property taxes...whoopdeedoo..... He doesn't live here...he doesn't work here...... but I'll lay odds he was educated here...took advatage of our subsidized education system and skipped the country to work else where....will probably retire here to take advantage of our social saftey net for seniors when the time come.... doesn't contribute sweet frick all to Canada during his working years but will take advantage of all we have to offer before and after the fact....a leach in other words.
Well gerryh in regards to this subject it appears to me you do not have the faintest clue about what your talking about.
First lets address schooling; I don't think its unusual for Canadians to go to school.
I think schooling should be encouraged not criticized.
Now lets take a quick peek at my situation and use it as an example.
Educated to grade 12 courtesy of the Canadian school system.
College degree courtesy of the Canadian post secondary system (and the hard working Canadian tax-payers).
Fully half of my student loan forgiven for reasons that completely escaped me both then and now.
Moving along numerous years to today lets look at my situation.
Worked overseas for the last 17 years.
Worked in the States,Central America, South Asia, Caribbean and last but not least 4 years in Europe.
I have not worked more than 5 months in Canada in 17 years.
According to you I contribute "sweet frick all" and am a "leach".
Lets explore that line of logic a wee bit.
I choose to reside in Canada, and am a home owner in Alberta.
I pay FULL Federal and Provincial Taxes just like everybody else.
I pay property tax just like everyone else (including school taxes although I have no kids).
I pay GST on everything I buy.
In fact I pay the exact same amount of both up front and hidden taxes as every other long-suffering, overtaxed Canadian.
Now lets take a peek at my income stream.
As a private consultant with my own tiny little company I direct bill the companies I work for.
I bill the foreign based companies in a agreed upon currency ( USD, Euros, whatever) and wire
transfer the money back into Canada and then use a broker to convert the funds to Canadian dollars.
So what I am doing is earning FORIEGN money and then transferring those assets into Canada.
So that would be British or Italian or German money being shifted into Canada and OUR home economy.
I then spend it all in Canada providing income for local Canadian merchants and businesses.
Now lets take a look at my utilization of Canadian services.
I used to be out of country for up to half a year but now I try not to work more than 100 days a year.
Therefore I am out of Canada for 100 to 160 days a year.
Therefore I utilize all the services my taxes pay for from 1/3 to 1/2 LESS than just about all other Canadians.
So I pay the same taxes as everyone else but use the roads, hospitals, libraries, medical clinics and general public infrastructure up to half what other people do.
Thus freeing up more space and reducing crowding for my fellow Canadians.
When I am out of country I foot the bill myself for medical needs and the like.
By working out of country I free up one more "JOB" for a fellow Canadian.
This is because I could easily be working in Canada and thus taking up a job position.
By working overseas I directly free up one more job slot for a potential Canadian worker.
As to my retirement I pay the full ride into my CPP.
My OAS is going to clawed completely back because of my retirement savings.
Now I could easily relocate to a country with a much cheaper cost of living and far, far lower income taxes.
Someplace like Mexico, Costa Rica, Portugal, the Caribbean.
They would love to have me; lets face it however what they really would love to have is my foreign currency stream spent in THEIR country.
Fact is I have lived part time in condos and apartments in the States, South Asia and the Caribbean.
Obviously I could go non-rez and dodge taxes completely if I wanted.
I know how to do that and have met many others who DO do it.
It is of course potentially illegal and considered by some to be unethical.
So I choose to pump my income stream right back into the Canadian economy.
And live in one of the highest taxed countries on the planet.
Just cause I like it here.
So gerryh if you want to Increase foreign investment in Canada. Increase employment opportunities and reduce usage of critical and crowded services while at the same time fully funding them you would need to encourage Canadians to work internationally.
Not insult and abuse them.
Be happy to debate this particular topic further with you.
Trex
