colin wrote: > > re tax: i was working out our finances the other day(john's salary mainly!) > and worked out he pays 20,000 pounds per year in taxes! Out of 54,000 > salary.
That's about a 37% tax rate, which is what the highest rate is here. A few years ago I designed a graphic presentation comparing the tax rates of different countries, and the U.S. rates were very low compared to those in other industrialized countries. There's also the VAT you have to pay. I'm assuming that's a sales tax, and it's very high there, into the double digits. I think that's the worse kind of tax because it hits the poorest people the hardest. People with more means can often find ways around such taxes. Here, by having a purchase delivered to a friend in another state and then picking it up later, a person can avoid paying the NY state sales tax, not that I ever do that because it's more trouble than it's worth since I'm not usually buying high-priced items. So I pay the sales tax on all those lower-priced items I buy without even thinking about it. When I order anything from England over the internet I'm always shocked at how much the VAT is. I don't have to pay it, and I sometimes wonder if items would be cheaper, even with the added shipping costs, if I bought them and sent them over compared to someone buying them there. It's not a good sign when even people outside of the country are thinking there must be some way around that outrageous tax. Debra Shea
