Canada

Fraser Institute

Fraser Institute

Fraser Institute

Truth in Reporting - the heading should be "Canadians pay more for social benefits (including health and education) and public infrastructure (roads, bridges, sewers, water, hospitals and such) than for food, shelter, and clothing combined' because that is where the bulk of our taxes go. Seen in that light, it looks reasonable.

This may be true for the top 25% income earners, who only have to pay a fraction of their income for food, shelter, and clothing, and the bulk of it goes to investing to grow their wealth. Their taxes should be the main expense of their income.

Definitely not true for the bottom 25%, whose income goes predominantly towards food, shelter, and clothing, with very little left for anything else, and taxes a very small part of their expenditures.

Yet the Fraser Institute only sees the world through the eyes of the entitled rich.

The article doesn't state what it means by "average", but given that the income figure it sees as "average" is north of $120000, I'd bet it's looking at mean and not median. Which means their data is skewed by a few high earners and automatically worthless.

(That's completely aside from the fact that paying taxes isn't losing money; it's funding road maintenance, clean drinking water, firefighting, and all those other services everyone, even the rich, needs and uses.)

Man what a shit take. "One of the countries with the highest housing costs:income ratios in the OECD, and they're still only about 1/3 of their gross income including clothing AND groceries" presented as "look at how much the big bad government is ripping you off".

I don't doubt there's waste in the government and bureaucratic red tape, but I'll take waste on that side rather than the same amount going into lining some rich fuckers pockets.

Edit: lol skimmed past this in the first pass. Clearly it must be tax waste, and not thing like regulation of stuff like the building code, health code, additional servicing/maintenance costs with public infrastructure only installed in the 70s and later, higher living and service expectations from all branches of government, longer and longer lifespan meaning higher costs associated with old age care.

No, no, that'd be ridiculous.

I must not be the average Canadian. My outgoing for housing is about 24%, but my payable tax st filing was about 15%

Rephrased, Canadians only need to spend 35% on living essentials; down from 65%

I wonder what they get in exchange for those funds?

Not optimal, but the fearmongering our southern counterparts would have you believe regarding communism would be staggering if they contemplated playing Canadian tax rates.