4 ms·

Are there no provincial or city income taxes? It's the CA income tax that distorts the comparison. Had you chosen TX or WA (for example), they are lower than A

by DrScump 10y ago

Are there no provincial or city income taxes? It's the CA income tax that distorts the comparison. Had you chosen TX or WA (for example), they are lower than Australia.

inopinatus 10y ago
There are no state or municipal income taxes on individuals. The major state taxes are on property conveyance, payroll, automobiles, gambling. Note that a direct comparison by salary at $100k is potentially misleading due to exchange rates, differences in wage distribution, cost of living &c.
- nodamage 10y ago
  I think it's better interpreted as comparing effective tax rates, i.e. 27.6% vs 31.9% of gross income. You're right that the salaries not directly comparable for the reasons you listed, but it's also pretty clear that they're not that far apart. Certainly not enough to conclude that Australians are "paying higher taxes to offset the cost of health care". By examining the numbers it's pretty clear that we're paying more for health care in the US and getting less for it.
nodamage 10y ago
As far as I can tell, there's no state income tax in Australia. Not sure about city taxes. I did mention that even if you live in a tax-free state in the US, the tax savings is essentially wiped out by having to pay for your own health care. Especially if you have a spouse and kids, between monthly health care premiums and deductibles that's probably another $10-$15k out of pocket, if not more. Edit: Just ran a family of 4 (30 year old parents, 5 year old kids) through an ACA calculator. A silver plan runs around $800/month, with a total out-of-pocket max of $14,300. So, up to $25k/year in extra health care costs. It's absurd.
rweir 10y ago
> Are there no provincial or city income taxes? no. there are "rates" paid to city/town for garbage collection, etc, but that would be on the order of $2000 more, for home owners only, for the nicest parts of cities.

by DrScump 10y ago

Are there no provincial or city income taxes? It's the CA income tax that distorts the comparison. Had you chosen TX or WA (for example), they are lower than Australia.

inopinatus 10y ago

There are no state or municipal income taxes on individuals. The major state taxes are on property conveyance, payroll, automobiles, gambling. Note that a direct comparison by salary at $100k is potentially misleading due to exchange rates, differences in wage distribution, cost of living &c.

nodamage 10y ago
I think it's better interpreted as comparing effective tax rates, i.e. 27.6% vs 31.9% of gross income. You're right that the salaries not directly comparable for the reasons you listed, but it's also pretty clear that they're not that far apart. Certainly not enough to conclude that Australians are "paying higher taxes to offset the cost of health care". By examining the numbers it's pretty clear that we're paying more for health care in the US and getting less for it.

nodamage 10y ago

As far as I can tell, there's no state income tax in Australia. Not sure about city taxes. I did mention that even if you live in a tax-free state in the US, the tax savings is essentially wiped out by having to pay for your own health care. Especially if you have a spouse and kids, between monthly health care premiums and deductibles that's probably another $10-$15k out of pocket, if not more. Edit: Just ran a family of 4 (30 year old parents, 5 year old kids) through an ACA calculator. A silver plan runs around $800/month, with a total out-of-pocket max of $14,300. So, up to $25k/year in extra health care costs. It's absurd.

rweir 10y ago

> Are there no provincial or city income taxes? no. there are "rates" paid to city/town for garbage collection, etc, but that would be on the order of $2000 more, for home owners only, for the nicest parts of cities.