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bigpolar posted:I'm kind of scrambling to finish my research - US tax consequences are the biggest downside I've found so far, since apparently all the fringe benefits, including vacation travel, and location bonuses, etc., get taxed as well. State income tax looks bad as well. My girlfriend in college's parents lived there and she spent years there. The pitfalls are you're in Saudi Arabia and it's the most loving boring place on the planet, so you'd better hope your wife doesn't become an alcoholic on $100 fifths of Jack (smuggling is expensive). If you're in or near Dhahran, at least you can get to Bahrain, although Bahrain might be a lot worse post-2010. Otherwise you're looking at a flight to get anywhere, meaning weekend trips are tough. It's not dangerous -- you're about as likely to get mugged or caught in a terrorist attack as you are in Manhattan -- but since there's so little to do in the cities, it's not like you'd go off compound much anyway. I mean, movie theaters do not exist, nor does any other sort of cultural attraction, unless going to a shopping mall is your idea of a good time. Also you can relinquish your statehood, although there might be some issues for your first year abroad. You absolutely should not pay state income tax after your first year in Saudi Arabia, even if you're from some clingy state like California. Federal income tax only applies after your first $100k of income, so even assuming you make $150k, it won't be that bad; you'll probably pay $10–15k in taxes. Given that you don't get taxed in Saudi, your tax burden will be a ton lower. You'll easily keep well over that 40% raise, since there's very little to spend money on in Saudi, except plane tickets getting out. E: If you do go to a Saudi area during Ramadan (i.e. anywhere outside your compound) make sure you don't eat or even drink water in public unless you want to spend the rest of the month in jail. This seems pretty nutbag since it's going to be late June in Saudi Arabia, but hey, the US has stupid laws too. Saladman fucked around with this message at 20:10 on Jun 11, 2014 |
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Jun 11, 2014 20:06
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Magic Underwear posted:Oh come on. Don't throw out sharia law like its in any way comparable with US law. That's just stupid. I meant just particularly the don't drink water in public during Ramadan law. The vast majority of the rest of the sharia laws are utter ridiculous bullshit throwback to terrible times of evil and I have no sense of cultural relativism for. I just mean specifically for that, getting arrested for drinking water in public during Ramadan is equally stupid to getting arrested for drinking a beer in a public park on July 4th (which happens in the US and blows Europeans' minds!).
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Jun 19, 2014 11:24
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Magic Underwear posted:I sure am glad we have The Capitulator here to tell us how sharia law isn't all that bad (unless the religious police catch you, of course). The irony is palpable. About half of the entire Something Awful forum is filled with jackass posters like yourself. You should go impress the kids over at GBS with your knowledge of the world; they might even worship you as a God of Wisdom, but at the very least they will welcome you as One Of Us. I'm pretty sure The Capitulator knows as well as everyone else that Saudi society is, even for the region, incredibly repressive, sexist, racist, and massively xenophobic. That said, the no public eating/drinking during Ramadan is about as randomly/rarely enforced as drinking in public in the US. Surprisingly, this statement does not mean that Saudi Arabia is a wonderful country of freedom. I can't imagine what score you got on your SAT verbal comprehension (was it bad? I bet it was bad.).
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Jun 20, 2014 18:06
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