestyle off the expenses allowance. I have no idea how the bank was able to arrange this from a legal perspective, but I can say confidently that many people were (and presumably still are) working under such an arrangement.

[@chenfan2790]

@@AnthonyLauder There is no way that you do not pay any taxes. The taxes are paid automatically, maybe you didn’t realize. On the monthly salary paper that you receive has all the details. Honestly i think there is somehow a misunderstood.

[@Kenzopoint]

Companies dont want their money to be wasted by the government. Notice people living in tax heaven countries have much more quality life. This just proves that low taxes makes it best for everyone.

[@arm-np8us]

Idiot this tax free system will not work in big countries else everyone start doing this

[@realharo]

They have better quality of life because most of the profits come from business done in large countries (France, Germany, etc.), but what little taxes are paid get siphoned off into a place with relatively few people. Doing business for large number of people and yet paying taxes that benefit a tiny number of people - of course it's going to end up well for that small group - all the benefits get very concentrated. But that doesn't mean such an approach would work on a large scale, if the benefits would actually have to be spread across a large number of people (in the countries where most of the profits are actually made).

[@edipires15]

Some remarks: Luxembourg is not a tax haven. It still collects taxes from its residents, companies and workers ( and other indirect taxes). The high standards of living in Luxembourg are achieved because of the taxes collected and how it is spent. So no, money collected by companies here are not “wasted”.

[@gopal8201]

Companies don't pay taxes ppls living there pay it. Good for companies.

[@edipires15]

@@gopal8201 companies do pay taxes: for example, to fund the national social security, pension and healthcare, companies pay half of each employee’s contribution (the other half is deducted from the employees salary, in percentage that’s around 15% of his/her salary).

[@Mast3rofsocks]

I love how so many people speak of luxemburg but actually dont know anything 😂

[@CuriousJet]

Man you deserve more subs!

[@uptin]

I appreciate that!

[@gabrieltomete4751]

A minimum tax won't be enough. Tax havens will introduce ludicrous tax deductions such as making domestic housing investments 100% deductable and letting the companies sell those houses for 1$ to separate LLC's. Sketchier nations will just make a trust based system where the government can't actually see if companies actually paid the taxes due to some kind of new privacy law. Or they will give interest free loans in the same amount that has been paid in tax.

[@momo_san1980]

Low to no tax countries' real estate usually end up like Dubai, Singapore, and Hong Kong....very high and priced out

[@kevinalexander1659]

Cause wealthy people who want to avoid taxes want to be there. Hapening in other tax havens like Panama too

[@tiagometallica007]

Go anywhere near Esch Alzette and you'll see that the inequality between the country and the people's financial situation is staggering

[@gdthegreat]

Nice video Uptin, was waiting for such nice video since long, loved your channel.

[@sbraga02]

You just forgot to mention that junkies and drug dealers are occupying most of the roads in the center of the city and nobody is doing (almost) anything. And it's true, with property costs going up all the time it's becoming impossible for lower and middle classes to live here.

[@lucasklaassen135]

Wherever you got that information, it is not true. Yes, there are some junkies and drug dealers around the Gare area, but the city center is definitely not occupied by them.

[@sbraga02]

@Lucas Klaassen i just live there! Of course the Gare area is not the center but it's the main way into the city. Just to be clear I'm not complaining about luxembourg or living in luxembourg but I feel ashamed that a city with so much potential is allowing this kind of situations. And I'm sure you know that many businesses are closing because of that. It's what we see everyday that makes it true.

[@lucasklaassen135]

@@sbraga02 Agreed that it’s a very real issue that should be resolved

[@atlantisssssssss]

Nations compete - perhaps to a degree, they absolutely should - to offer higher quality of life for people and more advantageous environment to conduct business. For the sake of balance, I would point out that utilizing a tax haven these days is not quite as simple as signing a few pieces of paper and declaring that "I'm a Cayman Islands limited company hahaha"; generally, a company needs to move substantive elements of its business to the target jurisdiction (say, Luxembourg) and actually hire valuable, decision making employees who work in such jurisdiction. A global minimum tax like the one currently proposed in the US or the OECD regimes will probably work to "repatriate" some tax revenues to the countries where the businesses originate from, but in the end of the day, each nation is sovereign, and the whole point of sovereignty is to set up whatever system the people of a nation want. Unless all the high tax jurisdictions (e.g. US, Japan, France, Germany) all collectively agree to wage a tax war against everyone else, it's probably hard to stop Luxembourg from being Luxembourg.

[@itsjonny1744]

Depends if goverments dosent go more protectionists and demand tqx on revenue created domestically.

[@paolinopaolino9498]

I'm sure you will reach 1m subscribers very soon! Really great contents, keep doing!

[@sevinjaa655]

I can agree with everything said, except everything in pharmacy to be free, it is not the case, you just get reimbursed partially if the thing you buy is a medicine, not a vitamin or other things. I liked the fact that he touched the housing prices and leaving costs in Lux., cause usually people make this videos and they don't talk about cons. in short, very good one, thanks for filming 😊

[@martinsjogren4366]

Luxembourg has quite high income taxes though, so all those 4000 employees would be paying those taxes to the Luxembourg government. Or really it's their employer paying them, since they are deducted at source.

[@geoffreycharles6330]

Yeah, it's a very sleazy scheme.

[@AnimeBeefRandoms]

@@geoffreycharles6330 why is that?

[@johnl.7754]

Well like the guy in video said wages are high also

[@jasonlucas2328]

Can a company fire employees quickly? In France, it's impossible to lay off employees. Recently, HSBC sold its French operation, including all assets, for $1 to a local bank.

[@jon6309]

@@jasonlucas2328 in France are companies obligated to pay a severance package to those they are firing or laying off? I live in Hawaii and it really depends on the employer. Some are really sneaky in how they fire people but my current company usually gives a severance package and a time frame for those selected for laid off to get a new job!

[@techow]

Good video, but my man can surely find a flat for 1500EUR or less, even in the center of Luxembourg.

[@timtim818]

They can learn from Singapore with the housing issue. If health care is already socialized, so can housing

[@Rossocom]

0:44 I literally worked in the strange cage looking builing behind for 3 years 😄 (Kpmg)

[@siavashakrami3444]

As always, awesome video!

[@Stromen]

Obviously the people get good paying jobs and amazon get better tax treatment. I have no problem with it. It's a win win, a small country get 3000 jobs for their small population and it helps so their native population do not have to move abroad

[@glassmuxxic]

It also triggers a race to the bottom on taxation and means the tax burden needed to fund public services has to be made up elsewhere, or that those services/that infrastructure just doesn’t get funded at all. Conservative estimates put the price tag at 12 billion euros a year in lost corporate tax revenues for Europe alone.

[@Saschj]

American living in Lux! I work at one of those big tech companies, and I will say the cost of living here really is through the roof.

[@vmoses1979]

It would have been nice to get a better understanding of how Luxembourg pays for all of its free benefits. In Nordic countries the high personal and corporate taxes pay for that stuff while in the gulf countries oil riches pay for free benefits for citizens. Does Luxembourg have a very high personal tax rate? Is it really rich if the higher salaries are eaten up by higher costs?

[@tanyatatyana8323]

He spent few days in Luxembourg....Do you think he knows this information?

[@good-tn9sr]

i’m pretty sure these companies give some money donations to stay there and make sure they never get taxed in the future.

[@edipires15]

Luxembourger here: Personal income Taxes in Luxembourg are on par with its neighbors, ( max 42% after €200.000/year, but hardly anyone pays anywhere near that) but the people who work in Luxembourg but don’t live in it can choose to pay their taxes here instead of their resident country ( most of them do because there are tax incentives they can get in Luxembourg but not in their resident country). Consumption taxes in Luxembourg are low compared to its neighbours ( 17% VAT compared to 19% in 🇩🇪, 20%i in 🇫🇷 and 21% in 🇧🇪). For example, it's way cheaper to buy to buy fuel, alcohol and cigarettes than in neighboring countries, so much so that France has imposed a quota for how much you can “import”. Despite that, Luxembourg is a very expensive place to live. Yes salaries are high, but the costs of living are also high (so high that a high salary might not be enough). At the moment we are facing a housing shortage and house prices have been going up more than 10% yearly for more than 10 years, with no signs of slowing down. You have to spend more than a €1 million to buy a decent home in Luxembourg( the closer it is from Lux-city the more expensive it is), whereas the same home on the other side of the border will cost only a quarter of that. That's why many people choose to live outside Luxembourg with a very decent house, buy a couple of cars, commute to Luxembourg to work, earn that high salary and pay taxes there and live and spend on the other side of the border. I hope this summary helped to explain the reality. It's not all roses and sunshine in the supposedly “Richest country on earth”

[@AnthonyLauder]

@@edipires15 I used to live in Luxembourg, and at the time some of my colleagues had a negative tax rate: that is, they took home more than their salary. How was this possible? Because (not sure if this is still true) they got a tax deduction for each child, and if you had more than a certain number (5 or 6 I think) your tax rate started to turn negative. I could hardly believe it.

[@edipires15]

@@AnthonyLauder yes it is true: if you have kids you can ask for a tax credit, and it is quite generous. The state will deduct the amount of tax credit granted from the taxes you have to pay (and yes, if it’s higher than the taxes they will pay you the difference). An alternative you can choose is a monthly allowance for each kid you have (depending on the age of the kid/children, the allowance is increased). One of the conditions is that the children must be living with you under your roof.

[@bogos5162]

You also forgot to mention that Luxemburg has the highest number of civil servants working for the EU in any EU country relative to its population. These work mostly in Kirchberg, where there are international schools and other services esp. for them. They come from all EU countries and earn up to 4x more doing basically what they did in their own countries. There is a joke about one of these civil servants who lived 4 there. When he was moving back to his country he realizes "Damn, I forgot to ask the name of the country around Kirchberg"!

[@prb16]

? Didn't understand the joke

[@humongousballs]

@@prb16 The EU civil servants aren't really part of society and live inside of a bubble

[@lakkadbagga]

@@prb16 kirchberg is an area in the north East section of Luxembourg. Most expats reside there and all the important institutions are there as well. The joke is that their entire lives are so much around that area that they forget that it's Lux (the country around Kirchberg)

[@christopheribeiro4325]

@bogos Kirchberg and now cloche d'or just for expats. LUX just sold them to the big corporations or our pension fund isn't working in long term. ;) without holdings and etc we couldn't afford this high middle-class which by the way is disappearing as locals has to move out of the country because their salary isn't enough because of real estate.

[@dynamics9000]

A very informative channel and great contens I enjoyed watching most of your videos Thanks for sharing .[]

[@uptin]

Awesome, thank you!

[@kennethyeung7418]

It seems Luxembourg Government has adopted Hong Kong's low tax system but charges very high on housing or real estate

[@XiaoHanLiuYuJia]

Great educational video. Love your style! Keep it coming and thanks for the educational content on Luxembourg. I was in Singapore recently and was surprised by the city. Your video has peaked my interested now in going to Luxembourg to check it out.

[@max.bintener]

Regarding Amazon, Amazon has substance in Luxembourg, so it’s not at classic all tax evasion with only using a tiny office, but they are building substance, in order to to be really have to pay taxes in Luxembourg.

[@BobbyReborn]

Awesome tech vid , great English from the interviewed guy!

[@AlternateHistory]

I am from Luxembourg and I can't afford living in Luxembourg. Not only real estate is expensive but everything is. The only way for Luxembourger to make a lot of money is either to have a rich family, good contacts, luck or moving to another country... I will not move back to Luxembourg. And as for taxes... the little employee will pay 30%-50% taxes depending on the circumstances, compare that to Panama and Paraguay where you can go as low as 0% taxes AND still afford real estate over there. Luxembourg will become a Monaco 2.0. with no native people and losing its own language in (dis)favour to French. Whenever I am back in Luxembourg I don't feel at home, but like a stranger in my 'supposed' own country.

[@jon6309]

Luxembourg is a bargain compared to Monaco 🇲🇨

[@THEREALZENFORCE]

@@jon6309 Luxembourg real estate prices are half that of Monaco yet the food and drinks are as expensive.

[@jon6309]

@@THEREALZENFORCE honestly I don’t know what the big deal is! Luxembourg is a very small country and being part of the Schengen area you can cross borders to cut cost if money is such a big problem in Luxembourg! This happens in other territories for example: People in Gibraltar 🇬🇮 cross the border to mainland Spain to cut consumer spending cost since dining out is cheaper in the nearest village or town in Spain! Most people who work average Joe jobs in Monaco 🇲🇨 actually live in France and cross the border every day. I’m sure you could easily cross the border to Germany and France which is probably cheaper than Luxembourg.

[@Je.rone_]

Keep up the great work

[@soghepardo]

Very nice video 📼 Uptin 🎉

[@crazzer8352]

"everything is free in the pharmacies", yeah, if you ignore the 20% you still have to pay or even sometimes the whole 100% because it isn't a necessary medication. It is a great country but living here is way to expensive and the country starts to be a lot more dangerous than it used to be but ignoring the 1 million € houses and that, it is a great country

[@paolomartinelli345]

Because the pay low taxes and Luxembourg was clever in its history to become a Bank state like Switzerland, Lichtenstein and so on

[@ProttutponnomotiOfficial]

love the contents and interesting videos of your channel

[@uptin]

Glad you like them!

[@Just4Kixs]

Same issue with Lisbon, Athens, and other places where gentrification is forcing locals to move out.

[@LMays-cu2hp]

Thank you for sharing this video.

[@LMays-cu2hp]

Thank you for sharing very nice observations of beautiful cities in your travels.

[@vladyns556]

Awesome video! Great channel!

[@uptin]

Thanks sm!

[@MichaelGoldfrad]

Great video. I subscribed

[@TheLordMeowMeow]

the amount of money a government can pull thru taxes in a year is way larger than what a large corporation can earn in its life time.

[@spacecraftcarrier4135]

6:54 "so that companies like Luxembourg stop getting away with being a corporate tax haven". Haha, thought it was funny when you accidentally called Luxembourg a company instead of country.

[@uptin]

Ahhh my bad!

[@KazMaw1]

Like the amazon arrow in your thumbnail

[@phipimonares9730]

Every caveat of countries having the highest standards of living will always be expensive housing...

[@kevin4945]

I may have missed it, but where in the video does he reference the Amazon office building actually being their headquarters?

[@gautamgairola4465]

"My dog stepped on a bee"...1:17

[@yousiffauzi5316]

If the lower and middle class is taking care of then there’s nothing wrong with this.

[@good-tn9sr]

it’s also done in ireland and some of the richest european countries.

[@maikkeulen]

The best solution is living on the border from Luxemburg. Work in Luxemburg and life in Belgium or France or a country nearby. Work in Luxemburg for the money and life in for example Belgium for the low rent cost.

[@shariffkhan4980]

Hey Uptin.. Brilliant video.. Absolutely marvelous✅.. ❤🐒

[@Terrorstar-gbp]

It is a great idea live in nearby country and work in lukembourg

[@tanyatatyana8323]

It's wonderful to do 1 hour and a half or 2 hours....in one direction... Earn some extra money and lose your life standing in traffic 👌

[@red2744]

okay im from luxembourg and it seems to be a rich country yes. but my family has never been that well off but it was enough to get by and even buy a house but im a student in my last year and a tiny glat costs around half a million who on earth could manage to just be free in a country where you need a shitton of money to start your life. i will me living in my moms house till im 30 or something just to save money this is ridiculous. and the culture is fd up. our sports suck, our music sucks, our painters suck, basically everything that isnt a direct governement based job sucks. so yea very rich but very poor as a starting point for your career if youre not super lucky

[@chenfan2790]

I’m from luxembourg too. I totally agree with you and i think only real citizens here believe you. I also live with my parent otherwise i have no way to live here. And i want the world to know that here is not a disneyland nor a paradise. As a junior software dev, after tax i get 2500 a month. And juste imagine if i have to pay 2200 for the rent. People are always mentionning the average salary, which to me the average is not representative. The most representative is the median and its about 3800 per month before tax. So it will come to 3000 approximately after tax. And the most high salary is government job because they only look at your level of education and each year you will get a 500 incrementation automatically for the next year monthly. In private company, juste forget about it. There is no life work balance, if you really take your work seriously, except in the government. Juste as a comparison, you start approximately with 7000 with a master degree. Sometimes even with a bachelor degree. After 10 years, you will have over 12k per month. But in private company after ten years you end up with 6000-7000 maybe.

[@danielsumma555]

Love your videos :)

[@uptin]

Thank you!

[@wyattearp88]

There is always a flip side , not all country is perfect , people only see the good side but ignore the bad one

[@abnerurgelles5734]

I really like your videos, always something new and good to know, very informative/educational and based on facts and data. Not biased, not too much on personal opinion. Proud new subscriber here!

[@xDYNx]

Since they talked about employee benefits, how many days in a week and hours each day do the people there work?

[@benkaiser6437]

20% of residents are in threat to live beneath the poverty line in near future....min wage is around 2000euros....try to live out of that in a country like Lux.....also: I would like to know which big multinational company like amazon mcdonalds microsoft apple big banks etc pay a lot of taxes anywhere in this world?

[@kalinga2nihon]

Free stuff comes at a cost. If you don't get money for your services, one day you'll end bankrupt or under huge debt. The situations in Venezuela and Sri Lanka show a similar story.

[@AM-ud4xf]

The nurse guy complaint about the wages in Spain, which of course they are, the rent is waaaaaay cheaper than in Luxembourg 😂

[@themintleaf1778]

Excellent& informative

[@EddieMorsVlogs]

I love your videos. 🇰🇪

[@MariNate1016]

Luxembourg is a really interesting place. Bret Conti did a cool video on it recently

[@jerichoicho2402]

most of them are public companies, instead of complaining the big tech utilizing the loophole, buy their stocks, enjoy their "tax benefit" as well

[@greenworld098]

22 hundred dollar is too much and not acceptable😳🙆‍♂️ Luxemburg making lot of money from rent. Scary rent 🤦‍♂️

[@mika274]

And the people owning the property are rich foreigners

[@H3erobrineNotch]

When the middle class even make a mistake on their tax returns they get penalized. Here big corporations are deceitfully in the u.s avoiding taxes through charities, investments, assets, write-offs, but they don’t get any punishment.

[@myselfyuvi]

This is the reason why we are 'middle-class' and 'they' are not! ✌️

[@laaaliiiluuu]

Welcome to reality. Fairness does not exist. Only power.

[@AmritenduRana31082000]

Because big corporations takes all the risky of bankruptcy or any anything bad but an employee can just switch jobs so ofc they should have more benefits for employing 10000s and taking all the risks themselves.

[@AmritenduRana31082000]

And you don't have to rich for tax avoidance.i belong to a middle class and ik many including my family members who do it all the time and smartly saving on taxes which would eventually be wasted anyway.

[@monidohse7166]

You forgot to mention they practical write the laws by lobbying the congress. So we are just a modern slave middle class with the ilusión of the same freedom they have. But I don’t blame them completely because we have the power to buy from others and take educate decisions. Like not going to Luxembourg and keep feeding the rich.

[@dovaislands]

They should put one in Lichtenstein then because most of the money isnt even made in that country but its rich

[@MillhouseSpeaks]

From your Luxembourg video I’ll guess it’s to have properties in a rich country

[@THEREALZENFORCE]

"Health care is free" Strange that we pay 11% of our monthly salaries for social security and "assurance dependance".

[@dekippiesip]

Well the money has to come from somewhere. If you pay an insurance premium or taxes and are ensured free healthcare, even if you need a particular costly medical treatment, then that's a good system. What sucks is having the uncertainty of having to pay 10s or 100s of thousands by simply getting involved in an accident. If that can be resolved by paying a fixed amount a month instead, that's a lot better.

[@AgentAO7]

Ok.. It’s time to move to Luxembourg!

[@eduardorivera2044]

now you would Compare Luxemburg to Baltimore, MD.. and would be crazy difference :0

[@workingauthority5285]

If companies doesn't pay tax...then how the government ..you know keep the country clean,and paid the public transportation?

[@googleapocalypse1967]

I sent this to someone mocking the principle of trickle down economics. They became very angry, from their very poor high tax country where everything is broken.