Much higher taxes in Canada: A myth?

[Brave Stranger]

Originally Posted by mattncind

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))

Thanks for doing this The America is bad crowd is just clueless.