Are you willing to pay more taxes to ensure health coverage for all?

[HM2VikingRN]

cbs/new york times poll, february 2 007

if you had to choose, which do you think is more important for the

country to do right now, maintain the tax cuts enacted in recent

years or make sure all americans have access to health care?

cutting taxes 18%

access to health insurance 76%

would you be willing or not willing to pay higher taxes so that all

americans have health insurance they can't lose, no matter what?

willing 60%

not willing 34%

(if "willing") would you be willing or not willing to pay $500 a

year more in taxes so that all americans have health insurance

they can't lose, no matter what?

willing 82%

not willing 6%

http://home.ourfuture.org/assets/20070612_theprogressivemajority_report.pdf

interesting poll numbers...

[headsup]

I don't really know much about Canada or any other country because I do not live there. Maybe they have a more scrupulous, efficient government than ours. Ours just loves to waste, waste, waste, waste.

Ohhh, I don't think that the US has a monopoly on THAT! :angryfire :angryfire :angryfire

[DarrenWright]

You just don't get it. For some reason you have a real problem with accepting that Canada is not enslaving its people.

Several people have gotten on here, who actually live and work in Canada, and tell you that your 47% is blatantly wrong. You absolutely refuse to listen.

You must not understand how to work these tax calculators.

For BC, an income of $48000 translates to $9566 per year, which is 19.93%. In addition, there is an extra 4% for CPP (pension - maximum annual contribution $1903 for 2006) and 2% for EI (unemployment- for a maximum annual contribution of $712 for 2006).

I KNOW this since I just finished reporting payroll for our 5 employees.

This translates to a maximum tax rate including all pension, employment and fed and prov (state) of roughly 22%.

You can make up all the things you want, but I live here, pay employees and recieve a paycheck myself.

NO CANADIAN PAYS 47% TAX RATE.

Get it???? :trout:

But this DID get me looking into my home state and what I paid back when I lived there, and what people are currently paying. So I did a little online calculating (hey, it is a rainy Sunday so why not...)

In the US your federal taxes would be $6236.

Canada they are $6757.

For a wage of $48,000 state taxes would be...

British Columbia, Canada provincial taxes are $2810

California - $2335

Total for living in British Columbia, Canada - $9567

Total for living in California, US - $8571

(This is without any deductions in either country, or write-offs. It is simply a base tax rate for a single person with no dependents. In the US, you can write off personal mortgage interest. In Canada you cannot, which definitely makes a difference if you are a home owner. I am not an accountant, so I imagine all the write-offs, deductinos, dependents, etc., etc. will make the numbers very different on both sides.)

I realize that some states do not have state tax withholdings. But in glancing through the state tax rate, they average around $2000 a year for the described income.

So that would make the tax rates fairly comparable!!! :eek: :eek:

I was actually shocked. I had been hearing so much about how Canadians are paying more, that I even started to actually believe it.

After doing research, I am suprised that the rates are so comparable...

Look, I'm using Canadian references.

Here's another, from a Canadian IS company.

http://www.walterharder.ca/MarginalTaxRateCalculator.html

I went to your province (BC), and typed in my income for last year. It listed a 26% federal tax, and an additional 13.7% provincial tax for a total marginal tax rate of 39.7%. In Quebec, my tax rate would've been 45.7%...almost 46%! My friend who is a CRNA would've faced a 48% marginal tax rate in Quebec (that is still Canada, right?).

Again, I'm not making this up. The numbers are in black and white.

Here, though, I paid a 13% federal tax rate on the bulk of my income (because they REDUCED my federal taxes as an incentive to take my own money and put it into my own retirement savings account), a 25% tax on the remaining amount over $36,650, and a flat 2.3% state tax.

The best thing you can do, however, is convince yourself that you are getting a bargain. Personally, even paying less in taxes here, we are getting ripped off, and are not interested in trading our dollars for a socialized system that will put us on a waiting list.

[headsup]

Well, I couldn't get over 35% unless I put in over $300,000 per year income. What exactly do you do for a living??

At any rate, you are not using the calculator correctly somehow. As I have repeatedly said. I live here. I work here. I do payroll for my husband's business. I know whereof I speak.

You on the other hand are just using online calculators incorrectly.

And as for waitlists, didn't another poster put up an article about how Americans are experiencing waitlists also??? In fact my mother in law (in Ca.) was just complaining last week about how she cannot get a doctor's appoint. for almost two weeks.

At any rate, I am done with the tax thing. I have given you cold hard facts. I have shown you numerous websites that state what the average tax rate is not only for Canada but for the world. And yet you cling to your claims.

Go for it.

[fergus51]

Darren, I think the problem is you are confusing marginal taxes with actual taxes paid as a percentage of income. No one pays 47% of their income in taxes. You need to look at the average tax rate to find that figure.

[DarrenWright]

Darren, I think the problem is you are confusing marginal taxes with actual taxes paid as a percentage of income. No one pays 47% of their income in taxes. You need to look at the average tax rate to find that figure.

I'm not confused.

I'm not using the CANADIAN provided references incorrectly.

What I've read is that a Canadian research and education agency is not credible. Canada has competitive tax rates, even though the Canadian Tax Liberation day is over a month and a half later.

I've provided credible links. But hey, since you like Wikipedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_Freedom_Day

Can't help you anymore. I'm sure you are getting a bargain.

[Levin]

Well assuming the online calculator he is using is based on accurate data, he is using the "Marginal rate" which is the %tax payed on the top fraction of income and talking about it, as though it were applied to the whole of his income.

The actual amount of your income that you would pay in taxes both state and federal, lock, stock and barrel on 48,000 is 25%, before deductibles, according to that calculator.

Levin

[headsup]

Perhaps Darren does not understand what the term marginal tax rate means. Let me explain...

That is the top percentage of your wage.

For the US, anything over $311,000 is currently at 35%

(One of the lowest over the years. Funny, at times it was 90%!!! I think maybe you guys should speak to the politicians about that. I certainly will by proxy anyways. It seems like the rich don't have to pay much more than the average citizen. When did THAT happen??? You mean Paris Hilton doesn't pay much more in percentage of taxes than I do???)

For Canada, anything over $118,000 is taxed at 43.70% for BC. (For Alberta it is considerably less)

So for the first $118,000 you get taxed at approximately 24%, as you go up, the amounts over each braket gets charged more.

Understand now?

The little tax free day that you posted was the last day it takes to work off ALL taxes, even if you are a millionaire. The average citizen would have worked it off MUCH earlier, for both the US and Canada....

Maybe you need to take a little course in economics.

[fergus51]

I'm not confused.

I'm not using the CANADIAN provided references incorrectly.

What I've read is that a Canadian research and education agency is not credible. Canada has competitive tax rates, even though the Canadian Tax Liberation day is over a month and a half later.

I've provided credible links. But hey, since you like Wikipedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_Freedom_Day

Can't help you anymore. I'm sure you are getting a bargain.

Do you think that Canadians pay 47% of their income in taxes?

If you do, you don't understand what marginal tax rate means. Marginal tax rate is the amount of tax you'd pay on the next dollar you earn, it isn't the amount you pay as a percentage of your total income. You need to look at the average paid. From the links you posted, that figure is much lower.

For instance, if you are taxed 5% on the first 60K of your income and 10% on the next 40K and 40% on the next 20K, your marginal tax rate would be 40% if you made 101K (because any extra money you earn above 100K wold be taxed at 40%). BUT, since you aren't paying that on the first 100K you earn, the actual amount you pay is not 40%. You'd pay 5% of 60K which is 3K, plus 10% of 40K which is 4K, plus 40% of 1K which is $400. Your taxes paid would be $7400, which is less than 8% of your salary. That's a big difference from 40%. Marginal tax rates are not meant to tell you how much taxes a person pays overall. It's completely misleading.

BTW, from your very own link: "Due to the different ways that nations collect and categorize public finance data, however, Tax Freedom Days are not comparable from one country to another." The 47% figure on there is the same marginal tax rate from the Fraser Institute. It says nothing about the average taxes we actually pay. And also on the webpage: "For example, a 2002 study by Osgoode Hall Law Professor Neil Brooks argues the Fraser Institute's Tax Freedom Day analysis includes flawed accounting, including the exclusion of several important forms of income and overstating tax figures, moving the date nearly two months later.[1]"

[gerry79]

With the money already spent on the Iraq war, every American could have health insurance and every high school graduate could go to college. Reallocation of funds and wise spending would work far better than higher taxation in my opnion.

[HM2VikingRN, RN]

Perhaps Darren does not understand what the term marginal tax rate means. Let me explain...

That is the top percentage of your wage.

For the US, anything over $311,000 is currently at 35%

(One of the lowest over the years. Funny, at times it was 90%!!! I think maybe you guys should speak to the politicians about that. I certainly will by proxy anyways. It seems like the rich don't have to pay much more than the average citizen. When did THAT happen??? You mean Paris Hilton doesn't pay much more in percentage of taxes than I do???)

For Canada, anything over $118,000 is taxed at 43.70% for BC. (For Alberta it is considerably less)

So for the first $118,000 you get taxed at approximately 24%, as you go up, the amounts over each braket gets charged more.

Understand now?

The little tax free day that you posted was the last day it takes to work off ALL taxes, even if you are a millionaire. The average citizen would have worked it off MUCH earlier, for both the US and Canada....

Maybe you need to take a little course in economics.

:rotfl:

[justme1972]

I'm not confused.

I'm not using the CANADIAN provided references incorrectly.

What I've read is that a Canadian research and education agency is not credible. Canada has competitive tax rates, even though the Canadian Tax Liberation day is over a month and a half later.

I've provided credible links. But hey, since you like Wikipedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_Freedom_Day

Can't help you anymore. I'm sure you are getting a bargain.

Darren, don't you think a Canadian citizen or someone who has LIVED and worked in Canada that has ACTUALLY PAID these taxes, would BETTER understand how they work?

Just because you post something over and over again....doesn't make it true.

[cardiacRN2006, ADN, RN]

A salary cut may not happen, but your take home pay would be severely lowered. Same result: you have less discretionary spending ability; you have less control over your own money; more people who choose not to work or are here working illegally will be using your hard earned cash.

To answer the OPs question, No.

This statement above pretty much sums it up for me.