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The Invention of Waterloo (Canada’s Technology Triangle)

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Re: The Invention of Waterloo (Canada’s Technology Triangle)

#51

Post by wwhchung »

jbarham wrote: post #44
shazow wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The salary is scaled to the cost of living. Even Google doesn't pay the same if you're working in Mountain View or Waterloo or Australia. $100k base salary in Waterloo adjusted for cost of living would be like an $180k base salary in Mountain View. (Disclaimer: From personal experience, don't have a citation on the exact ratio.) I suspect people leave to Silicon Valley for the opportunities, tech culture, and weather…

> $100k base salary in Waterloo adjusted for cost of living would be like an $180k base salary in Mountain View. Um, no. Even though SV is a high-cost location in a (relative to the U.S.) high-tax state, personal income taxes are still substantially higher in Canada. Housing might be somewhat more in Waterloo than in SV, but the net take home at the end of the year would still be higher. Assuming you're married and c…

Actually, here are the 100k tax rates for Waterloo, Ontario, Canada vs. SF, California: Waterloo:

26% Federal + 11.16% Provincial = 37.16% http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/ndvdls/fq/txrts-eng.html

San Francisco: 28% Federal + 9.3%x(0.72) State = 34.7% http://www.efile.com/tax-rate/federal-income-tax-rates/ https://www.ftb.ca.gov/forms/catxrate_exmpt07.shtml

Once you get above 174k/year, it's sill similar, with:

Waterloo: 29% Federal + 11.16% Provincial = 40.16%

San Francisco: 33% Federal + 9.3%x(0.72) State = 39.7%

So at 100k, Canadian taxes are very slightly higher higher, and is almost even at 174k.

If you're working at a startup, Canada may even be more advantageous because of how capital gains taxes are treated on privately held CCPC's. Also, you have health care. :)

Re: The Invention of Waterloo (Canada’s Technology Triangle)

#52

Post by mdkess »

wwhchung wrote: post #51
jbarham wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> $100k base salary in Waterloo adjusted for cost of living would be like an $180k base salary in Mountain View. Um, no. Even though SV is a high-cost location in a (relative to the U.S.) high-tax state, personal income taxes are still substantially higher in Canada. Housing might be somewhat more in Waterloo than in SV, but the net take home at the end of the year would still be higher. Assuming you're married and c…

Actually, here are the 100k tax rates for Waterloo, Ontario, Canada vs. SF, California: Waterloo: 26% Federal + 11.16% Provincial = 37.16% http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/ndvdls/fq/txrts-eng.html San Francisco: 28% Federal + 9.3%x(0.72) State = 34.7% http://www.efile.com/tax-rate/federal-income-tax-rates/ https://www.ftb.ca.gov/forms/catxrate_exmpt07.shtml Once you get above 174k/year, it's sill similar, with: Waterloo:…

Except that you deduct your state/local income tax from your federal income tax.

Re: The Invention of Waterloo (Canada’s Technology Triangle)

#53

Post by wwhchung »

mdkess wrote: post #52
wwhchung wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually, here are the 100k tax rates for Waterloo, Ontario, Canada vs. SF, California: Waterloo: 26% Federal + 11.16% Provincial = 37.16% http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/ndvdls/fq/txrts-eng.html San Francisco: 28% Federal + 9.3%x(0.72) State = 34.7% http://www.efile.com/tax-rate/federal-income-tax-rates/ https://www.ftb.ca.gov/forms/catxrate_exmpt07.shtml Once you get above 174k/year, it's sill similar, with: Waterloo:…

Except that you deduct your state/local income tax from your federal income tax.

Edit: Your statement that you can deduct income tax is True IF you don't take the standard deduction. Basically in your deduction, you can choose to take the standard $5800 deduction, or deduct the total taxes you paid for california (at $100k, it is only marginally over $5800). At over 200k, you are likely to get hit with AMT, so the deduction would be limited.

I've updated the tax rates above to be more indicative of the adjusted rates in the best case scenario, but California vs. Canada is still VERY close.

Re: The Invention of Waterloo (Canada’s Technology Triangle)

#55

Post by mdkess »

wwhchung wrote: post #51
jbarham wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> $100k base salary in Waterloo adjusted for cost of living would be like an $180k base salary in Mountain View. Um, no. Even though SV is a high-cost location in a (relative to the U.S.) high-tax state, personal income taxes are still substantially higher in Canada. Housing might be somewhat more in Waterloo than in SV, but the net take home at the end of the year would still be higher. Assuming you're married and c…

Actually, here are the 100k tax rates for Waterloo, Ontario, Canada vs. SF, California: Waterloo: 26% Federal + 11.16% Provincial = 37.16% http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/ndvdls/fq/txrts-eng.html San Francisco: 28% Federal + 9.3%x(0.72) State = 34.7% http://www.efile.com/tax-rate/federal-income-tax-rates/ https://www.ftb.ca.gov/forms/catxrate_exmpt07.shtml Once you get above 174k/year, it's sill similar, with: Waterloo:…

http://www.irs.gov/publications/p17/ch22.html

Re: The Invention of Waterloo (Canada’s Technology Triangle)

#56

Post by rll »

One thing nobody has mentioned is also that most Waterloo students come out of there with more money than they had going in. No crippling student loans to deal with. Co-op terms aren't just great experience they also pay quite well.

(Unless things have changed, I graduated in 1993 and this was the case back then)

Re: The Invention of Waterloo (Canada’s Technology Triangle)

#57

Post by ak2012 »

wavephorm wrote: post #33
karamdeep wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What a ridiculous statement. Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of challenges that entrepreneurs encounter when starting or scaling a business here, but it's time to stop using the crutch of VC/Government/Telecom interference to support the assertion that Canada is "an absolutely horrible place to do a technology start up. The bottom line is that if you still think this is the case, you haven't been paying attention…

I am speaking from my personal experience. None of the Canadian investment firms, or incubator even replied to my emails, let alone give any reasonable valuation. The Canadian YC-copycat incubators seem more like vultures that scoop 25% equity for $50K in seed funding which is pretty ridiculous compared to what you can can get in the US. I was denied SR&ED and am currently in the process of receiving venture capital…

agreed! York Angeles, ONE Network et al, 25% for $25k... what a joke. Not to mention the lack of investments in Consumer-centric startups... Valleys the way to go.

Re: The Invention of Waterloo (Canada’s Technology Triangle)

#58

Post by ak2012 »

karamdeep wrote: post #40
wavephorm wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am speaking from my personal experience. None of the Canadian investment firms, or incubator even replied to my emails, let alone give any reasonable valuation. The Canadian YC-copycat incubators seem more like vultures that scoop 25% equity for $50K in seed funding which is pretty ridiculous compared to what you can can get in the US. I was denied SR&ED and am currently in the process of receiving venture capital…

One bad experience should not tarnish an entire national ecosystem. There are incubators like GrowLabs and FoundersFuel who offer terms that are on par or better than YC, and there are investment firms that have invested hundreds of millions of dollars into Canadian startups over the past few years, and SR&ED claims seem to function smoothly for all our portfolio companies. I obviously don't know the details of your…

karamdeep perhaps everything looks great because you are on the other side of the table... and not creating a startup yourself...

Re: The Invention of Waterloo (Canada’s Technology Triangle)

#59

Post by imack »

rll wrote: post #56

One thing nobody has mentioned is also that most Waterloo students come out of there with more money than they had going in. No crippling student loans to deal with. Co-op terms aren't just great experience they also pay quite well. (Unless things have changed, I graduated in 1993 and this was the case back then)

Tuition was de-regulated in the 90's and went up 15% a year through most of the 2000's. I'd say it's doable but not a given.

Re: The Invention of Waterloo (Canada’s Technology Triangle)

#60

Post by wwhchung »

mdkess wrote: post #55
wwhchung wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually, here are the 100k tax rates for Waterloo, Ontario, Canada vs. SF, California: Waterloo: 26% Federal + 11.16% Provincial = 37.16% http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/ndvdls/fq/txrts-eng.html San Francisco: 28% Federal + 9.3%x(0.72) State = 34.7% http://www.efile.com/tax-rate/federal-income-tax-rates/ https://www.ftb.ca.gov/forms/catxrate_exmpt07.shtml Once you get above 174k/year, it's sill similar, with: Waterloo:…

http://www.irs.gov/publications/p17/ch22.html

Yup, this is true. I updated my posts to reflect this. However once you get above 200k range, AMT starts to kick in and you can't deduct the full amount.
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