Canadians may pay more taxes than Americans, but here's what they get for their money

[applegrove]

https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2017/08/07/canadians-may-pay-more-taxes-than-americans-but-theres-a-catch.html

Ester Bloom at CNBC

"SNIP...........


Overall, though, Canadians enjoy the kind of perks Americans only get if they work for the most generous, prestigious corporations. Those include free health care without deductibles as well as up to 18 months of subsidized parental leave when they have children.

They also enjoy access to high-quality education for children across the income spectrum. Even top-notch colleges and universities are cheaper than comparable institutions in the U.S.

Vice cites a 2009 Canadian study by the Centre for Policy Alternatives that found that "the vast majority of Canada's population" gets a great deal: "Middle-income Canadian families enjoy public services worth about $41,000 — or 63 percent of their income. Even households earning $80,000–$90,000 a year enjoy public services benefits equivalent to about half of their income."

In short, the study concludes, "the majority of Canadian households enjoy a higher quality of life because of the public services their taxes fund."

............SNIP"

[underpants]

1. Michael Moore and others pointed this out years ago. Good article though.

Americans enjoy a strong national defense. As of April 2017, the U.S. spent $611 billion on defense, which, as the Peterson Foundation points out, is "more than China, Saudi Arabia, Russia, United Kingdom, India, France and Japan combined." Additionally, "the United States has historically devoted a larger share of its economy to defense than many of its key allies."
The military accounts for about half of all discretionary spending in America.
Education spending accounts for 6 percent of discretionary spending, and Medicare and health spending accounts for another 6 percent.

[sandensea]

5. And in turn, our 'national defense' enjoys astronomical (largely unaudited) profits.

While some of the $8.5 trillion in unaccounted for outlays may have gone to pay for black budget stuff, there's no doubt a lot of it was war profiteering and outright fraud, pure and simple.

[underpants]

6. Yep. "National defense" is really a jobs program.

Republicans don't just wrap themselves in the flag and have gushing praise for the military because of patriotism (look at all the chickenhawks) it's because they want money for their states. The majority of our large military installations are in the South and protecting those areas means $$$$. But of course we need them - the Mexicans could invade you know and that Spanish Armada could just pop back up at any time.

[sandensea]

7. Meanwhile our social safety net look more and more like Mexico's

Except they're a developing country; we could do so much better than this.

[PSPS]

2. Plus, they have to pay zero in premiums to for-profit insurance companies.

[ProfessorPlum]

3. I call bullshit on this paragraph

The effective total tax rate for Americans varies, too: "The top 1 percent of American taxpayers still pay an effective tax rate of approximately 31.9 percent, on average, while the bottom 20 percent of the population pays an average of approximately 3.9 percent," reports the Peter G. Peterson Foundation.

First of all, Pete Peterson is a guy who has been trying to eliminate social security his whole life. Secondly, that figure of 3.9% can't possibly be true, if you include payroll taxes like ssdi, medicare, unemployment insurance, etc. Most Americans pay about 17-20% total tax including their payroll taxes, no matter what bracket they are in, and anyone in the top 1 percent who is paying an effective tax rate of 32% should fire their accountant.

[Kurovski]

4. I never fully understood the "free stuff" mantra

that we've heard for so long regarding healthcare and education. Why not demand something for your tax dollars besides 64 percent of them going to the Pentagon?

Likewise, the foolish people who say they don't want to pay for sick people, when in fact that is what you do with your insurance payments regardless.