Clemens Nowotny & Hannes Gurtner (LeitnerLeitner, Taxand)

<p>For many years both, Dr. Hannes Gurtner and Dr. Clemens Nowotny are tax partners of a leading tax firm in Austria and CEE – LeitnerLeitner. Hannes is specialised on VAT, but Clemens – on international tax, although both are auditors as well. </p><p><i>Social media, reading, direct contact</i></p><p>We started the conversation about LinkedIn and social media at all – Hannes is not there, because he rather prefers a personal contact. This seems to be a luxury Hannes enjoys – not to check the screens every 5 minutes and dedicate time to the family. It’s an interesting approach – reading mostly technical literature, no focus on social media, just client direct relations. I recently read in a book by a psychologist that this nowadays becomes a privilege of strong personalities, but a correct one – to set borders between work and personal life. </p><p><i>Teaching as an art</i></p><p>Not only both love teaching, but Hannes compared it to an entertainment, almost like an artist on a stage. One can feel how much both enjoy their profession and do it with all their hearts. </p><p><i>Why Austria is 14th richest country?</i></p><p>It was revealing to learn that many high net worth individuals move to live in Austria. Clemens well describes – why and is it because of the tax system. In Austria the highest personal income tax bracket is above EUR 60k – 50%; > 1m – 55%. Salaries average from 4k to 17k. Clemens explained why this high tax did not create an emigration of the best brain from Austria, but had quite an opposite effect. </p><p><i>Schumpeter</i></p><p>We also spoke of Mr. Schumpeter – the Austrian Minister of Finance a century ago. A column in the Economist is named by him. He’s been praised as a champion of innovation and entrepreneurship. We touched upon – could he have an impact on the current tax system in Austria. Also - Wikipedia says Austria is the 14th richest country in terms of GDP per capita – is it partially because of the tax system?</p><p><i>1896 tax reform</i></p><p>Austria had a tax reform in 1896.