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Old 07-08-2009, 06:08 PM
 
Location: Jonquil City (aka Smyrna) Georgia- by Atlanta
16,259 posts, read 24,676,769 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kkgg7 View Post
My perception is that tax wise Canada is only slightly higher if you make only moderate amount of money. It is the PRICE that makes the difference. Car insurance for example, is at least twice as much in Toronto than in major US cities (for some weird reason). Cellphone plans is WAY more expensive as well.
Plus, you don't get paid as much as in the US as well. For example, a similar job probably pays 20-30% more in Chicago than in Toronto.
I agree about the cell phones. Canada is just outrageous. They pay twice what we pay.
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Old 07-24-2009, 06:54 PM
 
17 posts, read 63,579 times
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Remember that NYC has it's own income tax, so it's not a fair comparison to most places in the US where taxes are MUCH lower than in Canada. And you are also forgetting that after income taxes in Canada are outrageous as well. And also remember that everything costs a lot more in Canada too. You have to pay long distance on your cell phone, you can't write off the interest on your mortgage, that's a huge disadvantage.
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Old 07-24-2009, 06:57 PM
 
17 posts, read 63,579 times
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A big part of why auto insurance is more in Canada is because the minimum coverage is a lot higher, you can get away with 20-30K liability in the US, it's more like a million in Canada. Canadians are very risk averse, that's part of the reason why the business climate up there is so poor.
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Old 07-28-2009, 10:49 PM
 
Location: MO Ozarkian in NE Hoosierana
4,682 posts, read 12,021,428 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lebleu View Post
No doubt about that. My jaw dropped at the cost of groceries in Canada. And, I'm coming from an expensive area in the US... But I think that has much to do with the small population in a vast land mass and the logistics involved.
Will say that when up in Ontario a few weeks ago [Wawa, Sault Ste. Marie, Thessalon area], was also surprised at the costs of groceries, fuel, restaurant food, etc. Gorgeous land, wonderful people... but good grief, durn near $60 just for 4 to eat simple lunch [sandwiches, etc.], no free refills on drinks [5 different places, three different areas], +$5 for bacon, etc.?!?! Don't know if I take the excuse of vast land mass & logistics in this case, as across the border in Sault Ste Marie, Michigan prices for very similar items are less expensive... and every local [Canadian & US] on each side of the border said to buy groceries, etc. on the US side, and that the Canadians buy as much as they can south of the border [hmmmm,,, kinda like what we US citizens do along our southern border

Anyhow, lebleu - :up: on your OP... be interesting to see that updated [hint hint ], to include further details/info - for example, cost of secondary education, much cheaper in Canada [again, interestingly, similar to Mexico - for public schools], and health care, so on.
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Old 07-29-2009, 01:03 PM
 
Location: Etobicoke, ON
111 posts, read 588,661 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ShadowCaver View Post
Will say that when up in Ontario a few weeks ago [Wawa, Sault Ste. Marie, Thessalon area], was also surprised at the costs of groceries, fuel, restaurant food, etc. Gorgeous land, wonderful people... but good grief, durn near $60 just for 4 to eat simple lunch [sandwiches, etc.], no free refills on drinks [5 different places, three different areas], +$5 for bacon, etc.?!?! Don't know if I take the excuse of vast land mass & logistics in this case, as across the border in Sault Ste Marie, Michigan prices for very similar items are less expensive... and every local [Canadian & US] on each side of the border said to buy groceries, etc. on the US side, and that the Canadians buy as much as they can south of the border [hmmmm,,, kinda like what we US citizens do along our southern border

Anyhow, lebleu - :up: on your OP... be interesting to see that updated [hint hint ], to include further details/info - for example, cost of secondary education, much cheaper in Canada [again, interestingly, similar to Mexico - for public schools], and health care, so on.
I remember going across to New York like 10 years ago. Even when our dollar was worth about 0.70USD, we could buy things for significantly less. We used to have 15% sales tax too, though this has declined to 13% this year. When we go to Michigan we always fill up our tank with gas before coming back to Canada. My friend who lives in Windsor actually pays the fee to cross into Detroit just to get gas haha, it's worth it. I think a lot of groceries are cheaper in the U.S because you don't import as much of it as we do. Not to mention that Northern Ontario is far more expensive due to their isolation. My brother was up there for a few months for work and was amazed at how expensive the restaurants were up there for what little amount of food you got. He said the quality wasn't too good either. He ended up eating mostly McDonald's the entire time. And we're from Southern Ontario.

Quote:
Originally Posted by KevK View Post
I agree about the cell phones. Canada is just outrageous. They pay twice what we pay.
That's because it isn't cheap to cover areas in Canada. Each cellular tower costs roughly $1,000,000CAD, and now think of the areas that they cover. I mean I live in Southern Ontario, which is in the most heavily populated corridor in Canada and yet even here there is a big gap between major population cities, or even sizable towns. Companies have to provide seamless wireless coverage for areas between these population centres and yet often there are very few people living in these areas. It's expensive to maintain all of these sites and upgrade them with all of the latest technologies and yet have very few people using them between cities. Providing seamless coverage on the 401 isn't as bad, but highways like Highway 7 which is in the remote Northern parts of the country are virtually uninhabitated yet need coverage because of the traffic that goes through there.

In the US there are a lot more customers, and I would assume that most of them are more densely packed together than here. The rural areas in the U.S, especially in the East and West coasts, offset the rural people. Whereas a lot more people here are spread out.

The cost may still be higher than places in the U.S that are similar, but still, the price is logically going to be higher.

Last edited by StarshipPoopers1; 07-29-2009 at 01:15 PM..
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Old 07-30-2009, 07:17 PM
 
47 posts, read 151,198 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by KevK View Post
Canada's taxes are about the same as one of the higher taxed states in the U.S.A. But unlike the United States, you actually GET services for your taxes in Canada like health care, good police and fire protection, great schools and other things. In the USA you don't get as much in the way of services for what you pay.
I agree to this comment...There are benefits from what you are paying in Canada..

Last edited by ampretty; 07-30-2009 at 07:17 PM.. Reason: misspelled
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Old 07-30-2009, 07:34 PM
 
409 posts, read 1,456,972 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lebleu View Post
No doubt about that. My jaw dropped at the cost of groceries in Canada. And, I'm coming from an expensive area in the US... But I think that has much to do with the small population in a vast land mass and the logistics involved.
Once you convert the dollar there isn't much of a difference. Books is probably the worst deal in Canada. The same book will cost 11% more in Canada once the dollar is coverted. A Starbucks tall nonfat latte is actually cheaper.

Canada-U.S. price gap narrows
BMO economist says strong loonie and consumer outcry helped close gap to 6.8% from 18% last year
Jul 30, 2009 04:30 AM
Madhavi Acharya-Tom Yew
TheStar.com | Business | Canada-U.S. price gap narrows

http://media.thestar.topscms.com/ima...3b0efba78.jpeg
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Old 07-31-2009, 10:14 AM
 
Location: Boston, MA & Istanbul, Turkey
793 posts, read 1,446,609 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by KevK View Post
Canada's taxes are about the same as one of the higher taxed states in the U.S.A. But unlike the United States, you actually GET services for your taxes in Canada like health care, good police and fire protection, great schools and other things. In the USA you don't get as much in the way of services for what you pay.

This is a myth that is easily disproved if people took the time to actually do some research:

Per Capita Spending:

Public Education (K-12)

USA: $9,666/ per student
Canada: $7,946/ per student

Higher Education (Public)

USA: $18,600/ per student
Canada: $13,600/ per student

Public Safety:

USA: $428/ per capita
Canada: $352/ per capita

Unemployment Insurance:

USA: $5,240/per claim
Canada: $4,937/ per claim

Now I do understand that there are other benefits that exist in Canada as well for example Maternity Leave and Universal Health Care. The fact remains though is that the government of the US is more generous in many areas than Canada and it is a myth that Canada is more generous.

A couple other statistics to consider as far as results are concerned:

Literacy Rate:

US: 99%
Canada: 99%

Percentage Below Poverty Line:

US: 11.9%
Canada: 10.8%

Percentage holding Bachelor Degree:

US: 28%
Canada: 21%

So the US statistically does a better job of pushing people towards higher education and Canada manages Poverty at a better rate. This is simply to prove that our tax dollars work for us just as much if not more than people in Canada.

As far as the tax situation is concerned, as I said earlier you cannot simply compare marginal tax rates with each other, you need to factor in deductions and exemptions that are drastically more generous in the US than Canada. You need to examine overall tax burden(TaxProf Blog: Bartlett: Tax Tea Parties Misstate U.S. Tax Burden)

TO reinforce the point about the difference in Deductions/exemptions, look at how drastically the burden increases between Canada and the US when you start to expand your family (Think your taxes are bad? - MSN Money (http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/Taxes/P148855.asp - broken link))
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Old 08-01-2009, 12:48 AM
 
Location: Seattle
1,369 posts, read 3,300,620 times
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NYC has ridiculous high taxes, even compared to California...mainly due to the fact that CA has no local income tax and the brackets are far more generous than NYS. For 100k salary, I am pretty sure CA state taxes are lower than NYS (you can run the numbers if you want), PLUS you have local income taxes in NYC. My point is that NYC is probably the highest taxed place in the United States (not to mention the most expensive for housing), so if NYC taxes are still lower than Canada's then I think your theory doesn't hold a lot of water.
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Old 08-02-2009, 12:49 AM
 
4,657 posts, read 8,687,719 times
Reputation: 1363
Quote:
Originally Posted by canuckchemist View Post
Remember that NYC has it's own income tax, so it's not a fair comparison to most places in the US where taxes are MUCH lower than in Canada. And you are also forgetting that after income taxes in Canada are outrageous as well. And also remember that everything costs a lot more in Canada too. You have to pay long distance on your cell phone, you can't write off the interest on your mortgage, that's a huge disadvantage.
You guys don't get free long distance on your cell? Wow, I just take that for granted and assumed it was that way for both the States and Canada.
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