51–60 of 90 posts
The fact we do not receive a simple pie chart from the government that shows exactly where every penny we pay in taxes goes is a criminal travesty.
Use the 15 seconds of your life you spent complaining about a non-existent problem to find out if your priors are correct.
California doesn’t make it easy to learn about the overview of government expenses, but the USA does.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Thanks for the comment. I wasn't aware of that point on the high top marginal tax rate, I can only comment that it's been in place for a long time (since I moved here) and I don't get any sense personally that it will be expired when California is constantly looking for ways to increase taxes. Re. healthcare, from past people I've hired and let go and friends who've been unemployed, perhaps as they're all in tech wit…
re: CA marginal tax rates, IIUC they're "temporary" but in place through 2030 at least, and have already been extended once. I am a bleeding heart liberal which doesn't come through in the below, but think this is one example of 'nothing as permanent as a temporary government measure' Before 2012 the top CA tax bracket was the 9.3% one. CA was still one of the most progressive states (tax burden for mid-income folks…
Not only has the homeless problem gotten worse since they introduced it, its also driven a few companies out of the city like Stripe, and in my opinion its the policies, not the funding which is the issue.
These are all examples of the government raising taxes, expanding, and not being accountable for any results that the increased spend was meant to bring
This does not consider costs. Example: US spends more per person on Medicare and Medicaid than the UK spends per person on NHS. Medicare and Medicaid are not exactly known for lavish spending.
Many expensive services are labor intensive and labor costs more. Other costs are driven by political factors — which are not caused by corporate interest but are instead wildly popular with voters (example: NIMBY-ism, Prop 13).
Even the dreaded tax filing business exists because there is a substantial political base that hates taxes — and having an awful and infuriating UI/UX to the tax system makes people hate taxes more. The fact that you have to fill out all those forms is a feature, not a bug.
I think everyone will have a difference opinion on what is worth spend on.
There's a part about $100k student debt. Doesn't CA have some sort of reduced/free public college?
Since moving to the UK I've wanted to do a breakdown of taxes I paid in Colorado vs UK. Even though taxes are higher here and VAT is 20% I'm still convinced I have more income at the end of the year then I would in CO. Some things I've noticed - I surrendered a good chunk of my paycheck to health insurance in the states that's already folded into income tax in UK Car insurance in UK is much cheaper because it only ne…
Since moving to the UK I've wanted to do a breakdown of taxes I paid in Colorado vs UK. Even though taxes are higher here and VAT is 20% I'm still convinced I have more income at the end of the year then I would in CO. Some things I've noticed - I surrendered a good chunk of my paycheck to health insurance in the states that's already folded into income tax in UK Car insurance in UK is much cheaper because it only ne…
UK car insurance includes medical cover! It's just not usually called on quite so much and it's cheaper if it is. At one point there was a lot of fraudulent whiplash claims. Maybe the US has a medical expenses insurance fraud problem?
> Council tax (property tax) is significantly cheaper here.
Council tax is a really bizarre system that is only loosely linked to property, and the UK would benefit from introducing proper US style property taxation.
> Fruit, vegetables and meat is definitely cheaper here then anywhere in CO
One of those things that we UKans don't appreciate - food is both cheap and pretty good compared to lots of Europe and especially the much praised Scandinavia. Whereas the US is the land of cheap and plentiful processed food.
> Internet, cable, and phone plans are significantly cheaper here
The UK has a working if slightly artificial market here, where the US basically doesn't have competition.
California may be high tax for high income people, but for most middle and low income folks, it is actually pretty cheap. CA's top marginal income tax rate is actually a temporary provision which may or may not be extended when it expires, depending on who the voters elect. > driving away the 1% of households that pay 50% of the taxes in California, worsening the situation for everyone. One big problem is that over t…
What? Do they really not tax services? I thought that was part of sales tax everywhere.
One big difference, though, is in the US I believe you can file jointly if you are married and get roughly double the usual range for each tax bracket? That option isn't available in the UK and must surely make a huge difference with high income households.
Well, yes and no. Single Income Married families have some benefits, or if one party makes a lot less than the other. However there are other disadvantages in some cases; after my first wife got married to me, her financial aid went into the toilet. Even though I was making less than 50k a year myself (and paying enough in student loans/etc that we were barely making ends meet,) that income counted against her. [0] […
Most of my friends/colleagues are not aware that for at least single tax filers, the difference between UK/California is less than 5%, I think its assumed Europe is significantly higher, and that's not the case anymore as the US bureaucracy has grown!
Earlier quoted context omitted.
And many who may want it, do not believe that giving our government more money or power will wnd up with the desired outcome.
I’m in this boat. Living in California and seeing how far our tax dollars go (or rather don’t) us not inspiring
California foolishly tries to throw money at the problems without first addressing the reason the sieve is so leaky.
As a Brit this article is laughable. People are literally dying in the UK because so called wonderful 'free' public healthcare doesn't have the ambulances to send to them. Tons of potholes everywhere too. Outside London and major cities, public transport is non-existent to very poor.
They moved strokes to a 'Category 2' condition that requires an ambulance to arrive in 45 minutes. Having a father who had a stroke early in his life, this sickens me. My trust in the NHS is minimal and seeing how good the healthcare is in California I will be going private when I return. It is night and day, and my private insurance is less than my NI contributions were in the UK. If I message my doctor on my health…