Land of taxes

[gwp]

Consider the Canadian Dollar is worth .76 in US currency.

[Merc]

That’s correct although I’ve been there enough times to remember when both were equal or the US dollar was on the minus side.

[Mark in Ottawa]

The Harmonized sales tax (HST)is a blend of the federal and provincial sales taxes and totals 13%. The HST is similar to the European Value Added Tax (VAT) and is added on the the basic price of goods and services. One important characteristic of the HST is that it is visible to the consumer; it replaced a tax that was added on earlier in the production chain and was hidden. As was suggested, our health care is not "free", it is paid from tax revenues and according to a study by the Fraser Institute a couple of years ago, came to about $11,000 per year for a typical family of four. This money has to come from somewhere and our higher tax rate is where it comes from. You can't just cherry pick good and bad things and say that we pay more for our restaurants and gas, you have to look at the total picture and in totality I don't think that we pay that much more tax than in the USA, particularly of you factor in American health care costs.

As far as the problem being the cost of the civil service, I would certainly dispute that at most levels. Certainly at the lowest levels, civil servants tend to earn more than in the private sector but in the middle and upper levels the pay is far below the private sector. As an example, a friend of mine who was the franchise owner of a good sized pharmacy was earning about 50% more than a typical deputy minister who was managing a government department with budgets in the multi-billion dollar range. (Disclosure: I was a Canadian federal Public Servant for 42 years)

[Sandpebble]

on the other hand.... they'd all comit suicide in Canada before paying our medical insurance premiums... or the extra costs we pay for services or products that provide their employees insurance ...

one way or another... we all pay it

[remus]

Americans pay a lot of taxes to support foreign lands that aren't worth a hoot. If we gave less away they wouldn't have to tax us so much. I really do resent part of my taxes going to useless foreigners.

[Vern Humphrey]

In the US, healthcare costs have increased dramatically since the Affordable Care Act was passed, from about $2.6 trillion in 2010 to an estimated $4.5 trillion in 2020.

(Source, Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, California Healthcare Foundation.)

[1563621]

In the US, healthcare costs have increased dramatically since the Affordable Care Act was passed, from about $2.6 trillion in 2010 to an estimated $4.5 trillion in 2020.

(Source, Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, California Healthcare Foundation.)

Affordable HUH???? odumbo's legacy!

[Vern Humphrey]

Affordable HUH???? odumbo's legacy!

And yet there are those on this forum who defend it.

[blackhawknj]

One of our Canadian members noted that in the Dominion the "distressed" families always have money for beer and weed, and the kids have to enrolled in school nutrition programs. "Useless foreigners" ? We have plenty of useless people within our borders.

[Merc]

Canadian sales taxes help spread the cost of healthcare throughout the Canadian population and the tourists who get no benefit from them.

How about big purchases, like cars? Do you actually buy them in Canada and pay the 13% sales tax, or do you go across the border and buy them in the US?