Taxes

[pbfoot]

Sorry about the stupid thing about expectancy etc . I found what would have to be the definitive set of economic stats from the OECD .
Economics and Growth:Statistics
There is a lot of info such as balance of trade interest rates the whole ball of wax and lots I know nothing about
Living as close as I do the border I see no real difference in how we live in the 2 countries except your rich are richer and your poor poorer. Apparently there must be a difference in prices as now our dollars are so close the bridges are full of X border shoppers mostly women heading over to the US . We drive the same cars watch and listen to the same media and I can't fathom the differences . I have visited in the neighbour hood of 30 states so don't think I'm judging on my opinion on Buffalo. Its the same church different pew

[utgotye]

Two words: Flat Tax.

[FLYBOYJ]

Originally Posted by utgotye

Two words: Flat Tax.

Here in Colorado our state income taxes are that way however I came from California - anything was an improvement!

[pbfoot]

I think flat tax is super and fair thing for all

[Njaco]

I'm for a flat tax ..if it works. I'm just sceptical when it comes to the gov and good, sound ideas.

[Njaco]

Where Does Your Tax Money Go?
Published: April 10, 2005
By David Wallechinsky

In the coming week, millions of Americans will be paying income taxes to the U.S. government, but those payments ($894 billion) will cover barely a third of the government’s spending. Most of the rest of the federal budget will be covered by payroll taxes and related receipts ($774 billion) and corporate income taxes ($226 billion). At least $427 billion will have to be borrowed. We asked our investigative reporter David Wallechinsky to take a close look at how this money is spent. Here is his report.

This year, the Federal government will spend more than $2.5 trillion—an amount almost impossible to grasp. If you do the math, this number translates into $6.8 billion a day, or $4.72 million a minute and $8454 for each man, woman and child in the country.So what do we get for our money?
Nearly three-quarters of the federal budget goes to four areas: the military, health-care benefits, interest on the national debt and Social Security. The rest goes to various social-aid programs, including education grants, scientific research, the arts, support for small businesses, foreign aid and running the government. The military. Including estimates for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, we will spend $527 billion on military expenses this year. In fact, the U.S. spends as much money on its military as all other nations combined. About $5 billion goes for military assistance to foreign governments, including $2.2 billion for Israel and $1.3 billion for Egypt. Intelligence spending—also part of the military budget—is classified, but GlobalSecurity.org, an intelligence policy think tank, estimates that the year’s expenses for spying and other intelligence-gathering will be more than $40 billion. About $34 billion goes to the Department of Defense, including $7 billion for the National Security Agency and $7 billion for the National Reconnaissance Office, which builds and maintains spy satellites. An additional $5 billion goes to the CIA. (Among other intelligence-gathering agencies, the FBI receives $5.2 billion, and the Department of Homeland Security accounts for about $33 billion.) U.S. military spending also includes $2.5 million to remove unexploded bombs dropped over Laos during the Vietnam War, $400 million to train and equip the Afghan National Army and more than $600 million on Army recruitment advertising. Medicare and Medicaid. Medicare benefits for 40 million elderly and disabled patients and Medicaid assistance for 46 million low-income, disabled and elderly patients will total $521 billion. Social Security. This popular but controversial program, created in 1935 to help provide a financial safety net for all Americans 65 and over, is paid from payroll taxes on those still working. This year’s payment, to 47 million recipients, will total $519 billion. National debt. If you spend more than you earn, you have to make up the difference by borrowing. The U.S. currently has a total debt of $7.7 trillion—more than $25,000 per person. Just like individuals, the government has to make regular payments on the debt, which include interest. Interest payments this year will total at least $321 billion, or an average of $90 a month, or $1085 for every American. The debt has increased dramatically in the last three years. Revenues have gone down 5.6% while spending has gone up 23%, building an enormous debt for future generations to deal with. Other social-aid programs. Beyond the huge outlay for Medicare and Medicaid, there are other social programs that total about $200 billion.Unemployment trust fund benefits add up to
$40 billion; the Food Stamp Program, $34 billion; Supplemental Security Income (SSI) for 6.9 million aged, blind and disabled Americans, $42 billion; medical services for veterans, $27 billion; and the Housing Certificate Fund for low-income households, $20 billion. Three major education programs provide grants to: local school districts to help educationally deprived students ($12.7 billion); Pell grants to help needy students attend college ($12.4 billion); and grants to school districts to aid students with disabilities ($10.6 billion). And did you know... Within larger departments are a vast array of diverse and interesting programs. These include a reward of $25 million or more for the arrest of Osama bin Laden; $48 million for the IceCube Neutrino Observatory (under the ice at the South Pole); $5 million for bed space for illegal aliens awaiting deportation; $1 million for the Cook County, Ill., Cold Case Homicide Unit, which has reopened 100 cases, with 25 convictions; $1.45 million for rhinoceros and tiger conservation; $496,000 to transfer the Presidential materials of Richard Nixon from Washington, D.C., to the Richard Nixon Library in Yorba Linda, Calif.; and $500,000 for the Audubon at Home program to help homeowners make their backyards more wildlife-friendly. Oh, yes, one more way the government uses our tax dollars—the annual operating expense of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS): $10.3 billion.


* Military: 21%
* Social Security: 20%
* Medicare & Medicaid: 20%
* Other: 19%
* National Debt Interest: 12%
* Major Social-Aid Programs: 8%


A Look at Priorities

We can learn a lot about our government’s priorities by comparing the funding for certain programs. For example:

Science vs. the arts.
To the National Science Foundation: $5.47 billion. To the National Endowment for the Arts: $121 million.

Business vs. safety.
Funds for the Securities and Exchange Commission ($888 million) and the Small Business Administration ($580 million) exceed the Occupational Safety and Health Administration ($464 million) and the Consumer Product Safety Commission ($63 million) by $941 million.

Abstinence vs. adoption.
This year, we will spend $168 million for sexual-abstinence education but only $13 million for adoption awareness.

Fighting drugs vs. alcohol.
Various anti-drug programs spread over different government departments total about $12 billion, while the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism will receive only $442 million.

Nuclear energy vs. other sources.
The Office of Nuclear Energy, Science and Technology has a budget of $503 million. By comparison, $85 million goes to the Solar Energy Technology Program and $41.6 million for Wind Energy Technology. (Fallout note: It will cost $7.3 billion this year to continue the cleanup of radioactive waste from nuclear-weapons production and $6.6 billion a year to maintain our nuclear warheads.)

Space exploration for war or peace?
Expenditures for space include $10 billion for research and development of an anti-missile defense system and $6.7 billion for space flight, including the space shuttle and space station. For more purely scientific efforts: to the Astronomical Search for Origins, including development of space telescopes, $1.1 billion; for Mars exploration, $681 million; for robotic exploration of the Moon, $52 million.


Rebuilding Iraq vs. rebuilding America
Since the invasion of Iraq, the U.S. government has allocated $19 billion for reconstruction and related projects in Iraq, although much of it has yet to be spent. This figure is more than the combined annual budgets for the National Cancer Institute, Amtrak, the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, Federal Air Marshals, operation of the National Park Service, Homeless Assistance Grants, the Superfund Hazardous Substance Cleanup, Home-Delivered Meals to the Elderly and youth employment and training programs.

Historical Reminder:
The government spent more than $40 million for the Whitewater and Monica Lewinsky investigations but only $15 million for the 9/11 Commission to examine the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

What The President Costs

This year, we will spend $1.2 billion for the U.S. Secret Service to protect the President, the Vice President, their families and visiting dignitaries, plus more than $255 million to maintain the Executive Office of the President. The President gets an annual salary of $400,000, plus allowances for extra traveling ($100,000), personal expenses ($50,000) and “unanticipated expenses” ($1 million).

What You Can Do
If you’d like to have an influence on the way your tax money is spent, the best action you can take is to participate in our democracy. In a word: VOTE.

And write to your Senators and Representative.

[lesofprimus]

What the President costs; Unanticipated expenses - 1 million dollars??? WTF is that all about???

[mkloby]

Originally Posted by lesofprimus

What the President costs; Unanticipated expenses - 1 million dollars??? WTF is that all about???

Sounds like a party, or sex and alcohol fund.

[lesofprimus]

Im sure ol' Billy boy used that fund and them some...

[Njaco]

Those cigars are expensive!

[Dalar]

I'm a little late getting in on this post but here is my nickles worth,

I'm speaking as a Canadian who recently returned after living in the US for 6 years.

There are pros & cons to both systems of health care but my personal observations are

1) It's better to pay $50.00 and see a doctor today or tomorrow, rather than see one (if you can find one!) in 3 weeks for free.

2) If it costs $50, you go to see a doctor because your living sick, not sick of living

3) 90% of the medications I've been perscribed here are not on OHIP's list of permitted medications. I've had to pay cash anyway.

4) could be I got lucky, all my employers offered Health Benefit Packages. They ALL provided better coverage than OHIP

It has been recently calculated at the University of Toronto, that in Ontario 67% of our earnings goes to taxes. I rented my 3 bedroom house/ 1 acre yard in Missisippi for less that I can rent a single room here.

Politicians in Canada are not above the Law...they are the law. They fear only 2 things 1) A Canadian who thinks and 2) A Canadian who thinks...and owns a gun!

[syscom3]

Originally Posted by Dalar

I'm a little late getting in on this post but here is my nickles worth,

I'm speaking as a Canadian who recently returned after living in the US for 6 years.

There are pros & cons to both systems of health care but my personal observations are

1) It's better to pay $50.00 and see a doctor today or tomorrow, rather than see one (if you can find one!) in 3 weeks for free.

2) If it costs $50, you go to see a doctor because your living sick, not sick of living

3) 90% of the medications I've been perscribed here are not on OHIP's list of permitted medications. I've had to pay cash anyway.

4) could be I got lucky, all my employers offered Health Benefit Packages. They ALL provided better coverage than OHIP

It has been recently calculated at the University of Toronto, that in Ontario 67% of our earnings goes to taxes. I rented my 3 bedroom house/ 1 acre yard in Missisippi for less that I can rent a single room here.

Politicians in Canada are not above the Law...they are the law. They fear only 2 things 1) A Canadian who thinks and 2) A Canadian who thinks...and owns a gun!

I see no reason why a mandantory coverage requirement in the US cannot satisfy everyones demands.

Everyone gets covered, and the govt stays out of actually providing the health care.

We can have it set for minimum coverage for everyone, and then you can purchase additional optional coverages out of your (and/or) employers pocket.

[mkloby]

Originally Posted by syscom3

I see no reason why a mandantory coverage requirement in the US cannot satisfy everyones demands.

Everyone gets covered, and the govt stays out of actually providing the health care.

We can have it set for minimum coverage for everyone, and then you can purchase additional optional coverages out of your (and/or) employers pocket.

The funds have to come from somewhere - that's the problem. Also, the medical industry in the US is already stressed and short of doctors. Such a situation would degrade the quality of healthcare received by all responsible individuals that procure their own insurance through employment or on their own. If you want to pump gas or flip burgers for a living - fine. Don't demand my tax dollars to pay for your own healthcare because you made poor choices.

Individuals need to stand up and take responsibility for themselves, and stop looking to the gov't and their brethren to bail them out.

[Njaco]

Individuals need to stand up and take responsibility for themselves, and stop looking to the gov't and their brethren to bail them out.

Thats why I'm conseravtive.

My mistakes are my mistakes and nobody else should suffer from them, including tax payers.

[Graeme]

As I mentioned earlier, in Australia you can elect to take out private medical insurance or be covered by the National Medicare system.

One health area which is poorly addressed is dental care.

Medicare doesn't cover dental treatment unless the condition is so bad you need to be hospitalised-then it's free under Medicare. However that is a sad level to reach, made worse by long waiting lists.

Compounding the problem is that dental is not fully covered by private medical insurance companies-there will always be a 'gap' (no pun intended) to pay.

Revealed today in the news is the startling fact that only one in four Australians has visited a dentist within the last two years. The reason given is "cost."

What are American teeth like!?