Loading ...– Yes ! Six weeks vacation , I started in October and was eligible by Jan.1
– Was paid 14 months per year . Double pay Dec. (Christmas expenses) and June (Vacation expenses).
– Indexed salary – that was the era of high inflation – so every month my salary was increased to compensate for higher cost of living .
– Since I was non-Belgian , recruited from out-of-country , by a corporation from the USA , my annual salary base was discounted by 30% for tax calculations.
– I had three children , so was considered a ‘large family’ ( famille nombreuse ) so received a large family allowance check from the gov’t each month. It was almost as much as my income tax deduction .
– We lived in a beautiful apartment across from a large park with lakes – my rent was also increased each month by the same index factor.
– The downside ? I was taxed (monthly?) for having a television , to pay for the national TV service ( similar to BBC in UK or CBC in Canada ). PBS in USA is paid from our IRS taxes , not a separate stamp tax .
– Car insurance was costly .
– It was nescessary to take a day off work every year to get the car inspected at a government run inspection center … a real pain … any minor issue found (e.g. wipers ‘too brittle’) meant coming back again another day for another fee .