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Comment by amrocha | Hacker News Reader

You’re wrong, but this essay is about Canada so I’ll focus on that.

The median canadian earns more than the median USian and we do it without letting kids go hungry in schools or murder squads.

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Median American pay for full-time workers was ~$62,000 USD in Q4 2024 (BLS), which is around $85,000 CAD. The median Canadian salary is very definitely not $85,000 CAD.

Now adjust for PPP and subtract healthcare costs. Not to mention all the other benefits Canada provides.

If you are going to play this game you also need to adjust for taxes. I lived a few years in Montreal, then a few years in Toronto and after that I moved to US. During this years my perception of income taxes went from “they are pretty high” in Montreal to “Wow, they are much lower” in Toronto to “how are public services funded? Taxes are almost 0” in the states..

I’m not playing a game, I’m comparing facts. The median person working in the US is poorer than the median person working in Canada. Fact.

Average tax rates for people with the median income are basically the same in Canada or the US.

In 2023, the median Canadian income was roughly $44K CAD. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=111000...

Looks like the USA in 2024 was $51K USD. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_income_in_the_United_...

I know we need to adjust for health care, but I think the median income in the USA is higher.

Canadian income tax rates: [0]. Lowest tax rate for Ontario is about 19%(federal + provincial). For Quebec it is about 28% (!!!)

For WA state - we only pay federal tax so the comparable tax rate is 12% [1].

These rates mirror my perception when I lived in Montreal, Toronto, WA state.

[0] https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/tax/individ...

[1] https://www.irs.gov/filing/federal-income-tax-rates-and-brac...

Then you’re paying higher consumption taxes and property taxes, and higher prices on business costs passed on to you. Do I even have to explain this? Just because you can’t see the ball anymore doesn’t mean it stopped existing

I guess you have not lived in Canada... In Canada consumption taxes is for both federal and provincial (and city) governments. In US there is no federal consumption tax.

(I think it is you who needs explaining not me....)

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