UK, Ireland / Irish Times: Irish workers warm to Poland [24]

... or The Irish are going to Ukraine...

Law / Taxation system in Poland? My company is cutting 38%!? [25]

^^
it all depends what kind of work agreement you have. Just to see and compare what typical tax look like for a Polish person on typical work agreement try this:

money.pl/podatki/kalkulatory/plac/

just leave deafult settings, put your salaries gross into box after "brutto", click "Dodaj do miesięcy" button (it will fill monthly boxes automatically), finally click "Oblicz" and there you will see how it is to be a typical Kowalski with your salary. Taxes/pension funds/insurance is mostly everything except "brutto" and "netto" (this is what Kowalski gets).

I don't know how it works with foreigner, and if it works with every kind of agreement, but typically employer has a duty to give employee his monthly taxation breakdown. It is called RMUA. Just ask: where is my RMUA people?

Work / This agent in Poland promised me a job, is he real [15]

actually it seems this guy really exists, you can find all the data about him here using just REGON:
stat.gov.pl/regon
it is state run public database of registered companies in Poland
(use: "Wyszukiwanie wg numeru REGON", put 142283077 in first box, code from the picture into second one, and click "szukaj" button)

it says that main activity of this company is gastronomy...

anyway, as far as I know it is illegal to get pay from person seeking job (only some money to cover some specific operational costs are legal).

Mind you that the fact this company is registered doesn't automatically give much credence. But it proves that this company is not fake, though it doesn't mean your guy isn't...

erratum:
it says that main activity of this company is gastronomy (since 2010-11-24) and education (since 2011-01-15)

Real Estate / Banks in Poland selling fewer mortgages in 2011, down 49% [285]



Not possible with that rate. It would mean that almost every houshold would pay at least those 20K which is far more than current income tax. Effectively it would mean multiplication of current income tax. Beside the fact that there is absolutely no need for that it sounds absolutely crazy.

Anyway, property tax already exists, but it is not state tax but local gov. tax. Maximum rate of it is set in state law (if wiki don't lie currenty max is 0,62 PLN / 1 m^2).

It is up to the city council you live in if you pay max of it or less.

The question is if foreigner4 friend was talking about tax in his city or in Poland...

PS. wiki lied, in 2010 max was 0,67 PLN/1m^2. And it was rate in Warsaw or Gdansk. In Wroclaw city decided to set property tax at 0,54 PLN/1 m^2.

Oh, important, I was posting about flats. For land this rate is different...

USA, Canada / US Polonia 70% for Kaczyński [343]

Oh delphiandomine, your are so wrong... ;) :

USA, Canada / US Polonia 70% for Kaczyński [343]


What I meant was:
- significant financial and psychological support to opposition
- I count Polish goverment on exile in London as Polonia - they've done a lot
- "Culture" and Jerzy Gedroyc - very significant part of Polonia till 2000
- radio "Free Europe", Jerzy Nowak Jeziorański and his group
- Poland and NATO - backing by American Polonia was one of maybe not so important but still some factor
- many others that I didn't list...

still, I believe that voting rights in Polish elections are for citizens of Poland whose life is in Poland. More or less it means they pay taxes in Poland. Current state resemble situation when someone cousins can vote what colour of flat should someones wall be painted. I like my cousins, but regarding colour of my wall they cann't do more than advice me something.

News / POLAND TO BECOME THE NEXT GREECE? [28]


I think it has nothing to do with justice but rather with choosing lesser evil. But if you are looking for justice I can tell you that defaulting on debt by a country is not a peanuts for this country either. Technically speaking Poland defaulted in 80' and was crawling out of a dip hole till mid 90'. Greeks would pay one way or another. I think the faster way would be through default. Besides not only Greeks should pay for mismanagement but banks who lent money without proper risk assessment... As for money flowing to Greece now, those money are going immediately back to big western banks as interest payments...

USA, Canada / US Polonia 70% for Kaczyński [343]

Well, I wouldn't be so harsh on Polonia. They've done a lot in times of communist regime. They've done a lot after that. But it is all the past now. All I want is that Platonic love for Poland should go without a voting right - that is all.

USA, Canada / US Polonia 70% for Kaczyński [343]

Sure, and "Polonia" don't pay for this... yet they are "patriots" and can influence where Poland will send its troops... funny

USA, Canada / US Polonia 70% for Kaczyński [343]

The thing is that those living abroad:
- don't pay taxes here
- don't use public utilities/public funds/public transport/public schools/public whatever here
- their daily life has nothing to do with daily life in Poland
- they don't serve in Polish army
- they do not do many other things in Poland
- basically they have no business here other than sentimental

I don't deny anyone to be patriotic, frankly speaking that is great that there are people all over the world who do care about Poland. So, please buy a recent edition of Adam Mickewicz poems, or make some lecture about great victory of Chodkiewicz near Kircholm to your foreign neighbours, or solve some mathematic problems designed by Stefan Banach. But for goodness sake don't try to influence where we Poles in Poland should build next highway or how we should finance higher education, etc. etc. Because that is what this elections are mostly about... And again, I don't care if some Polish American voted for PIS, or Polish Londoner voted for PO.

USA, Canada / US Polonia 70% for Kaczyński [343]

So? it is not about numbers but about principles.

USA, Canada / US Polonia 70% for Kaczyński [343]

Agreed, I don't care if 80% of Polish-Americans voted for PIS or 80% of Polish Londoners voted for PO. It should be a threshold. Let say - five years no tax paid in Poland - no vote.

It is beyond me that someone who haven't even been in Poland has a right to decide where my money should go... Some of expats on this forum should have more rights to vote in Polish elections than so called "Polonia".

News / The chances for Warsaw to become capital of eventual Slavic confederation? [183]

Crow, I think you will find this interesting ;) :

hvylya.org/analytics/4-2009-04-12-12-01-18/3481-2010-02-06-18-59-03.html

News / "Shale Gas Revolution" will make Poland a Leading Country in Europe! [202]

Germans are in Gasprom pocket. They didn't build this costly pipe under the Baltic just for fun... What is more, if I remember corectly a few big players on German energy market has some financial connections with Gasprom... It is funny and scary at the same time to observe like Greens are used by gas lobby to close energy market there (ie. closing perfectly fine nuclear plants).

Life / Are Polish people so chaotic and disorganized like Germans say? [89]


That picture with Zdzichu is great but old... Now we have also EU funds manager on site ;)

Life / Are Polish people so chaotic and disorganized like Germans say? [89]


Well, I don't want to sound pompous but.... 10 milions of Poles in Solidarity movement not so long ago tells something rather positive... At least that Poles are great at organizing clandestine movements. The missing part is probably small local organizations wich are still relatively rare in comparision to WE. But they do exists and last time and checked - growing in number.

Law / How deep is the Gloom in the Poland's Economy [84]

If 3K/M2 PLN is all what that insurance company gives then go to court man...
I'm rather in the camp of those who thinks that property prices will continue to fall but... it all depends where. Land prices in and around big agglomerations are really big factor in overall cost. Besides good specialist team to decor house or flat is also considerably more costly in big agglomeration. I mean, compare apple with apple. What brings me to next point that most analogies with USA or even WE markets are in much extent invalid. Let start with simple thing as such that there is no meaningful land tax in Poland. Investors can hold land much longer without burning their hands with it. Second thing is that people with mortgages are really small percent of population. I saw recently some statistics (unfortunately didn't save that and cann't confirm in different source) which said that percent of households with mortgages is under 6%. Most people either possess their home/flat or (staggering number of about 27%) lives in state/city sponsored to some extent council flats. The second point actually explains nicely the question often asked by foreigners: how many Poles can afford living with minimal wage...

To sum things up with property market, yes it is falling, but slowly, and mostly through inflation. There is just big big inertion of that market due couple of rules wheter it is good or bad.

Travel / The worst months for bike riding in Poland? [8]


Depends on what kind of joy you are looking for...
For standard bike joy I would say season is more or less between march and october.
But on the other hand biking in the winter along the frozen river is quite entertaining too.
There is no bad weather, only bad clothes ;-)

Law / How deep is the Gloom in the Poland's Economy [84]

But IMF says Polish economy will grow around 2.971% (Gross domestic product, constant prices) in 2012.

I mean what is your point?

Law / How deep is the Gloom in the Poland's Economy [84]

You are talking probably about this: imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2011/02/weodata/index.aspx

Taking into account problems of our main trading partners this is not bad forecast. GDP is growing, slowly, but unemployment rate stays more or flat, inflation is low and stable, investments are growing, savings too. It looks like there is a few stable years ahead among the storm. Few things I don't like is current account balance or general government gross debt, though if in 2016 debt would stay below 55% of GDP it would be positive still.

To sum things up, considering the fact that Europe has its "7 thin years period" right now, I like this forecast. But economic forecasts are usually no better than weather forecasts...

Food / Types of CHEESE in Poland [150]

If you are looking for great Polish cheese try "Old Poland". Rubin is nice, Bursztyn is my favourite.

Real Estate / Poland's apartment prices continue to fall [1844]

As a native Pole, I didn't know such nuance exists that bargain is somewhat deregatory term. I meant bargain in terms of hard but still price negociation.


Exactly. Like I said Poles do openly negotiate when the deal is huge enough for them.. Bread, internet and phone are not in such category yet.

Real Estate / Poland's apartment prices continue to fall [1844]

Well, financial blogs like calculatedrisk claimed that one of the very important propeller in the entire process was inflated appraisals. In order to gave inflated mortgage banks needed inflated apraisals to claim they have proper collateral for a mortgage. Because thanks to securitiazation process banks bore no risk and had unlimited amount of cash their goal was to inflate a price. Appraisers were in general dependent on banks and entire process corrupted leading to a bubble. And there was no point to bargain becasue "house prices never fall". Of course there were more propellers, and overall mechanics of this process is quite interesting, but that is probably OT here. It was greed of course, but greed is a constant property of reality. The interesting thing is what was the canals that greed used to get out of the bottle.


Of course, and those offers are the effect of the average prices from transactions in time X in a given area. And it happens that in Poland we do negotiate the price. The only period we didn't were years of property boom in 2005-2008... Offer price is not a market price, especially currently. Look for reports from REAS and other for example. Transaction prices are lower than offer prices at least a few percent, in certain caseses even more. To not bargain/negotiate the price especially when the market is falling is to act unwisely...

To make an example: there is a property in Wroclaw, a flat. In the last tender about half year ago city offered it for about 0,5 mln PLN. Nobody was interested. Now the offer price is under 0,4 mln PLN. (to all who claims that sky is falling, I would add that this flat needs a lot of work).

Real Estate / Poland's apartment prices continue to fall [1844]


And how do you know that the price reflects the market price? By definition market price is set by every transaction including that one which you are a part of. Actually by bargaining you are setting market price at the moment... Big and small companies are doing it by daily basis. Regular folks too when deal is big enough. It is called capitalism ;) Actually lack of proper bargaining is one of the cause of every bubble, ie. latest bubble in US where floor was artificially set by improper appraisals.

Work / Is finding an engineering job in Poland difficult? Do I have to be fluent in Polish? [17]

benny194

I have no knowledge at all about your domain, but just for sport I looked into the net, so for example this site:
praca.money.pl
with "inżynier mechanik" phrase which I hope means more or less "mechanical engineer" gave me this:

"Product manager with English in Automotive field" in Cracov.
It is from grafton recruitment agency:
grafton.pl/oferty-pracy-detail.html?refNum=6017243
another one:
grafton.pl/oferty-pracy-detail.html?refNum=6017242

Why not contact them and apply just for sport? I'm quite sure you'll be able to get info about wage differential in your domain from head hunters.

As for general engineering companies in the region if not Cracov then Upper Silesia area is quite close - which means many possibilities (probably I should mention here Fiat factory in Bielsko-Biała, or other factories in Tychy or Gliwice). Big international companies are located mostly in special economic zones. Here you can see for example list of companies in such zone in Upper Silessia:

ksse.com.pl/lista/dane_list/lista1.php?lang=en

Maybe you will find a company you've always wanted to work for ;)

History / What do Poles owe to Russians? [193]


Wow... olive branch offering from Nazist Germany in 1939:
"First give us some land to connect with Prussia, let us take Gdansk also on that occassion. Secondly let us in and let us to expel/kill your Jews (about 10% of the population). Thirdly lets together conquer SU and kill all the Jews over there. Last but not least what we don't tell you but it is obvious, when we conquer SU, we will also occupy some more of your territory and use some of Untermenschen to slave work"

What a bargain! Why, oh why Poland didn't comply...

Anyway back to the topic: Poles of course owe a lot to Russian Dmitrij Mendelejew ;)

Life / Feasibility and cost of a bicycle in Krakow? [13]


I do sometimes. From legal point of view winter wheels for bicycles till middle of 2010 were illegal in Poland (those with this metal hobnails), now they are supposedly legal.

I didn't try them but I'm going to...

Life / Poland's population growth problem [44]

From big cities none except Warsaw. But city stats will not tell you much. You should look rather at agglomeration stats or urban areas. Big Polish cities unfortunately are in the process of urban sprawl. So for example city of Poznan is losing citizens but agglomeration is growing, the same more or less goes for Krakow, Wroclaw and others:

here you can find nice stats, I'm not sure how valid they are though...:

markamiasto.home.pl/autoinstalator/joomla7/index.php?option=com_plotalot&view=simple&Itemid=572

£ódź is a different case - it is kind of Polish Detroit + it is to close to Warsaw...

Real Estate / What area to live in Wroclaw? I prefer to spend about 1600-1900 per month on renting. [19]

Good website for renting? I don't know any good site in English. Some Polish sites I look into sometimes are:
dom.gratka.pl/mieszkania-do-wynajecia/lista/dolnoslaskie,wroclaw.html
oferty.net

a few years ago the best one was (the best one because with the biggest amount of offers without a middle man): autogielda.pl

Well, after learning 10 to 50 Polish words you should be able to surf smothly on those sites ;-)

Anyway, if you are going to work on Strzegomska then from the list you gave you should go for Krzyki. I would also add Muchobór to the list - if closenest to the city center is not important to you. Regardless of the fact that brand new and shiny motorring was opened two days ago, getting from Biskupin to Strzegomska can take an hour by car sometimes.

It depends where on Strzegomska also, because it is quite a long street. If close to the center then you have direct tram from Biskupin, if on the other side, then you have relatively easy way by city bus or by car via inner ring road.

One word of warning: you should take notice on the map that middle part of Strzegomska area is kind of industrial and rail zone, so for example Grabiszyńska area can look close to it but you will have go around through the center or inner ring anyway. In fact the closest livable area is Popowice - the only minus is that this is mostly commie blocks area.

Real Estate / What area to live in Wroclaw? I prefer to spend about 1600-1900 per month on renting. [19]

This map of transaction prices should help you. I know you want to rent, but people are voting with their money:



In my opinion:
Biskupin|Sępolno > Krzyki > Grabiszynska...

But it all depends where are your daily destinations.