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Do single people pay a dispropotionate share of taxes in your country?
Absolutely. We have a Government which constantly talks about "hard-working families" and the contribution which immigrants make, while at the same time saying absolutely nothing of the contribution made by single people.
I was married at the time the present Government was elected (1997), so I am not completely biased, but since then, it has become so obvious that they see single taxpayers as a way of funding everything - especially, it seems, the unemployable, or those who can't seem to understand that "if you can't afford kids, you don't breed like rabbits".
London, for example, would fall apart in hours if it were not for its largely single childless workforce, yet (as someone else mentioned above) it's cheaper for a couple to live together, but single people are burdened with high taxes to pay for tax credits and benefits for the irresponsible and those who contribute nothing to society except producing future voters.
Its been said that it tends to be hard-working, law-abiding people like myself who emigrate, and the reasons above are pretty much top of the list. If you are single and professional here in the UK, you'll end up working into your 70s, flat-sharing or living in a tiny rented flat for years, while criminals and the useless get subsidised housing and welfare to keep them quiet, and contribute nothing in return.
Before anyone gets too enthused about Canada, be sure that they want you. They are looking for productive workers, and they most definitely are not the slightest bit interested in retirees....so do it before you are too old to have a chance of being admitted.
I personally think Canada is a great place, by the way.
Well how about those people that send their kids to private school? how about those people who never call the police or the fire department? The ones that will die before they can cash their social security checks because they are terminally ill? Should they get their money back too?
The government wants population growth and that's why they have tax breaks for having children. Consider it a social investment. Whether you like it or not, they are contributing to society. Kids are not only time consuming, but they are expensive and those kids are gonna be working and contributing to your social security checks in the future.
I'm a single young gay professional, and while I, too, have thought these very same things before in the past I'm also considering the fact that the money I pay in taxes to support public schools is an investment in a more well-educated and well-skilled future generation that will be the ones who will eventually pay into the social security account from which I'll someday be drawing to supplement my retirement income as well as being the ones who will be filling my prescriptions and performing my open heart surgery. A better public school system equates to less juvenile delinquency, which will deter crime, teenage pregnancies, poverty, etc. in the long-term, helping to create a better society.
Try looking at things from a long-term perspective. I'm a single gay male who will likely never be able to marry legally in this ultra-right-wing nation and will not be reproducing. From a first glance I should be especially outraged that I pay the highest tax burden and receive not only fewer services and amenities in return but am also treated like a second-class citizen due to my minority status. However, if biting the bullet and struggling now to pay dearly to help fund other people's children's futures means that my own future someday may be better, then I'm all for it.
^ I'm in total support of paying taxes for schools as well, but our squabble isn't about where the money is going, it's that singles pay an unfairly higher percentage of taxes than married people. I like your positive outlook on it though! I just wish singles were treated fairly in this arena.
I have lived in large metropolitan areas in the US for the past 20 years. Most of my friends were single - students initially but well-educated professionals now who are doing very well for themselves. And most of the people that I meet in my circles are of a similar profile. In other words, it is not so much the number of singles vs married taxpayers but the dollar amount of income earned and taxes payed that should dictate tax policy, if the basic founding principle of our great nation is to be upheld - "no taxtion without representation." I sickens me to see the fruit of my hard earned labor being squandered away in welfare programs and wasteful spending. Perhaps, organizing as a group - similar to the AARP - would provide some answers. I suppose most people here seem to be suggesting that taxes should be consumption based - but I'm not sure if that would ever get done here in the Us at least. Too many hippies in Congress right now. I'm all for progressive social liberal policies but a staunch fiscal conservative. Flat taxation would not work either. Tax collection and spending ideally should be like the NJ Turnpike - if you get on exit 1 and get off exit 10 - its $2.50, if you get off exit 13, its $3.10 and so on. That makes sense but not sure if it is practical.
Don't come to Holland...employees pay 33.3% tax over their salary. If you are self employed it's a staggering 49% or something like that. Healthcare is about $220,- month for the cheapest insurance. As a single working woman I don't get any benefits whatsoever I will never be able to a house with a garden as they are to expensive (look like legoland houses anyway) I will move asap to a country where I will be able to afford a small detached house with a garden...wayyyy to expensive here.
Katie,
Wow, that sounds really hard!! I hope you are able to get your small home with a garden one day. Sounds like a wonderful goal to have - perfect for a single woman on her own. I'm in the U.S., and here in Texas, such a home isn't too hard to come by.
Don't come to Holland...employees pay 33.3% tax over their salary. If you are self employed it's a staggering 49% or something like that. Healthcare is about $220,- month for the cheapest insurance. As a single working woman I don't get any benefits whatsoever I will never be able to a house with a garden as they are to expensive (look like legoland houses anyway) I will move asap to a country where I will be able to afford a small detached house with a garden...wayyyy to expensive here.
Average health insurance is about 95 euros per month. Where did you get 220??
Also, you didn't get any benefits? You didn't get subsidized university and studiegeld? That's a pretty huge benefit I would say....
95 euro ($140,-) is the basic insurance, I have to get a higher insurance because of the acupuncture I get because of Migraines, besides that a considerable amount is payed directly from your paycheck, with me this adds up to 150,- ($220,-). Further I couldn't get subsidized university money as they wanted my parents to pay a huge part at that time (talking about 18 years ago) and I didn't want to be dependent on them, I have done my college part-time next to 36 hours work week and payed for my own education. So no benefits here! I don't even know why I am explaining as you don't know my situation?
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I will never be able to a house with a garden as they are to expensive (look like legoland houses anyway) I will move asap to a country where I will be able to afford a small detached house with a garden...wayyyy to expensive here.
