Taxes Snack On Income

How much do Americans pay in taxes?

More here.

As for Canada, check this out. PP 17 and 24 are interesting.

Taxes erode personal wealth. It's not an ideological argument but a straight mathematical one. You can debate the purpose of it but in terms of cost there's a consequence.

Alas, the average person is conditioned to think it doesn't. I saw it time and again when it came, for example, to credit cards. People only considered the final total of what they owed but rarely covered the actual cost of interest eating away at their capital.

Taxes do the same thing. If there's one thing that drives me pissbatshit nuts is when I hear someone say, "whoopee-do! It's five dollars less on pay. Stop complaining!" or "What's a 5% increase? People can take it!"

If you think in this manner, you'll likely never make or grow your money. It's not the "one-time hit" you have to consider regardless of class. Rather, the overall tax burden picture. Of course 5% or five bucks is "nothing." But when you add up five bucks across several items it adds up. Besides, 5% may not be much to someone earning 80k but to someone earning 30k it's a different story. The last comment came from a Montreal councilman on the radio last year.

Look, if I don't watch it, taxes can pose a challenge for me. It's that simple. I have to account for it from payroll taxes all the way down to corporate and personal income taxes. At every stage of my cash flow, taxes are paid. When you add it all up, the government takes a nice chunk-a-change. Anyone is free to demand taxes are necessary, they just don't have the right to tell people who much they can absorb. Excessive and arbitrary taxes are a drain and are inefficient.

There are ways around paying so much (which is why you should talk to a financial advisor or accountant) and the average person has no real reason to not want to pay their share, but the bottom line is we do give (some say waste) at least 50% of our money to various taxes away no matter how you dice it up.

It's up to us to decide if that's appropriate or not.

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Advice? If you plan to start a business (heck, you can do this for any exercise), make sure to factor in the taxes you will pay on everything.

It gives you a more realistic picutre.