Quote:
Originally Posted by opendoor
Not even close. The disparity in taxes paid between Canada and the USA is greatly exaggerated. Going by % of GDP, the USA's various levels of government bring in tax revenue at a rate of 27% compared to Canada which is about 32%. If you factor in the massive amounts of private money spent on health care in the USA (the equivalent of which in Canada is paid through tax revenues) the disparity largely disappears. Health care costs in the USA are about 15% of GDP and much of that is funded privately. That more than eats up any tax savings in the USA.
Now these are based on national numbers, so there are some places with lower tax burdens (states with little or no state income or sales tax) but there are also many states with much higher tax burdens than Canada.
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Yep. Living in the States for the past year and 7 years ago for a couple of years and then spending the rest of my time Canada the tax difference is greatly exaggerated. Our gross income hasn't changed and while I pay lower taxes, the difference really is made up on healthcare coverage costs that come out of my cheque and the damn co-pays whenever one of us sees a doctor. For our family coverage I pay just under $5000 per year not including the co-pays ($15-45 a visit). Many other pay more but our company pays 70% rather than a very typical 50%. That $5000 is a pretty damn big chunk of change. Geez even if someone makes 100k that's still 5% of your gross salary....pretty much the difference in tax rates between the two countries. Maybe it's because I'm Canadian and raised to believe that no one should go without medical coverage but I'd much rather give that 5% to the gov't for (properly run) universal healthcare. Well as well run as you can expect.
Now I do have more disposable income than I did but that has nothing to do with tax rates but that I simply moved to a very cheap part of North America. Our 200k house in Calgary, for instance, would be over 700k last I looked.
It's funny because I live very much in republican country and they always ask me for the horror stories of universal healthcare and they certainly exist. But I've never heard of anyone going bankrupt or having to take out a loan to pay healthcare expenses. Down here, I know two families personally that in the past year have had extreme financial difficulties due to health reasons.
Now IMO the reform doesn't go nearly far enough. But honestly there is no way they can get reform to go as far as it needs to. It's a baby step. You know a wobbly, somewhat off balance step...but a step nonetheless.