hungryhorace

Decent wages & not paying $500 each month in health insurance for starters. Oh, and re fuel costs, European cars do 50-70mpg, compared to 25-40mpg that US cars do.

There's also no property tax (an insanely expensive tax) in the UK. PT makes council tax look decidedly good value for money!

CarltonCrabbe

Hello HH, a lot of UK expats returning home will fall into the 40% tax bracket which starts at just 42,000. On top of that that you have National Insurance, VAT, council tax, fuel duty, road tax, stamp duty to buy a home if you haven't got one. This makes UK tax look very high and that's why i don't think many people will enjoy moving home, certainly for the taxes they will have to pay.

cyrian

Then let them stay in Dubai.
For other expats returning from USA; Canada; Western Europe; Australia; New Zealand etc they just exchange their previous taxes for the UK ones - simples.

chris955

Mmm, tough choice live in the UK or Dubai
Exactly as you say the vast majority of expats return from the countries you list and many find it cheaper back here now.

chris955

No s*** sherlock, its nothing like it was 50 years ago, who'd of thought that?

Jerseygirl

Exactly...it looks high. Compared to the US...on the surface the US looks a much cheaper place to live...but it isn't IMO.

We moved there in 1996...our monthly utilities and car insurance were approx the same as we were paying annually in the UK. Annual property tax for our house in New Jersey was approx $20K...yes $20,000 per year.

chris955

Indeed, looks can be very deceptive

hungryhorace

I'm fully aware of that, and its scandalous that as tax banding that was only meant to catch the rich in society is now capturing lower middle income earners.

Which pays for the NHS (apparently) and part of your retirement. The US has Social Security anyway, which is around 7% iirc.

The US has sales tax. Not close to 20% admittedly, but in some states it's 10%+.

Council tax is a rip off in England, BUT compared to Property Tax here it looks like exceptional value for money!

European cars should be getting around double the miles of a North American one, so whilst fuel duty is an outrage, it is manageable by the extreme mpg rates European cars are capable of now.

'Looks high', but in reality you're getting FAR more for your money than you ever do in the US (apart from electrical / computer items, the US is leagues ahead of the UK in both availability and pricing of those).

Pulaski

Well you choose to live in Boston, and aspire to move to the West Coast where property taxes can be even higher, but your experience is not typical. I pay almost exactly the same I did for a two bed 700sqft terraced house in London as I now do for a four bed 2,800 sqft house on 100x the land.
Yeah, but at the upper end of those MPG figures they are unpleasant tin boxes that I wouldn't want to drive across town in, much less commute every day in, or drive 100+ miles in. That supposes I could even fit into one, for reasons of my height, I must emphasise! ..... For the record most of the past 12 years I have commuted in a car capable of close to 40mpg (UK), but which is quite roomy, comfortable, and handles quite well. It also has a 2.4l engine, which does not make me a bad person.
Which may be a bunch of stuff that you neither need nor even want!

hungryhorace

Comparing to London to anywhere other than NYC or SFO isn't really fair though. Whilst housing prices are less just outside of Boston than where I lived in the south east of England, when you add in property taxes and other associated costs, I actually end up paying MORE for my mortgage than I would in the UK. How does that make sense??

Sure, if I moved down south costs would be drastically reduced, but I don't want to live down south. I want to live in a place that has an equivalent standard of living as where I lived in England. With that comes living costs that are in line (and often exceed) England's.

I strongly disagree. A diesel BMW 3 gets 50+ mpg now. A Ford Focus gets 62mpg, and a VW Golf Bluemotion gets 88mpg (apparently). These are not tin box cars but everyday cars used by millions.

Jerseygirl

I also find that home improvements...new kitchen or bathroom...cost an arm and a leg in the US. Also the stick houses cost far more to upkeep...new roof, AC and heating units...bugs eating the wooden houses away.

LostBrit99

I live in Mexico, have done for seven years and there are masses of Americans and Canadians moving down here. They cant get away quick enough. All they do is complain about the price of things, high taxes and healthcare.

hungryhorace

And they move to Mexico (a state rampant with criminal activity and lawlessness) for a better life?

LostBrit99

Lol, H.H how incorrect you are. Firstly Mexico is a country not a state. We have been here seven years, leave car door windows open, leave our front doors open, no problems. It may be bad in the North but not where we are. The only criminal activity in Mexico is for the routes into the Usa because they like to stuff so much cocaine up their noses. No drug problems in schools here like the Usa or shootings in schools either.
Like I said, seven years here now and I know. I live here!!!!!!!!!!!

Pulaski

Millions eat every day at McDonalds, but that doesn't make their burgers equivalent to steaks.

FWIW I've been a passenger in a 3 Series and it was impossibly cramped, such that I would not choose to drive one, and if I did (assuming I even could) the back seat would be useless. The same is true IME of all small "urban" cars.