Re: Pay Rates relative to Cost of Living in a Town

[John Renish <John_F_Renish -at- NOTES -dot- SEAGATE -dot- COM>]

FWIW, I tried the international salary calculator and got ridiculous
figures for Riyadh and Dharan, Saudi Arabia, where I lived and worked for
2-1/2 years. The calculator apparently does not take into account that most
employers there _require_ you to live in leased quarters and that US tax
law allows you to ignore the lease value (typically over $30,000 in Saudi
Arabia) in such cases in calculating your tax liability. Also, Saudi Arabia
has no personal income tax, and US residents who reside abroad for at least
a year have the first $70,000 of foreign income sheltered from US taxes.
Commonly the employer will make sure your reported income does not exceed
$70,000 by extending other perks, such as free annual or more-frequent
flights home and free total health care for the worker and accompanying
dependents. I'm not a tax lawyer, the laws have changed a little since I
returned, and YMMV; but foreign employment, especially in the Gulf States,
can be quite lucrative for US residents. It's also very good for UK and
Canadian residents, but not as good from a tax standpoint as it is for
Americans.

John_F_Renish -at- notes -dot- seagate -dot- com, San Jose, California, USA
My comments represent my personal views and not those of my employer.
"And this is the real carrot at the end of the rainbow."
--Paul Lyneham, ABC TV, Australia