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CA-NA-DA-ABC
Joined: 20 Jun 2006
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 Posted: Sat Aug 22, 2009 12:56 am Post subject: income tax rates around the world |
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simplified income tax rate comparison
[img]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Income_Taxes_By_Country.svg[/img]
In countries like Belgium, the first 6 months or so of the year you're essentially working free for the government 
and look at where Korea is. |
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Uncle Kevin
Joined: 17 Aug 2009
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| Posted: Sat Aug 22, 2009 7:22 am Post subject: |
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| I will assume your from Canada based off your user name. What are the differences between the Canadian tax system and Korean tax system? |
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gakduki
Joined: 16 Jul 2009
Location: Passed out on line 2 going in circles
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| Posted: Sat Aug 22, 2009 7:59 am Post subject: |
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its not only about how much tax its about what you get for your taxes. Here there is not universal health care, free garbage collection, a decent wealfare system, the public education system is nothing to brag about forcing parents to spend thousands a year on private education. ETC.
Also, average income in Korea is much less than say Canada, so people are in lower tax brackets and thus pay a lower percentage of their income in tax.
But its great when your an English teacher, who doesn't give a damn about public services or how much money other people make. |
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wesharris
Joined: 10 Oct 2008
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| Posted: Sat Aug 22, 2009 8:25 pm Post subject: |
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Dude, seriously. All that COSTS you money. National healthcare is a joke if you're losing 60% of your income to frickin' taxes. PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY is a must, and yes I am shouting. To expect the government to take care of everything is not the bee's knees, it's the ants butt alright ? Not cool, capiche? And if you don't agree with me, don't bother replying because I"m right and you know it.
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Wes |
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CA-NA-DA-ABC
Joined: 20 Jun 2006
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| Posted: Sun Aug 23, 2009 1:23 pm Post subject: |
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| gakduki wrote: |
its not only about how much tax its about what you get for your taxes. Here there is not universal health care, free garbage collection, a decent wealfare system, the public education system is nothing to brag about forcing parents to spend thousands a year on private education. ETC.
Also, average income in Korea is much less than say Canada, so people are in lower tax brackets and thus pay a lower percentage of their income in tax.
But its great when your an English teacher, who doesn't give a damn about public services or how much money other people make. |
You're right. Robbing upwards of half of your hard-earned income to hand it over to the homeless and drug addicts is surely a good way for your tax dollars to be spent. It penalizes hard work and provides an incentive to be lazy. |
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Ilsanman
Joined: 15 Aug 2003
Location: Bucheon, Korea
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| Posted: Sun Aug 23, 2009 3:51 pm Post subject: |
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Nothing like blaming the poor and weak.
| CA-NA-DA-ABC wrote: |
| gakduki wrote: |
its not only about how much tax its about what you get for your taxes. Here there is not universal health care, free garbage collection, a decent wealfare system, the public education system is nothing to brag about forcing parents to spend thousands a year on private education. ETC.
Also, average income in Korea is much less than say Canada, so people are in lower tax brackets and thus pay a lower percentage of their income in tax.
But its great when your an English teacher, who doesn't give a damn about public services or how much money other people make. |
You're right. Robbing upwards of half of your hard-earned income to hand it over to the homeless and drug addicts is surely a good way for your tax dollars to be spent. It penalizes hard work and provides an incentive to be lazy. |
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AgentM
Joined: 07 Jun 2009
Location: British Columbia, Canada
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| Posted: Sun Aug 23, 2009 4:32 pm Post subject: |
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| CA-NA-DA-ABC wrote: |
| gakduki wrote: |
its not only about how much tax its about what you get for your taxes. Here there is not universal health care, free garbage collection, a decent wealfare system, the public education system is nothing to brag about forcing parents to spend thousands a year on private education. ETC.
Also, average income in Korea is much less than say Canada, so people are in lower tax brackets and thus pay a lower percentage of their income in tax.
But its great when your an English teacher, who doesn't give a damn about public services or how much money other people make. |
You're right. Robbing upwards of half of your hard-earned income to hand it over to the homeless and drug addicts is surely a good way for your tax dollars to be spent. It penalizes hard work and provides an incentive to be lazy. |
Uh, you do realize that that is not all our tax money goes to right?  |
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gakduki
Joined: 16 Jul 2009
Location: Passed out on line 2 going in circles
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| Posted: Sun Aug 23, 2009 8:24 pm Post subject: |
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| wesharris wrote: |
Dude, seriously. All that COSTS you money. National healthcare is a joke if you're losing 60% of your income to frickin' taxes. PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY is a must, and yes I am shouting. To expect the government to take care of everything is not the bee's knees, it's the ants butt alright ? Not cool, capiche? And if you don't agree with me, don't bother replying because I"m right and you know it.
_+_+
Wes |
60% tax is terrible, I'm not defending the worst social democracies tax rates, but I think at some point tax is too low. If you've been reading the news, they are trying to close down so called 'tax havens' basically robbing western governments out of tax income. places such as Lingapore, Lichenstien, Caymen Islands etc. All tax doen't go to supporting crackheads. What about medical emergencies that cause bankruptcies in countries like USA and Korea. How about terrible roads that slow down traffic, cause delays, force you to spend more on your car. Poor police systems in many third world countries where criminals go unprosecuted, justice isn't served. Garbage heaps, common we need some taxes. And arguing over the rate is the job of a public finance economist.
With everything taken into consideration, people in moderate social democracies live better than anyone else on the planet. So having a 20-35% tax rate is probably close to an optimal rate. 0% would just be idiodic and lead to massive problems, and anything over the 45-55% range starts causing people to work less. Besides what about all the middle class, lazy govenment employees, what would they be doing if we didnt support them? At least they come to our shops and put their children in our hagwons, not taxing some rich guy so he can spend him money on imported luxuries and vacations is not the way to go. |
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Fox
Joined: 04 Mar 2009
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| Posted: Sun Aug 23, 2009 9:09 pm Post subject: |
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| gakduki wrote: |
| its not only about how much tax its about what you get for your taxes. |
This is something I think many people fail to appreciate. A tax rate in and of itself is totally meaningless; what matters is the tax rate in concert with what you're getting for it.
| wesharris wrote: |
| Dude, seriously. All that COSTS you money. National healthcare is a joke if you're losing 60% of your income to frickin' taxes. |
Obviously, the entire 60% that you're giving to the government isn't going to health care, only a part of it. The rest goes to various other services provided to society. If you think the nearly 60% Belgians pay is too much, perhaps you'd care to break down exactly which social programs they should give up, how much it would save them on taxes, and what their society would gain in return by using that money on other things?
| wesharris wrote: |
| PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY is a must, and yes I am shouting. |
Personal responsibility is great, until your lack of personal responsibility starts hurting me. One of the reasons American health care is so expensive, for instance, is that those who actually pay for their health care are also paying for those who skip out on their bills.
Personal responsibility is a wonderful mantra, it sound so nice. But in a society focused on personal responsibility, the responsible people still end up paying for the irresponsible. My medical costs are higher because you don't pay your bill. The goods and services I pay cash for are more expensive because you choose to use a credit card. Even in a purely capitalist system, I pay for your lack of responsibility.
| wesharris wrote: |
| To expect the government to take care of everything is not the bee's knees, it's the ants butt alright ? |
Paying the government and getting health coverage in return is no different than paying a private corporation and getting health care in return, excepting the fact that at least the government hypothetically has your best interests at heart, while the private corporation has every incentive in the world to try to screw you if they can get away with it. |
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UknowsI
Joined: 16 Apr 2009
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| Posted: Mon Aug 24, 2009 11:18 pm Post subject: |
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As others already mentioned I don't really care what the tax rate is as long as it is fair. In some countries 15% tax rate would be a rip off if they're not able to provide security and basic needs, while I believe over 50% tax rate can be justified if I know it will be used responsibly to secure my and my children's future.
Even without any support from my family and without working I can study whatever I want as far as I want (up to 8 years) because of government support, and for that I'm very grateful. When I also get free medical service and a respectable pay after I retire I would say I don't ever have to worry about financial problem (unless I do something stupid of course). Is it not worth paying half your salary for this?
The problem is that some of the tax money is always wasted and used irresponsibly, if this part grows too large then it will no longer feel fair. When the social system can no longer take care of education, healthcare and a general good welfare system then 50% tax would no longer feel fair.
There are other taxes I disagree with such as a significant "net-worth tax" which basically encourage people to be unresponsible. But a high income tax is something I can live with. |
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AgentM
Joined: 07 Jun 2009
Location: British Columbia, Canada
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| Posted: Tue Aug 25, 2009 10:08 am Post subject: |
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| UknowsI wrote: |
The problem is that some of the tax money is always wasted and used irresponsibly, if this part grows too large then it will no longer feel fair. When the social system can no longer take care of education, healthcare and a general good welfare system then 50% tax would no longer feel fair.
There are other taxes I disagree with such as a significant "net-worth tax" which basically encourage people to be unresponsible. But a high income tax is something I can live with. |
Well said, I don't mind paying "high" tax rates so long as we get reasonable services in return. If the gov't is incompetent and messing up various programs, I'd be less happy about paying said taxes. |
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Juregen
Joined: 30 May 2006
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| Posted: Tue Aug 25, 2009 2:17 pm Post subject: Re: income tax rates around the world |
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| CA-NA-DA-ABC wrote: |
simplified income tax rate comparison
[img]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Income_Taxes_By_Country.svg[/img]
In countries like Belgium, the first 6 months or so of the year you're essentially working free for the government
and look at where Korea is. |
Being from Belgium, I would actually say
Income tax is minimum 45%, VAT is 21%, that means if you spend 100 dollars, 21 dollars is VAT and 36 dollars for income tax
so yeah 57 dollars of 100 dollars product ...
BUT!
We got some nice social benefits  |
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Jack Manworth
Joined: 11 Aug 2009
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| Posted: Tue Aug 25, 2009 4:49 pm Post subject: |
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The issue with taxation is that it's inefficient. Say the government takes $1 from me in taxes. Well, with that dollar, they provide only 50 cents in services. The rest of that dollar basically goes to waste due to governmental inefficiency.
With that said, I don't see taxation going away any time soon, so I will say that I am more more in favor of consumption taxes than income taxes. |
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gakduki
Joined: 16 Jul 2009
Location: Passed out on line 2 going in circles
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| Posted: Tue Aug 25, 2009 7:46 pm Post subject: |
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| Jack Manworth wrote: |
The issue with taxation is that it's inefficient. Say the government takes $1 from me in taxes. Well, with that dollar, they provide only 50 cents in services. The rest of that dollar basically goes to waste due to governmental inefficiency.
With that said, I don't see taxation going away any time soon, so I will say that I am more more in favor of consumption taxes than income taxes. |
VAT taxes are much better than income taxes, however, they lead to blackmarkets and other such inefficiencies. The perfect form of taxation and the only one that leads to no dead weight loss is a head tax. Charge every man woman and child a yearly fee for being a citizen. Charge a standard rate for every certificate and privilage you use (such as road tolls, gas tolls, hospital tolls etc.) It is very unfair and regressive, but it doesn't bring the markets out of equilibrium.
There are problems with the government wasting money, which has to be adressed, but its very complicated. And at least the waste is providing middle class jobs. |
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by2004
Joined: 20 Mar 2009
Location: Gyeongsan
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| Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2009 8:34 pm Post subject: |
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| With regards to tax rates, curiously, does anyone know what the gross yearly income would be in Canada for someone pulling in between 4 and 5 million won net a month here? I've tried to figure this out for quite some time but I've only been able to estimate. Can someone nail this one down for me?! We get taxed so little in Korea and quite high in Canada. If it's easier perhaps someone can give a more definite answer for let's say 3/4/5 million won a month separately into CDN dollars. Thanks to anyone who can help! |
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