Very good Wiki article!
Here's what I gathered from scanning it.
* The average tax level for the average income in both countries may be the same, as shown in the OECD Excel sheet. However, the Canadian tax system appears to be more progressive.
* Sales tax, counting both national and provincial taxes, can be as high as 13% (gasp!), but the Wiki article talks about a GST rebate to reduce its regressive nature on the lower income class. And the article also mentions that Canadian government revenues depend more on sales tax than on income taxes, hence prices are higher. This is in contrast with the income tax brackets that I found earlier. Perhaps those income tax brackets are misleading if one does not consider deductions which lower the taxable income.
* Regarding health, "the U.S. Government spends as much on health care, 7% of GDP, as the Canadian government does, and total healthcare spending is much higher - 14.6% of GDP in the US vs. 10% in Canada.". Yet, "Canada ranks higher than the U.S. in statistics such as life expectancy (80.22 years in Canada versus 77.85 in the U.S.) and infant mortality (4.75 Canadian deaths per 1000 versus 6.50 in the States)." This of course is nothing new. It is well known that American health care system is not efficient compared to other developed countries.
* Canada does not run a trade deficit like the US does. So, Americans are enjoying cheap goods simply at the "generosity" of its trading partners such as China. Then, it means Canadians buying goods south of the border may not help the American economy, but only add to our trade deficit... Just joking, because it may not amount to much at all. I remember that Canada has very low limits on what its citizens can bring back. Well, other than a big tankful of fuel in their RV
, but then I don't think we subsidize our fuel either.
* Regarding the higher gasoline price in Canada, I do not believe it should be subsidized. It's dumb for oil producing countries to allow its citizens to waste a valuable commodity which could be exchanged on the world market for other imported goods. Rather, I was suggesting that higher taxes were the cause. Just now remember reading somewhere that Canada exports crude, but imports refined gasoline. That could also explain the higher cost.
PS. In case anyone wonders about the late hour of this posting, I will add that I had a good nap before waking up in this wee hour to self-educate on this economic matter, wide awake.
