Tax Freedom Day
 

Thought this would be an appropriate topic for this time of year.

Yesterday was tax freedom day in the United States so I looked up when ours is. It was June 20 last year (Canadian Taxpayers Federation). That is 58 days longer we get to work for our government than the Americans.

Canadians pay every cent they make to the government for the first 171 days of the year. Canadians work for the government for 58 days longer than Americans. Here is an example of some of the costs of big government:

58 days more work until Canadian tax freedom day= 8.2 40 hour work weeks, or 328 hours.

328 hours @ $15/hour=$ 4920.00. And that is just the difference between the US and Canada. If you really want to get mad figure out the amount for the entire 171 days.

Keep in mind this is ALL taxes, property, sales, gas, alcohol, tobacco etc, etc.

The cost of a nanny state is pretty extraordinary.

Just imagine the reef tanks we could all have if our friends in government didn't steal six months worth of our income.

Have a nice day!!!

Whats that about a dead horse... I figured it out, i'm not mad at all.... oh and btw if you only have a 40hr work week you have nothing to complain about at all. :)

But you are forgetting one important thing. Our taxes pay for our universal health care system. Don't you know that you universal health care system is the envy of the world? :wink:

you could always move :mrgreen:

:cry:I have been taxed $1700 in 1 check.That was a big chunk of change for them in my 2 weeks of hard work.I wish they only took so much then said hey thats enough this check maybe this guy deserves to keep some more of his money.LOL.Oh well what do you do.Clint

I don't even want to know what my last three surgeries would have cost me! I'm sure more than I paid in taxes in that year!

I'm sure the millions of Americans who live without health insurance were dancing in the streets yesterday.

No kidding! The newspapers are filled with stories of Americans sick and left dying in the streets due to the lack of health insurance.

The tax freedom day information comes from the Fraser Institute.

They have definite opinion on the role of government and taxes.

From their web site:
"Canadian Tax Rates
Canada’s tax rates, both personal and business, continue to hinder economic progress and competitiveness. This is because they discourage the very productive behaviour we need more of – hard work, savings, investment, risk-taking and entrepreneurship.
If Canada is to truly achieve its potential, then we need to take a coordinated and concerted effort to lower individual and business taxes at all levels of government."

There are problems with how they calculated Tax Freedom Day"
Here's what an Osgoode Hall Professor says about it
http://osgoode.yorku.ca/media2.nsf/8...e!OpenDocument

The Fraser Institutes "research" on Taxes, Global Warming, the Tobacco Industry and Public Schools should be looked at warily until they take into account the criticisms with their experimental procedures.

The gentlemen who penned that piece is a Mr. Neil Brooks. A little googling confirms thats Mr. Brooks is a contributor to the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA). It would also appear that the CCPA is left wing organization, largely funded by unions and ran by unions leaders. Therefore, it is no surprise that Mr. Brooks, nor the CCPA would hold the opinion that we are overtaxed.

So you dont think we are over taxed?? Cool, then you can pay my share too then :razz:

I wonder how many doctors you have standing by your bedside 24 hrs a day for $ 20,000/day. My grandmother's friend had a heart attack in the U.S. and no insurance, for the 20 days in hospital the bill was $400,000 This retired couple had to sell their house and move into an apartment.

Googles first link shows he is a full Professor at Osgoode Hall Law School and is director of the Graduate Program in Taxation. He is the past Associate Dean of the Law School and has taught at the University of Saskatchewan and the University of Illinois. He received is BA at the University of Alberta in 1966 and his law Degree at UBC in 1969. He has been on advisory commitees for the Auditor General and Revenue Canada. He was the editor of the Canadian Tax Journal and besides the CCPA has also been published by such diverse journals as the Australian GST Journal, the Portfolio Committee on Finance for the Parliament of the Republic of South Africa and the Harvard Institute for International Development..

By contrast, the primary researcher for tax freedom day for the Fraser institute is Niels Veldhuis. He is the Director of Fisical Studies for the Fraser Institute. He has a bachelors in Business Administration and Masters in Economics from SFU and teaches economics at Kwantlen College in Richmond. He received his Masters in 2000 but has apparently never been published in any academic journal - only Fraser Institute publications.

The Fraser Institute's inital funding in 1974 was from Macmillian Blodell. Between 2003 & 2004, they received 120,000 from Exxon Mobile - in February 2007 the released an "independant summary" on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's report. Not surprisingly, they discounted the UN's conclusions on global warming.

The Fraser Institute has sought and received funding from Rothmans, British American Tobacco and Philip Morris. In 1999, The Fraser Institue published the book "Passive Smoke - The EPA's Betrayal of Science and Policy" which questions the link between smoking and cancer

Looking at who funds the Fraser Institute, the lack of qualifications of their authors and their disregard for proper scientific research methodology, it is no surprise that they hold the opinion that we are overtaxed.

im taxed 1700 in every check it hurts

Almost seems the folks that pay lots of tax are outnumbered by those that pay small amounts.

taxes??
 

yea im with the last guy when i work a shutdown and am working 10-12 hours a day 7 days a week taxes are around 1700 a week then there are the union dues
now the last time i whent off on a rant about our government i was nicely edited so i wont bother this time but i shure would like to see what a politican sees on his pay stub next to fed tax and then prov tax

When I used to do shutdowns, Average tax I paid for 2 weeks was around $2500-3000. Thank god I am getting to old for that many hrs......Oh wait, I still pay about that with my Electricians pay, and my Powdercoat buisness income:cry:

When your complaining that your tax bill is larger than my net paycheck, I have absolutely zero sympathy for you.

That's a little harsh. Do you think we should all earn the same, regardless of what we do, how hard we work, or what or level of education is? :rolleyes:

Certainly not, but someone who is obviously making a substantial income should not be complaining about paying their taxes. I'm certain they still have lots of after tax dollars left over to spend, probably lots left after paying all the bills too. Why should I have sympathy for them?

Doesn't mater to me what day is tax free day... it's not like my wife ever lets me see any of the money anyway! lol

I don't think He's looking for your sympathy.

It all depends on how they got them dolars. maybe they put in twice the hrs that you do? Harder work?

Taxes are a nessicarry evil, yes. But we, the average Joe worker, are taxed to death. Yet corporations, the ones who can afford to pay, get huge tax cuts. makes no sence to me

I dont need sympathy I just want to pay the same tax as someone who work for 8$ an hour.I dont think its fair that when I work 18hours a day 7 days a week that they should tax me so much more.If people at minimum wage were taxed around 30% they'd freak but I should take it in stride.Kinda sucks.Clint

Get a different job, you don't have to work 18 hours a day...thats your fault :)

Ya, thats the answer

As soon as I stop making 70$ an hour for overtime Im outta there.I guess Im greedy but why should The goverment make as much as me for ME going to work.Clint

It's your choice to work 18 hrous a day 7 days a week. You make $70 for each hour of overtime that you choose to work. No one forces you to do this, you do it because you like the extra money I assume. So even though the govenment takes more actual dollars off of your check, you still get to take home more money. Even when you consider all of the taxes you pay on that money, you still keep more than $35 per hour. That's a lot more than $8. Don't focus on what you didn't get to keep, focus on what you did. Glass half full or empty thinking.

Take the extra money you are keeping and use every tax advantage you can to keep more of it. But stop whining about having to pay so much when other's are stuggling to just earn enough to survive. Yes you give more actual dollars to the government that many others do, but your given the same initial tax rates and basic exemption as the guy earning $8 an hour. Its the money above and beyond that that gets taxed higher. Essentially, you are allowed to earn a basic income that is considered the minimum amount to live on. What you earn beyond that allows you to improve your lifestyle and have more and nicer things. That's considered a luxury and thus you are taxed more on those dollars. If you don't like that plan, then go get an $8 an hour job for 39 hours a week with no benefits and see how much you like that. I'd bet you'd be singing a different tune about how fair it would be to pay 30% of it in taxes then.

Corporations are taxed differently for many reasons. The main one is that allowing corporations to pay less taxes on profits encourages economic growth and thus provides you with the opportunity to work 18 hours a day 7 days a week for $70 an hour. If the corporations were taxed more heavily, they would simply move their operations to a tax environment that was more favourable and you would be glad to have that $8 per hour job. So essentially, it is better for all to give up some tax dollars from a corporation and then get those dollars back from individuals. Tax the corporation too much and there will be fewer corporations to tax and more individuals paying much less in taxes. Then the government is left with a shortfall and must cut services or run up a deficit to provide them. Plus, there will likely be more individuals drawing on govenment assistance adding to the mess. Our economic system is a fine balance of many factors and taxes are a big part of it. Bottom line; giving corporations favourable taxation does benefit you. Plus, you can always invest some of your overtime windfall into those corporations and earn some of those profits for yourself. Most of those profits are paid out to shareholders in publicly traded companies.

Just saw on the TV that tax freedom day is tomorrow, June 14. The tax cuts we have received in the last year or so are kicking in and we get to keep an extra 6 days of our income. Thanks Big Brother, keep it up!!!!!!!!!!