Kids being sent to the old country to be raised by grandparents

[Taualumna]

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/Con...l=968793972154

[Kevin]

I guess the dollar goes a lot further in China? This isn't unheard of. Mexican illegals often do the same thing in this part of the country. They'll make decent money doing whatever -- lawn work, framing houses, roofing, etc. They'll send most of their check to Mexico where their families enjoy the good life.

Is the cost of living higher in Canada than the US? I know your income taxes (especially on the wealthy) are very high. From what I've found on this website, a typical citizen of Ontario who makes $113,804 or more pays a 40.6% provincial tax on their income plus 29% for their federal income tax (that's 69.6% of their income to the gov't) you also get to add other things like your Ontario medical premiums, etc. Add rent on top of that and I can see why folks do things like this:

http://www.taxtips.ca/tax_rates.htm#FederalTaxRates

Of course, these chinese students only have to pay 38.05% to income tax -- then they have to pay tuition (foriegners in the US have to pay higher tuition), they have to pay rent and for food which is pretty expensive in most college towns.

I can see how it'd be tough to make ends meet with a kid.

[Kevin]

Just did the math for someone making $113,800+ in Quebec. Income tax of 82%?!? WTF?

Please tell me that I'm just way off on this one. It seems like a legit site.

[AGDee]

I don't know how you're getting 82%. The second set of charts (by province) are Federal and Province combined. So, for people in Ontario, it goes like this:

First first $33,375 is taxed at 22.05%
income you make between $33,375 up to $35,000 is taxed at 25.15%
over $35,000 up to $66,752 is taxed at 31.15%
over $66,752 up to $70,000 is taxed at 33.16%
over $70,000 up to $113,804 is taxed at 37.16%
over $113,804 is taxed at 40.16%

If you made $113,810, you would pay:
$33,375 x 22.05%=$7359.19
plus
$1635 x 25.15% = $408.69
plus
$31, 752 x 31.15%= $9890.75
plus
$3248 x 33.16% = $1077.03
plus
$43804 x 37.16% = $16,277
plus
$6 x 40.16% =$2.40

Grand total: $35,027.12 which is equal to 30.77%

Living in the USA, if I added up all the taxes I pay, federal, state, property, sales, etc., I'd guess I pay at least that much (percentage wise), and I have to pay for my own health care too!

I didn't do those surtaxes, I'm not sure I understand them, but I think you would pay an additonal 36% on about $31,000 of your tax bill, paying 11,160 more. This would make it $46, 187.00 in taxes total, or 40% tax.

Still very high, but not 82%

Dee

[Kevin]

Originally posted by AGDee
I don't know how you're getting 82%. The second set of charts (by province) are Federal and Province combined. So, for people in Ontario, it goes like this:

First first $33,375 is taxed at 22.05%
income you make between $33,375 up to $35,000 is taxed at 25.15%
over $35,000 up to $66,752 is taxed at 31.15%
over $66,752 up to $70,000 is taxed at 33.16%
over $70,000 up to $113,804 is taxed at 37.16%
over $113,804 is taxed at 40.16%

If you made $113,810, you would pay:
$33,375 x 22.05%=$7359.19
plus
$1635 x 25.15% = $408.69
plus
$31, 752 x 31.15%= $9890.75
plus
$3248 x 33.16% = $1077.03
plus
$43804 x 37.16% = $16,277
plus
$6 x 40.16% =$2.40

Grand total: $35,027.12 which is equal to 30.77%

Living in the USA, if I added up all the taxes I pay, federal, state, property, sales, etc., I'd guess I pay at least that much (percentage wise), and I have to pay for my own health care too!

I didn't do those surtaxes, I'm not sure I understand them, but I think you would pay an additonal 36% on about $31,000 of your tax bill, paying 11,160 more. This would make it $46, 187.00 in taxes total, or 40% tax.

Still very high, but not 82%

Dee

Check out the website I linked above and tell me if it's wrong. It was pretty clear in giving the %'s owed.

[Lady Pi Phi]

Taxes are not the issue here. While, yes we do play a lot in taxes, the problem is that Canada is not recognizing the professional qualifications of many immigrants.
Many professional people come here and find they can't get work because the government doesn't recognize their qualifications. So, in order to work in their field the government tells them the only way they can do that is to go back to school and requalify. Well for many of them that's not an option because they can't afford to go back to school, forcing them to take low paying jobs, which in turn means they can't provide for their families.
For examply, my dentist is from Russia. She was a medical doctor there. when she immigrated to Canada they told her she would have to go back to med school in order practice medicine in this country. She couldn't see the point of that. Spending 4 years retraining and all that money. She decidided to go to dental school. Smart choice, she's making more money as a dentist then she ever would as a doctor in this country.
On the other side of that, my friend's mother was a mechanical engineer in Poland. She was told that she'd have to go back to school. She couldn't go back to school because she didn't have the money. She now works as a cleaning lady.

I don't what the solution is. Maybe refuse entry to unqalified people. Or offer some incentives for them to go back and retrain so that they can work in their fields. Isn't that way they were allowed to immigrate. Because they held a specialized skill?

[Kevin]

The US is similar in that regard. The big difference though is that many foriegners who intend to immigrate to the US go to school here originally. When this isn't the case, they do have to pass the same qualifying exams that US professionals do.

For example, a doctor trained in the Carribean would still have to take the USMLE to practice medicine -- just like a US medical school grad would. But would Canada not even allow them to take the equivelant USMLE without first attending Canadian med school?

Taxes and living expenses definitely are a contributing factor here. If you cannot afford to be a student and have a family, it definitely will contribute to your decision to send the kids to the old country. And from what I can tell by that website (which no one has really explained to me how my math is wrong when I add the provincial and federal taxes for someone making over 22K to be 40%+ in Ontario), the tax rate in Canada would make it tough to live.

In the US, I pay a federal tax rate of 15%, then a state tax of 6%. My medical end everything is a little over $100/month, but is paid in full by my employer. I'll admit, if I were making $200,000 per year, my tax burden would be around 46% just for income taxes. And then, I'd own property and get to pay taxes on that as well, not to mention sales taxes, etc. But that's irrelevant.

It just seems with your taxes and other expenses, that it would be very expensive to be both a student and a parent in Canada. Maybe I'm missing something, and perhaps there are some government programs designed to assist such people (you'd expect that with the tax rate being what it is). So who knows? That's just my initial uneducated yankee observation.

[Lady Pi Phi]

Originally posted by ktsnake
Just did the math for someone making $113,800+ in Quebec. Income tax of 82%?!? WTF?

Please tell me that I'm just way off on this one. It seems like a legit site.

I think you're doing your math wrong. The first chart just shows the federal rate.

The following charts show BOTH federal and provincial rates. The math is already done for you.

So Quebec they are only paying 53% not 82%.

So in Ontario, someone making $113,804 is paying 40.16%.

Also, I agree that taxes are an issues, but they're not the main issue. yes it is hard being a student and trying to raise a family on little to now income, but I'm sure it would be the same in the U.S regardless of taxes.
There are assistance programs, but if you don't know about them you don't get them.

[Kevin]

Originally posted by Lady Pi Phi
I think you're doing your math wrong. The first chart just shows the federal rate.

The following charts show BOTH federal and provincial rates. The math is already done for you.

That explains it

When I look at tax rates in the US, I always calculate the federal and state seperately. I'm guessing that Canada's tax system is probably a lot simpler than ours.

Still, very high.

[madmax]

Originally posted by Taualumna
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/Con...l=968793972154

Most Democrats are raised by their grandparents.

[KSigkid]

Originally posted by madmax
Most Democrats are raised by their grandparents.

And what exactly does that mean...

[mu_agd]

Originally posted by KSigkid
And what exactly does that mean...

that he has no clue what he's talking about?