Dogsville

Okay, it's been a while. This I acknowledge.
Two things; one, I have been as sick as a dog and taken a couple of days off work to sleep and vomit, two I have been working as hard as a dog on the other days, both at work and at home.

I spent last weekend putting smaller boxes, books and things, into the container. Getting them all up on top of the furniture already in there. It doesn't look any different, and the boxes of books mostly came out of my garage where I don't see them, so I don't have a feeling of the house being any different. So, in a way, I kind of felt that not much had been achieved, but really I suppose that it had, since it was stuff that had to be done, and that's how long it took to do it, and it leaves just as much room for the remaining furniture as there was before. Which is good.

Still; I can't help but feel that a couple of professionals would have finished in a day or two. The problem is that they just pack everything, the last time I used professionals I got what I have now - the garage is still half full, but it is with boxes full of junk that should have gone to the dump last time. So this time I will have twice as much to take to the dump.

I am still not too healthy, damned Moon Lantern Festival!!!

Now lots of people are starting to tell me that they will be passing through Singapore whilst I am there. Of course some of them won't be leaving the airport. One guy is flying Adelaide to Singapore and then to Bali since you can't fly direct from Adelaide to Bali and via Singapore is either cheaper or less time that flying via Perth or Sydney. I know that the first time I flew to Singapore Paul webbed flights after I had already booked mine and found that the cheapest choice was Adelaide to Bangkok via Singapore! It would have been cheaper to book a flight that continued on, but get off at SG and not take the second half. How logical is that?

Today is Friday, but I am not working - long live 4-day weeks!!
Todays target is the three glass-topped tables and the sound system, also to see how far I can get into packing all of my loose paperwork in my office, if there is time left over then kitchen stuff. Also today will have to cover some shopping, washing, and maybe a run to the dump if I can manage that as well.

I serviced my car yesterday, so Mum won't have that to worry about. She asked about payments and stuff, I told her that all insurance and loan payments hit my credit card so she doesn't have to worry about anything except fuel. I will take the camper trailer down late next week, and the shipping container should also go down next week. I might have a trailer load of stuff to take down that doesn't fit into, or logically go into, the container; tools that they can use, maybe some other stuff. I think that I might be leaving the trailer itself with my ex, and maybe she might want some of the whitegoods.

Here's an interesting point; currently I am a tax resident of Australia, I will be able to not be a tax resident of Australia if I spend more than 183 days in Singapore, which is very likely to happen, the Australian financial year is 1st July to 30th June. The fiscal year in Singapore is 1st April to 31st March, it is probable that I would not be a 'tax resident' of Singapore for the 08/09 year. I could quite possibly not be a tax resident of anywhere for about five months.

This does not mean that I don't pay tax!
Far from it; by being a non-resident of Australia I actually am required to pay more tax for the money earned whilst in Australia. Currently, on the $60,000 or so that I would have earned in the four months that I have worked in Australia for this financial year, I would pay an effective tax rate of about 30% or so. This takes into account the tax-free zone, and the tax brackets ranging up to 45% plus 1.5% medicare plus 1% surcharge. But as a non-resident I would have to pay at the highest rate, i.e. 47.5%, on all of it, from the first single dollar. Which means that having already paid about $20,000 in tax to Australia, if I leave I will get 'fined' a further $10,000 or so.

Also, and this is really funny, I have to (in the eyes of the Australian government and public service bureaucracy) keep paying my medicare levy when I am not living in Australia, or else I will get punished by an increased medicare surcharge should I ever return. How much of an incentive is that to never come back?

I have calculated that my effective tax rate in Singapore, if I earn exactly the same as I have in Australia, is a fraction under 9%. Another way of looking at it is that Singapore has four times the population of South Australia, yes, SA is big, physically large, but SG is an entire country and so has responsibilities that SA does not have, and yet SG runs on only twice the tax revenue as SA!

And the trains run on time, which is a bit of a problem in Adelaide, and the busses connect, which they can never seem to get right in Adelaide, and the bus drivers are helpful and can tell you timetable and route information that is actually right, which Adelaide bus drivers can't seem to manage. And the streets are clean, Adelaide used to be okay in that regard but it has degraded a lot. And the streets are safe, with the increasing ethnic violence in Australia it is no longer safe to be out after dark.

I read a comment once by an American that said after living in Singapore he found visiting the US to be like going to a third world nation. Acknowledging that Australia is not as bad as the US, I do understand what he meant, the last couple of times on my return to Australia I had a similar sort of feeling. And yet most Australians maintain a tribal loyalty, blind to the easily solved problems that surround them, like Americans are so adamant that their country is the greatest place in the world. I have only know one person to move from Australia to the US on a long term basis, and he was actually Irish, yet I know a lot of both Americans that have moved permanently to Australia and Australians that have lived and worked in the US for an extended period but still choose to return to Australia to raise their children. In the same sort of way; all Australians know a lot of English people that have moved here, the country is full of them, but how many Australians emigrate to Britain? I have known so many accountants that have worked there, but none of them stay there. For me that has to be the final measure of things.

So how many Australians do I know that have emigrated to Singapore? None.
And how many Singaporeans do I know that have emigrated to Australia? A few.
I think the issue there is the different work ethics; Australia has a very laid back society and fifteen hour days are not in the picture, whereas Asians I know tell me that it is quite normal and expected in Asia. I will be able to comment on this in six months though, won't I?

Just as an aside; I also know quite a lot of Chinese Malaysians in Australia, most are on work visas, but all want to make the move permanently. Except that most have told me that they would prefer to live in Singapore if they could get it. But of course, Chinese leaving Malaysia have a completely different driver, don't they?