You mean we’re not already a better place to live and haven’t been for at least a dozen years, and maybe longer?
According to The Fraser Institue, my Tax Freedom Day is June 12 or about 44%. Personally I think this is skewed high. I don’t pay anywhere near that amount of Income Tax and I’m not seeing where these other taxes are coming out and I keep close watch on my money.
What’s Tax Freedom Day?
Tax Freedom Day is a bit of a rhetorical device created by the Fraser Institute. It takes all the taxes you pay over the entire year and ‘puts them at the front’. So in my case according to them, all the money I earned up to June 12 goes to the government and everything after that is mine.
Well dig up your last paycheck from 2002 and do the math. Mine worked out pretty close. Mine you, I didn’t take into account sales tax.
Beware ANY info from the Fraser Institute!!!
They are heavily skewed to the libertarian side of the ledger. Any reduction in taxes is therefore “good”, anything else is “bad”.
When viewing their documents, I think it wise to substitute the word “services” whenever they mention “taxes”.
Tax freedom day is constructed using the highest statutory tax rate (in Canada, appx. 44%)
www.house.gov/jec/tax/taxrates/taxrates.pdf
In the US it is 40%
My sense of it (purely anecdotal, I have friends & family in the US) is that the tax burden is pretty comparable.
They’re not just income taxes. They’re also sales taxes (in Alberta, you may have no provincial sales tax, but you do have GST); excise taxes on things like alcohol, tobacco, and gasoline; entertainment taxes, and so on. You don’t see many of them unless you look at the fine print or ask the government what the excise rate is, but they are there.
That’s why I said I was skeptical of it. I only offered that as a comparison.
So come on up and become a Canadian Citizen… it’s time we reversed the brain drain and increased our population even more.
You only have to swear allegiance to the Queen, learn the names of the Provinces, know the name of the First Prime Minister, and the First French Speaking Prime Minister (Hint $10 bill and $5 dollar Bill), And must watch at least 2 hrs of CBC each week for half of the year… The good news is that Hockey Night In Canada counts for those hours.
You must believe that Don Cherry is a total Jerk… but he seems to have a few good points there…
You may complain and bitch about taxes, but politely pay them in a timely maner. You must be able to have a superiority and inferiority complex at the same time when refering to our American cousins.
Complain about the lack of “Canadian culture” then switch from CBC to the American Stations quickly… Of course if you have Gray Market Direct TV you don’t have to worry about CBC at all.
You must be able to hold up your own in a debate on who is the greatest Anchor Peter Mansbridge or Lloyd Robertson and the politely defer your oppinion whenever anyone brings up Nowlton Nash.
You may Bitch about the amount of French and official bilingualism in English Canada and wish that we had laws for English only but remember to show the proper disgust that Quebec has French only laws.
Be able to be angry at the state of our Military but support any Government spending cuts especially if it is for new military equipment… besides what do we need an army for?
If you Live in the West you must despise the centre especially the cities of Toronto and Montreal. If you live in the East you must despise the centre especially the cities of Toronto and Montreal.
If you live in the centre but do not live in Tornoto and Montreal you must also despise them. If you Live in Tornoto you may Hate Montreal and if you Live in Montreal you may hate Toronto.
If you live up North no one seems to care who you hate.
No matter where you live you may feel free to despise Ottawa especially if you live there.
You must bitch about the resourses the rest of the country takes from your region but demand cheap prices for the resources you don’t have and take from the others. And should anything bad happen to your resources no matter what your oppinion of transferpayments you must demand more Aid from Ottawa immediately.
When you vote feel happy that you have so many choices open to you and then vote Liberal after all no matter how much you hate them the other guys don’t seem any better. (If you are in the West change iberal to Canadian Allience if you are in Quebec vote Bloc Quebecquois unless The Parti Quebecquois is in a really strong majority and you need to play one off of the other)
You must know the tenious canadian connection of any actor singer, novelist or Sportsperson in the world. If they were born in Canada you must know their name and place of birth.
Oh yes finally you must refrain from calling Z Zee, it must now be called Zed. Pease Check any fire arms at the boarder if you own them.
Welcome to Canada
Don’t forget to add superfluos U’s to every other word
I am a Canadian citizen. I have dual American/Canadian. The taxes in Canada are all over everything. It isn’t becoming a better place because of the taxes. It is becoming a better place because the religious lobbying forces are not controlling the courts and the parliament. When America can finally get a completely secular government, we will be much better off.
Total tax revenue as a percentage of GDP (1999):
Canada 38.2%
US 28.9%
Remember, however, that Canadians get health coverage from their taxes, so to be fair you’d have to add health insurance premiums onto the US rate.
Oops. Forgot the cite.
But they’ve got weapons of mass destruction!
(Oh, wait, so does the U.S… So, when does the U.S. get added to the Axis of Evil?)
Then Catholic married guys can complain and get action from the government on discrimination by the Catholic Church against married men for the priesthood.
Not that I am applying for the priesthood, but I just hapened to feel for guys who want to be priests but are debarred for being married; and the Catholic Church does need a lot of priests to man all those undermanned churches.
Susma Rio Sep
Celine only really counts as a Bomb of Aural Destruction. We’ll take the loophole for 1000 Alex. 
Of course, when you’re figuring out where you want to live in terms of taxes, what is important is not what COUNTRY you are in. What is important is what STATE OR PROVINCE you live in.
I live in Ontario. Ontarians pay FAR less tax than, say, Newfoundlanders or Quebecois. Albertans pay even less. My best friend lives in California and his tax bill is every bit as nasty as mine, plus he gets screwed for health insurance premiums I already paid on my income tax; he actually pays a little more in tax than I do. But if he moved to Washington he’d pay less. But I could one-up him by moving to Alberta.
It’s not the country; it’s the state/province. It makes a colossal difference.
Ever since Canada was the Undereground Railroad’s last stop.
So, are there any cute canadian girls on the board I can marry for my canadian citizenship?
I think all the cute Canadian gals are already hooked up with someone.
But if you’re willing to overlook a total and complete lack of cuteness to marry into Canadian citizenship, I hear that Celine Dion might be available.
(Okay, that’s not fair to Celine. She does serve the vital role of being the country’s only weapon of mass destruction. Wait, is that really true? Does Canada really honestly have no nuclear weaponry?)
Sock Munkey, remember the OP? You really don’t need to limit your search to just cute GIRLS. Plenty of cute guys in Canada as well. And now, with new and improved marriage laws…
Unless you’re more serious about the ‘girl’ thing than the ‘citizenship’ thing.
Well, just trying to be helpful.