Hello I’m some guy named Dave in Portugal.
Is living in Portugal or USA better? Today, Dave gives his brutally honest opinion.
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-Dave
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30 Comments
Correction: 48% is the current max tax rate on income but it was at 56.5% until 2018. (Was trying to highlight how high it has been and could go possibly go again in the future)
Hi
I am divided…
i think i could live in US. The suburbs are very standardized and i like it that way.
In Portugal, everything looks like randomized. Because the country is old (868 AD) it's inevitable that infrastructure, like roads, electricity, etc have to adapt to new houses. In some vilages you even have sidewalks… because there was no in the past.
I liked the well planned infrastructure of US compared to Portugal. US towns seams to me well organized than in Portugal.
Hugs
10:25 Essencially what they do is along this lanes, we're taxed, then the gov, be it either national, municipal or even of the regions, either deviate money through TAP, a company that nobody in Portugal wants to subsidise but keeps receiving HUGE amounts of funds, such as in the peak of the pandemic, TAP received DOUBLE what the nacional health system got. There's also the classic of them either subsidicing projects or starting constructions and squew the money there, this is all common knowledge. Finally there's the polititians giving good contracts, agreements or whatever with companies and when they leave office they go work there at really good positions.
Yeah, in the view of our population, the parlament and the like are more like an open luxury prison since they keep the worst criminals in the country there.
In terms of the brutal honesty part, yeah I can see how in comparison to the USA we're brutally honest, but nah, we're really not, specially the higher the circles, as a person known for brutal honesty and lack of filter, I get constant backlash because guess what, most issues have nuances, there's no straight up right or wrong, they are often BOTH right and wrong, so I shit on both sides mistakes.
12:50 Yeah, one you live to work, and here you work to live, shown with policy pushes of 4-day work weeks and the such to push for more work-life balance and that people dedicate more of their time in life being social and knowing how to live in a society rather then pure productivity.
Awesome vid dude, really accurate for the most part and what wasn't really on point you admited your lack of knowledge in that area, really respectable dude, hope you like it here, but don't be on Lisbon, for your sake, go to one of the islands, the northern part or the interior or the country, that's the good stuff.
No mention about the general income tho.. minimum wage in Portugal is under 1k (which is on the low side compared to its neighbors), while food, gas and other prices are the same as in most of the EU (sometimes even higher).
Assuming you have a US Passport you will find that obtaining a residence permit for Portugal, or any EU country, is very difficult. Without it you are limited to a 90 day stay as a tourist.
Very controversial, your views on how the tax/NI is spent. Have you noticed the health care system is far superior to many rich countries? Portugal is fact has almost twice doctors per capita compared to the UK, and is so much better. Here we pay £1200+ per year (minimum) to the council, while in Portugal many of the costs are funded by the central gov. Not to mention the education system, where the best universities still are public, and the fees you pay in Portugal in a year would hardly pay for a month in the US or the UK, our students don't have to start a life with debts of 100k plus because our government foots the bill. In so many things a wise and informed reflection would lead you to conclude that Portugal, with much less tax revenue, does so much more than some rich countries. Popular opinions and facts are two entirely different things. There are a couple of things in your video that I do not agree with, usually related to tax/economy and so on, but it's understandable.
Yeah we love our reckless driving! ❤
Living in Portugal must be great as a foreigner since we have lots of aids and exemptions for those coming in. It’s harder for the Portuguese people, you stated that our food is cheaper but I would complement that information with our average paycheck and housing costs. I really don’t know how some people can survive.
And a 20% tax in the US if you eat out …… the tip
As a native Portuguese and naturalized US citizen, I can confirm that all the Portuguese tax money goes to corrupt politicians. The worst part is corruption is in every sector, everyone here can be bought. Also, Portuguese are excellent con artists and you have zero protection from the law against their schemes. Lawyers will also take your money and do nothing to help you. Private hospitals are worse than in the US, they're literally just money-making machines with unqualified doctors that ask for a million unnecessary tests trying to squeeze as much as money as they can from each doctor visit. Get this: you go to the doctor, do a test, and must go back for another visit just to get the prescription. They don't even realize how insane that is. That is just the beginning of all the problems with this place, but I could write a whole book. Simply put, compared to the US, this place is boring and a third-world country in terms of competence and efficiency. Mostly a good place to retire when you're old. But not anymore with the prices of real estate, unless you're rich.
This will soon be a lie! With the uncontroled influx of migration from industan, africa and south america Portugal as poor as it is will breed ciminality! We all here in portugal will say bye bye to peace.
PORTUGAL IS GOOD IF YOU ARE RICH
You talk about things that you dont have a clue about..like agriculture,transportation,health care in SNS are one of the best and almost free!!..Yoy forget Education almost free until university.But nice video.
I'm a fan of Dave's videos but I have a different opinion on some points:
– The Food:
Food is 44% more expensive in the United States than in Portugal. Is that an issue when Americans earn 300% more than the Portuguese on average? (average annual income in USA: 70,900 US$, average annual income in Portugal: 23,880 US$).
Processed food is even cheaper in the US. Electronics are cheaper, American cars are cheaper, etc.
– Safety:
I agree that overall Portugal is a safe country (it used to be safer than it is now) but Portugal is more of a meek country than a safe country. There's a lot of crime in Portugal that is not considered in the statistics. There is also a lot of corruption.
– Health Insurance:
Health is not cheap in Portugal, on the contrary. A small part of the population (mainly the middle class which is disappearing in Portugal) has to pay for it every month with their taxes. That's why a gross salary of 3687.22€ corresponds to a net salary of only 2187.22€.
On top of that we have VAT of 23% (vs 13.5% in the US) and other taxes such as the Municipal Property Tax and the Vehicle Circulation Tax.
There's a huge parallel economy (black market) in Portugal but most people who work and pay taxes have Health Insurance provided by the companies. I work remotely for an American company and they pay Health Insurance for both Portuguese and American employees. Despite this, I am forced to pay into the National Health Service, which I hardly use and is very expensive.
Everything you said is true. Im an American living in Portugal, and i speak Portuguese as im a dual citizen.
Better and more accurate this round than previous. Good job
free healthcare , and even tho most cops are racist than dont go guns blazing like they do in america plus i cant even remember the last time we had a mass shooting . but if y wanna be a rapper or an artist or wanna go big america is the way to go
Could you do a video on how lousy Condo Associations are here?
Portugal is the shittiest and most corrupted country within the eu.
Obrigado for your videos, Dave. I am currently in Portugal and will return to the US in January to apply for a residency permit. Ciao.
FYI the US does require its citizens to file federal taxes annually regardless of where you live in the world however they have reciprocal agreements with several EU countries, including Portugal, whereby you are not double taxed. So all worldwide income is taxable for US Citizens but due to the reciprocal agreement most expats living in Portugal aren’t double taxed (they just pay tax to Portugal).
But I do believe there are income ceilings so if you earn beyond the ceiling then you may still have to pay US taxes for any income over that threshold.
I’m not a tax expert however so please do seek professional advice from both US and Portuguese tax advisors.
It's great living in Portugal…with an American income!…
I would really like to live in Portugal but it's nearly impossible to afford living there without being employed by a non portuguese company.
Of course you can also have 2 – 3 jobs but then you'll have no free time to enjoy life.
Living in Portugal and having a healthier life (because of food, sun, socialism and more) seems only be accessible to the rich or people that were born and already live there.
good video and channel and,I believe, good guy thanks. what I think is that's not possible to define a country and its people as a whole, too many diferences in many things.
In case, Portugal, has many diferent geography, weather, accents, cultural heritage, cities and city to country, way of life, well… and we use to consider a little country (not so little in EU, I think) but we're only around 10 M. Now, comparing to US…? so many big cities over there, so many states (and also so diferent from east to west, north to south) larger than Portugal, in many ways "the greatest one". My conclusion: there are places I'd like to live in America, in Europe, in any other place of the Universe and I'll meet good (and bad) people/life everywhere. 😊
corruption and bad politicion manegment, most people gain minimal wage, corpo-rats explore their workers or those manegers that makes you loads of pressure, we are people that like common sense but some people or elderly ones dont have brains sometimes "being normal" is rare in portugal everyone is a little bit crazy or disfunctional with trauma depression or struggles
we survive! we don´t live here and have a hard time apreceating what we have, abusive behavior, violence and stress can be hidden inside of a big part of the population, the educational system is very outdated a failure, and force teachers move all over the country with bad payments and freezed wages so they cant earn more and have less retirement wage
You learn alot of just basics and hard stuff that you will not use in most cenários unless you are into that later on to work, basically you only learn how to obey and be more mechanical "only one awnser" instead of use your mind and creativity to have mental tools like back in the day you had to know a bit of everything in order to survive. Teaming is not stimulated in schools you get punished instead of being canalized for proper focus and comunication skills
People struggle with emotions as a men you can´t do nothing more then be tougher then the rest of the world if you dont born in a golden creed, this type of systems will canibalize you because everyone loves to use shady/illegal ways to create unfear advantage,
big chains of food change their discounts weekly and to earn more they change the prices without advertising and the the worker hide behind the new price or remove it depending on what he thinks it feels right or obey so people that go every day can notice the last price and see the new change, oil being the most comon used between shops in diferent parts of the same city,
we has portuguese suffer alotfrom this included "AZAE" was controlling this behaviors more lately.
Freedom is one of the biggest wins and issues here because you can´t controll others but people try to use you and abuse you like a puppet you have to outmart them or you can get in dificult situations, in work if you do your 100% they will want more in the next time until you breakdown. thats why portuguese emigrate and don´t work as hard here "queit quitting", we seek for better conditions outside of our country people make you feel rewarded for doing your best so we work more focused just make it worth our 8h of time wasted in a nighmare enviroment to get a minimal wage
In portugal we are good people, civilized, determinated but we can be tough, violent towards the others that we don´t like without second thoughts is in our blood for senturies. We like to be friends and partners peacefull but we make it real, the world is a small place here
Living in Portugal is way easier for Tourists then it is for the locals, you should know that although everything may be cheap, taxes are lower and crime is lower. For the Portuguese people life is much harder and costlier. That's why a lot of Portuguese people are emigrating and some are finding work outside of the country.
A parte do transporte é meio agri-doce. Mas é o que é.
Há mais perto das grande cidades do litoral do que no interior.
Sobre o resto. Sim acertaste na muche. 😅
Btw David. You should cheeck school for those who have kids.
It can be interesting to compare the differences of public and private education. And Portuguese and American education system.
To me the truth is that the construction-sector is probably one of the most corrupt areas in the entire country!… Not when it comes to quality imo, but rather when it comes to the difference between projected budget and the "slip-ups/adjustments" that are made until the real final real price of a specific project is paid for (specially when it comes to public-funded projects).
10:15 Definitely! Despite our external debt (that is still high by any measure) it is clear that, either, much of the money collect by taxes is being deviated and doesn't re-enter the system or, overall, doesn't get well distributed and re-invested (probably a combination of both)… despite the different possible scenarios, ultimately, it is the government/political class (and judicial) fault because they either don't oversee the rules enough or/and they don't enforce those rules (aka corruption, specially when it comes to big companies/brands/institutions).