After you've bought your Toledo home or your Thornhill homes or your condo in New Mexico, the bills will start coming in. You may think it's not fair - all the taxes and fees you have to pay - but that's only because you're not aware of what you're getting from the taxes you pay. Let's take the tax that takes the biggest chunk off our incomes - the income tax - and go through some of the things it pays for and how it benefits us.
Schooling
Schooling is free for all children in Canada and the United States. But have you ever stopped to think about how that can be possible? It's possible because your income tax dollars pay for the schools, the materials, the teachers, the playgrounds - everything. Even if you don't have any children, free schooling benefits you. You went to school for free and the employees at your Autodesk Revit training are able to work competently for you because they went to school too.
Social Programs
Canada has more social programs that are funded by income taxes than the United States. For example, Canadians who lose their jobs doing internet marketing in Toronto are supported by unemployment insurance and welfare benefits. Injured people are looked after through government funded healthcare. The United States, however, is not without social programs. Abandoned children need to be fostered and adopted and social security funds need to be tucked away for when you retire.
Security
In these uncertain times, security is more important than ever, and it is paid for with your tax dollars. Taxes pay for the national police who protect you and investigate wrongs done to you. It pays for the investigators who uncover frauds connected to the money exchange in Vancouver. It pays for the soldiers who protect the country and all of their equipment. It pays for the radars and the missiles and the spies and the diplomats who try to stop security problems before they happen.
Infrastructure
And then of course, there's the infrastructure. Governments need to be housed in buildings. Citizens need bridges and highways and roads and sewers and water pipes and electricity to run their Heating Hamilton business. Who builds all these things? The government - and it pays for them with your tax dollars. Without infrastructure, you couldn't get to work, have a shower, or plug in your coffee maker.
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