I kind of hate this time of year. Thanks to mandatory withholding, its the only time of year I’m clearly confronted with how much money I contribute to the mostly inefficient running of government. I didn’t quite break the $10k barrier in income taxes, but probably next year. Including payroll and property taxes, probably around $15k. (Cue the complaining from my NY/NJ/CA people)
As much as I hate to link to the NY Times, I liked this infographic showing how much major federal expenditures are per person in the most recent budget.
Nothing better than Americans (I think your expat, but still) complaining about taxes… boohoo. You’re lucky you don’t live in Canada. $10k of tax is nothing here. I pay a huge multiple of that. I could hire a junior analyst with our family’s income tax bill. It’s so sad. Then sales tax, skyrocketing property tax, falling dollar, higher import duties… wow… I’d be surprised if I’m left with 50% of my earnings.
I think you have to view it state vs province instead of country vs country. I wouldn’t be surprised if the combined taxes (fed + state) in some states is higher than the lowest taxed provinces such as Alberta.
Dude, the problem isn’t the amount of tax per capita, the problem is that 10% of people are paying 90% of the bill (well, technically right now the Chinese are paying for it)
I’m so f*cking pissed right now I’m going to go to the post office tomo to waste like 10 of those numbers you pull when you wait in line… might vandalize a stop-sign too
That wouldn’t surprise me either. Though from what I hear from colleagues, COL (rent, daily sh*t) in Alberta can be pretty high though. I live in Texas with low COL, good salaries, and no state income tax. Plus my home province is a highly taxed one.
And yes, I am from Canada and I still complain about my now lower taxes. I detest every $1 lost to taxes. I keep thinking about what I could buy with the money, such as 66% of my car, or financed a very nice vacation to almost anywhere.
I’m in a low tax province (you can figure it out, BC and Alberta are about the same). My effective tax rate last year, just with income tax, was 31%, with a marginal rate on any additional earnigns of 39%. I just ran the numbers and I pay $400 more in my low tax province than in the highest taxed state (California). In Texas I would save $11,000 just myself, not including my wifes earnings.
And that’s before all the great deductions and stuff the US has too. And neither myself or my wife are big income earners, just normal professional salaries.
Though I do feel sorry for former trader. No one gets dinged as bad as Quebec. Our family would pay $25,000 more per year if we lived in Quebec versus where we are at.
Our household income tax bill alone was 15% of the average house price in my city. Or two non-luxury cars. That’s frustrating. You’re lucky you’re not in Canada.
@OP - You’re only complaining about the taxes that you see. You still pay a lot of taxes that you DON’T see, such as crude oil and natural gas extraction taxes, sugar subsidies, steel subsidies, etc. These taxes are all built into the price of the things that you buy–with dollars that have already been taxed.
I know that a lot of people decry this is “giving the government an interest-free loan”, but I see it as forced savings and a nice surprise come February or March.
To those who hate getting refunds, just go to your payroll administrator and ask to change your W-4 information. If you increase the number of exemptions, they’ll take less out of your paycheck, which means that you’ll owe more on April 15 (or at least get a smaller refund). There is no limit to how many exemptions you can claim, so go ahead and claim 99 exemptions, but be prepared to write a check to Leviathan in the spring.
I think there are IRS rules that say you have to withhold (or make estimated payments) to have paid at least a certain % of your tax liability, but you’d probably know better than me.
I’ll get a small refund this year, under $500, but hopefully none next year since I reduced my my withholding and upped my 401k contribution a bit starting this month.
Most of the people who have to do that are business owners, with self-employment income or business entities that have to file. It’s not normal to see somebody have to make ES payments if they’re a W-2 employee.
Tax season is my second bonus of the year usually. Ramos - you know a good tax guy, good enough to get all the perks but sly enough not to get me audited?
There was an extensive study made a few years ago. Quebec is the worst place fiscally if you are single in North America, but a paradise if you have a family. That’s because single people heavily subsidize families:
$7 daycare
Lowest university tuition on the continent
Maternity leave paid @100% for 12 months
Many other crazy deductions if you put kids in sporting activities and other leisures
^ The $7 daycare is pretty sweet, if you trust a big government bureaucracy to raise your kids. I doubt the other benefits pay for the taxation differential though, at least at higher incomes.
True. That’s worth maybe $10k per kid. Less than half the differential of my taxes to my taxes in Quebec.
Mat leave is 100% of the EI maximum for 12 months in all provinces, not just Quebec so it’s only the differential.
Yeah sure, still not thousands per year.
Your Quebec taxes go mostly to corruption and all the expenditures on language initiatives.