The Green and the Grey

One of these days we will no longer be living in Belgium and for the record, I don't want to forget some important things, both good and not as good, about living here. 

Today it's the climate.

I've said before, the weather here was the most difficult thing to get used to.  Plenty of grey skies. Short winter days.  Long summer days.  Many cool days. Few hot days. Very, very different from where we've always lived.

Perhaps we're spoiled now or have just grown accustomed to the craving for sun and the likelihood of a soft rain.  One thing is for certain - we appreciate a sunny day and will go to great lengths to stay out in it.

Our patio has never been more used than here.

With all that grey comes a lot of green.

The lush green that only comes from a lot of rain, clouds . . . 

Photo by Ross :)

and that occasional day of sun to make us appreciate it.

The Taxman Cometh

One of these days we will no longer be living in Belgium and for the record, I don't want to forget some important things, both good and not as good, about living here.  

Today, it's taxes.

As you probably know, "tax liberation day" is when the average worker has theoretically earned enough money to pay all their taxes for the year to the government.    

You Americans have probably forgotten when that was, because for you, it was back in April.

But for Belgians . . . and for us!, it was just last week.

Belgium is way behind America to reach this day (by nearly 4 months!), and it is the last European country to get to this day too.

Have I mentioned taxes are high here?  Not just income tax, but a sales tax of 21% is also painful.  Ouch.

If you google the country with the highest taxes, you'll usually find one country at the top of any heap and it's often used as a comparison to other countries.  Even our American friends who live and pay taxes in the U.K. think their taxes are some of the highest worldwide, but they aren't.

So, what did all that googling turn up?

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Forbes Investing

Countries With The Highest And Lowest Taxes

One of the world’s highest tax rates, and the highest of Western European countries, has been imposed on the citizens of Belgium. On average, Belgium taxpayers are taxed a marginal rate of 54.9%. 

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Which country has the highest tax rate?

At the top end of the distribution we have Belgium where single people pay 43% of earnings in income tax and social security contributions (or national insurance), followed by Germany with 39.9%.  The lowest rates are paid in Chile at 7% and Mexico at 9.5%.

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Among developed nations, Americans’ tax bills are below average

A single, childless American making the average wage in 2013 ($48,774), for instance, paid 24.5% of her gross income in federal income tax and payroll taxes. Such a person living in Belgium, by contrast, would pay 42.4% of her gross income. An American married couple, both working (one at the average wage, one at two-thirds of it) and with two kids, paid 19.1% of their gross income in taxes; a similar Belgian family would have paid double that rate, or 38.4%.

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Yes, you read that right.  The average couple in Belgium pays more than twice the income tax that an American couple pays.  That. Is. Huge.

Summer Pictures

It's been a pretty lazy summer for us - not so much going on, but here are a few photos I've taken with my fancy new phone.

These are turnip greens I grew from seeds.  They are supposed to be for Jim to eat, but something else is enjoying them too.

Turnips.  We can only buy turnips here, not greens.  I guess they are just thrown out?

Jim and Ross working on a project for holding his leather in place while he stitches.

The finished product!

It's that time of year here when there are roadside stands selling fresh-picked cherries.

We bought this, our first watermelon of the year, at a fruit stand near Ross's apartment.  It was delicious and definitely worth the 19 euros we paid for it.  Yes!  Watermelons are expensive.

Here's where I spend most of my time - working in the garden.  Everything grows so well here with a sunny day followed by a couple of overcast days, followed by a couple of rainy days and it so rarely gets really hot.  

I'm so proud of all my flowers.  There, on the left, you can also see a couple of the apples on our apple tree.

On those rainy days I sometimes like to experiment with my hair.  I'm done with hair dye!  Maybe.  I found this new-to-me product called color remover.  I've applied it about 4 times now (that photo is my "test strand") and although my hair feels like pine straw, it's definitely lighter. I've now moved on to bleach and still have all my hair.  More on that another day!

Also this summer  . . . I can hardly believe - Frazier turned 6 years old!  What a sweetheart.  

Happy birthday, Frazier!

And here's an adorable picture of Norma Grace in a beautiful dress from Aunt Becky :)

Happy Summer!