JohnnyDoe wrote:
TheWokeLemming wrote: The CHOICE to be socialist is expensive, despite receiving over $7 billion a year in transfers. $7 a day daycare and massive social programs are also subsidized by the rest of the country. They'll get no sorrow from me.
BayStreetWolfTO wrote: Hi Woke, I won't go too far into the Quebec versus rest of Canada issue.
I will tell you it isn't as rosy as you might think.
We have some relatives just outside of Montreal and one of the husband's has thought about relocating to Ontario due to the stupid taxes in Quebec. Sure University costs are cheaper but consider this....try paying this for 15 years I think the below you're still behind with the discount on education.
2021 Taxes for Single Income Family, 2 Children Over 6 and Under 17 Years of Age
Employment income combined family Gross
$175,000 (87,500 each)
Alberta provincial taxes $51,588
Quebec provincial taxes $66,910
Alberta sales tax 5% GST
Quebec sales tax 14.975% GST/QST
https://www.taxtips.ca/taxrates/taxcomparison/tax-comparison-2021.htm Again not defending the fed....but Quebec tax payers get screwed just like the rest of us. Politicians take peoples money everywhere LOL
The discussion around equalization is far more nuanced than adding up dollars. Politicians cite the 600 number, but it is political spin. If asxa young man, I migrate to Alberta, make good wages, and spend my career there, all the cumulative tax money I paid (income taxes, get, gas taxes etc) is considered as "Alberta" money. When I retire, if I move home to my native PEi let's say, the Alberta government has no obligation to me for CPP, OAS or for health care in my retirement years, which as we all know is more expensive than my working years. There's a lot of political rhetoric involved in these numbers. While working in Alberta, I pay say 30k a year in taxes. That's Alberta money. When retired, I get 18k a year in CPP and OAS. Alberta "sends" money to the feds to fund these programs just like everyone else. If Alberta were to keep the money, establish CPP and OAS and GIS programs, have the liabilities and payments associated with them and maybe a health account, well the 600 number wouldn't quite be the same and the argument about equalization payments would be the same
Alberta has had a younger population because of its resource economy. People go there to work. But the people that went there to work, and went elsewhere to retire, transfer payments to them are really "their" money. Anytime someone cites the 600, they're considering that Alberta's money. And a guy like Jason Kenny, he knows better. But explaining that doesn't by votes. At the end of the day, retirees consider it "my" pension, because "I" paid into it. If I work in Alberta and retire in Nova Scotia, it's still "my" pension..