Originally Posted by
dr dre
You may pay less in taxes, but don't you then have to pay a much higher price overall for basic things like healthcare, education and basic public services? For example healthcare:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List...ure_per_capita
In Australia we pay an average of $4400 per year per person on taxes for Medicare, private insurance and out of pocket expenses. In the United States that goes up to $9500 per person. For a system with worse outcomes.
Yeah we do pay more in tax (slightly) but we get a lot more for those taxes with our dollar.
I guess if you prefer to spend for those basic public services via your own money then the USA is the way to go. However I much prefer our way of living (even if it's considered "socialist" in the USA).
One other point, annual leave at one major US regional was one week per year, increasing up to a maximum of 4 weeks after 14 years employment as opposed to 6 weeks straight away here. And lower sick leave.
Nope...I paid around $440 a month for healthcare insurance in Australia. My wife and I were planning to start a family, so we had the family plan. Here, I do pay about $100 more a month but it includes everything, including 2 pairs of glasses a year. I have progressives so that's around $1000 a pop I don't have to pay.
You say that Australians pay "slightly" more taxes and that we get more for those taxes. Exactly how would you know? Have you actually lived in the US? All I can tell is that my wife and I paid AU$475000 on taxes and rent in the 5 years we lived in Sydney. I tell that to guys I work with who are earning $220k-$350k a year here and they're speechless. As I said, I pay 60% less tax on the same amount. That's more than slightly less to me.
The leave thing depends on who you work for. Contractually, I now get 14 days after 2 years BUT I can turn that into 4 weeks just by tweaking how I bid for my roster.
Look, i understand the quality of life you can have in Australia but it is becoming increasingly more expensive and unaffordable. If you have a family and one income, you'll eventually have to move to the boonies to afford living in NSW.