Taxes in NYC pale compared to Mickelson's

I have never complained about taxes in my life, but now understand why Americans moan so much. I pay more than I did in (socialist) Canada, but don't get squat. Where the hell do all the tax dollars go? The 47%?? Military? debt?

well according to wikipedia, the us spends 4x the amount that canada spends per capita on military expenditures.

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

Canada is lucky, it doesn't need military spending because it has a powerful and deep pocketed neighbor.

Yes, we count ourselves lucky everyday that we are more secure due to the many good guys with guns to our south. Plus, didn't you see Argo? We're good neighbours too.

not to mention our 140 some odd foreign bases. thank god for all those troops in Germany and japan.

I have not yet seen Argo.

and according to jimmy carter:

Citing one key discrepancy in the film, the former United States president makes a point to offer some just praise for America's neighbors to the north:

"The other thing that I would say was that 90 percent of the contributions to the ideas and the consummation of the plan was Canadian," notes the 88-year-old. "The movie gives almost full credit to the American CIA. And with that exception, the movie's very good."

Noting that Tony Mendez, the man portrayed by actor/director Ben Affleck, had a rather minimal role in the in the actual incident, the guest reveals whom he feels was the most important protagonist in the real life story:

"The main hero, in my opinion, was Ken Taylor who was the Canadian ambassador who orchestrated the entire process," reveals Carter. "I was informed about it the first day, and I was very much involved with the Canadian government because the Canadian government would not legally permit six false passports to be issued. So the Canadian parliament had to go into secret session the first time in history, and they voted to let us use six Canadian passports that were false."

Ottawanyc - you don't pay as high a VAT here. Canada's taxes as a percent of GDP, federal and provincial included, are higher than the US by a small but meaningful amount.

or any VAT I should say.

C0C0 has finally found an area of interest: Jimmy Carter.

Jason, was just trying to make the point that you pay a lot of taxes here, but don't get much. In canada we have free (good) public schools, free medical care, heavily subsidized university ($5000 tuition, instead of $40,000), etc. So you understand where taxes go. Here I get annoyed, because I pay more (yes I pay more here) but still have to pay out of pocket for medical insurance, etc. And I am not a corporation, but if I was I think Canada's rate is more appealing: http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2012/oct/12/paul-ryan/paul-ryan-says-canada-now-has-15-percent-corporate/

Just saying that it is legitimately puzzling to me where all the taxes go... (Excepting NYC tax, as I can see where that goes and it makes the city better).

@OttawaNYC - totally agree. I lived in Quebec for a long time and you'd pay less taxes there have your Healthcare included, cheap tuition, $7/day childcare, paid/long maternity leave etc. And the property taxes are cheap too. Why are our taxes in NY way higher with LESS (way less) services? I think I know- www.seethruny.net

People can check it out for themselves - http://www.ey.com/CA/en/Services/Tax/Tax-Calculators

Ottawanyc you are certainly correct, government in Canada and the Nordic countries etc has empiracally been shown to be more efficient. That part of your statements is totally on point.

I go to Toronto for work, and have spoken about this very topic. Pretty much everything in Toronto is nicer, better, cleaner, more efficient than NY, but the top marginal rate is actually a bit lower. Even factoring in VAT its probably the same. But you have much cleaner streets, better public transport, and totally free health care. I get it.

@greensdale - you know what I mean. :-)
@nada - analysis cannot be complete without understanding interaction between nyc income tax and california income tax. As always, you appropriately qualified your analysis, which is one of the reasons I value your posts.

did toronto take every other country's poor and downtrodden for the last 200 years?

http://www.toronto.ca/toronto_facts/diversity.htm

Crescent yes, and they get all the socialist goodies too.

I'm not trying to compare countries or cities. Just seriously wondering where the hell all the taxes go. It's kind of screwy.

well for starters the fact that military spending is four times higher is not trivial.

So, if Canada is so great, why did Jason move here from San Francisco?

but of course this isn't relevant.

the US spending on healthcare is higher than Canada's (per person and as a % of GDP) despite the fact that the government covers everyone in Canada vs. we pay thru the nose for private insurance. Drs and other healthcare staff are paid a fraction of what they are paid in the US. I know Dr's in Canada and they typically make $150-300k not 5-10x that. Same with profs and administrators at universities- when Bernard Shapiro was president of McGill he made $150k/year and his twin brother who was president of Princeton made 2.5x that. The salaries paid to public servants are much more reasonable- take a look a seethruny - public servants making high six figures with six figure pensions doesnt happen in Canada (although Ontario teachers are close...) www.seethruny.net -Jean Charest and the liberals cleaned up the fiscal mess in the 90s and indexed and tied the public servants raises and pay with inflation among other indicators. And all of that has nothing to do with our high military spending relative to Canadas.

THanks 5th Gen. That is screwy. But then, I guess it is circular: if you graduate with $200,000 in debt and need to send your kids to private school...

"the US spending on healthcare is higher than Canada's (per person and as a % of GDP) despite the fact that the government covers everyone in Canada vs. we pay thru the nose for private insurance"

We spend most of our dollars on people at the end of their lives. That's why.

Good point. Under Canadian medicare when you reach 80 you are set a drift on an ice flow. Very cost effective.

too large a percentage of tax dollars are completely wasted. especially in ny where the political system is filled with corruption, graft and too many conflicts of interest that would get you jail time in the private sector. this notion that we need to grow "revenues" and have a "balanced" approach is laughable. alas, may be too far gone at this point but i have faith that sanity will prevail over politics and political power grabs. just it may take a bit more time for people to wake up or shake a good amount of rot out of the system....

Ottawanyc - I think half the people on the board will not know you are joking.

Which half Jason?

@OttawaNYC - yes agree about the student debt. Its a vicious cycle - you spend $60k /year on an undergrad degree and then another $200k on med school and of course you need to make a lot just to pay off that debt.

@rangersfan - I keep hoping the case is that "sanity will prevail" as you say -either that or we'll go bankrupt before that happens.

5th - it will take a few more years of malaise before people realize its a house of cards. just have to hope that the so called safety net hasnt broken its seams by then.

Stop whining rf.

@Greensdale: That fundraiser that you mentioned a few months ago - goal should be one-way ticket to Canada. You could ask for a penny contribution from prospective attendees, and I bet you'd have enough for a first class, same-day ticket in short order.

hey, hb i realize these issues are probably meaningless to you given your biggest accomplishment in life is rising from the land of grey. with a pseudonym no less.....

Hey rangersfan, how are things on the domestic front?

>@Greensdale: That fundraiser that you mentioned a few months ago -

Remind me which one? So many demands on me lately, hard to keep track of everything.

"Good point. Under Canadian medicare when you reach 80 you are set a drift on an ice flow. Very cost effective."

Don't know Canada as well as UK, but they ration it.

In the US, we spend way, way too much on it, and don't even bring up other options.

hb, didn't now you cared so much.....

I don't care, I'm curious. So how is your domestic situation lately? I'm interested in an update.

In selecting to remain with Baltimore, Flacco is now set to pay a combined marginal income tax rate of 51.98 percent, comprised of federal, Maryland and Baltimore County income tax rates, as well as the Medicare tax. And that doesn%u2019t even include the so-called %u201Cjock tax,%u201D or Flacco%u2019s liability for games played out of state and other taxes levied against him, including Maryland%u2019s property tax.

http://www.foxnews.com/sports/2013/03/07/tax-bite-sacks-flacco-status-as-nfl-highest-paid-player-status/

Not sure how it works but how would he be at 51.98% and someone in NYC not be higher when combined NY and NYC taxes are about 4% higher than Maryland and BMore county.

F O X

great source

ha

Did we just completely forget about self employment taxes?

Did we ever get detail on the secret (also know as non-existent) memo that Jason was squawking about?