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As a Canadian I was surprised to find out I don't pay THAT much more in taxes than my good friend, who is American. And I get a hell of a lot more services! I wouldn't give up my universal healthcare for anything. So I vote taxes

Ugh I honestly have no idea. Because there are definitely some benefits I don't care about, but there are obviously lots I do...healthcare, education, etc. BUT, that means you have to trust the government to allocate taxes appropriately, which I don't.

@Eko: this, I don't trust the US government to handle my money properly.

Bernie Sanders is out there trying to convince everyone that if you currently pay $10k for health insurance, you'll pay $5k more in taxes for that same coverage under his plans.

As if the government has EVER done anything more efficiently than private businesses. For profit healthcare may sound like a heartless, cruel set-up, but when you're a for profit company, you have major motivation to cut costs, increase quality, and provide the best product out there because you're competing with other companies who are doing the same thing. If you're a government providing healthcare, you have no competition, no real incentive to control costs or provide quality.

And while we may pay a lot out of pocket for health coverage, I pretty much know if I *need* it, it's going to be covered, without waiting for referrals upon referrals and approvals. Sure, there is a little bit of that on occasion, but it's very rare. We were covered by military (government) insurance as kids when my parents served and it was an absolute nightmare to get anything done. Everything required referrals, there were so few doctors you could go to, it took months to get in, etc. and then you'd still get a bill and have to fight with them about your referrals and prove that you had followed the protocols for seeing a specialist, all while dealing with a major situation. So, government healthcare, for "free", no thanks! Not the way it's handled in the US today. From what I've seen professionally and personally of Medicare, it's a very similar clusterf*ck, so no thanks to Medicare for all!

A year maternity leave, I might pay an extra tax for that, but very small.

I'd like our current taxes we of to be reallocated to more useful programs that support those who need it in America. I'd like to see far less tax breaks for corporations and less incentives to keep money overseas. But yeah I'm in no hurry to pay more taxes to the American government who is not responsible or trustworthy enough to handle our money properly.

Low taxes. I have zero interest in nationalized health care. Everyone on here always talks about being so jealous of Canadians and Britains. But then I see people posting in those countries about how they have to wait months for a referral, or can't get a second opinion, or don't have an actual pediatrician. No thank you.

@Truth Bombs: yep. I'm Canadianand I'd prefer low taxes and privatized healthcare.

@Truth Bombs: where I am, we have both public and private healthcare and I'm actually covered by both. I've never needed to wait for a referral and you can get in to see doctors, even specialists very quickly, and often without a referral. The longest I ever had to wait was 3 days, and that's just because the specialist only had office hours a few times per week.

As much as it hurts outright to pay 50% of my income to taxes (20%ish goes to tax and 30%ish to healthcare/pension), I am also reminded of ALL the services I receive. Daycare is highly subsidized, you pay practically nothing out of pocket for health visits, public transit is clean, modern and functional, roads are in excellent condition, my city is VERY clean and some day my kids will go to free university.

@Cherrybee: I think the way you described the income tax system here is just a bit misleading to the average person who isn't familiar with it. It sounds really high, but when you factor it all together, income taxes here are about on par with the US, slightly higher but not massively.

Example: DH makes a very healthy salary and his total tax rate (calculated by the amount he brings home vs what his actual salary is) is 33%. I find that perfectly reasonable considering all the things we don't have to pay for out of pocket.

Having lived the first 25 yrs of my life in the US, and most of the last 11 yrs in countries with higher taxes (Australia and the UK), I can hands down say I prefer the UK system times a million. We all like to think it could never happen to us, but not having to worry about layoffs and loss of insurance, catastrophic illnesses bankrupting us, supports if we ever fell on hard times, social supports for those with special needs/mental health issues, etc (the list could go on and on) is such a nice feeling to have. Not to mention the fact that being aware that whilst I may personally not need a particular service, there are people out there who do and part of being a good person and moral member of society is contributing to things that are for the common good, not just always looking out for number one.

@Truth Bombs: just out of curiosity, why does having a specific paediatrician make a difference? We have GPs who follow us from birth onwards. GPs have different areas of interest and specialisation so the ones working with children, generally have more in depth knowledge in that regard. We also have health visitors up until the age of five who do all the developmental checks etc (and visit you at home, bonus!) so there are people involved who specifically trained in infants and children. Paediatricians here, as they're called, are specifically for very sick children, not just the average healthy child. Also, referrals and second opinions are done on a priority system, unless you pay out of pocket to go private, which is an option if you don't want to wait. But I've never heard of anyone with an urgent issue who has had to wait any kind of significant period of time.

@sslm: I agree, But I think it's because I don't have a good doctor. I find the only good thing about Canadian health care is that it is free. Maybe I just haven't ever found a good doctor. Living in a small down certainly doesn't help.

@truthbombs: I'm in Canada. ..yeah we don't have any doctor other then a family doc. Who works 9-4 three days a week. One day off. One day 9-1. Closed weekends. Unreachable all other times and must go to the ER for anything that comes up outside of those hours. Brutal. I see people on here that can call a nurse for help or get a call back from their doctor and I'm like what???!

Hmmm, it depends. I used to live in London and was not impressed by the NHS and opted to pay for private anyway. I've heard good stories about NHS outside of central London and of course many other countries have great reports about universal healthcare, too. This just wasn't my experience so I'm not convinced.

I definitely wouldn't mind paying more in taxes if that meant having great services (for healthcare and beyond). I just feel like we'll never get this right in the US though.

@Greentea: oh yeah, that's a big thing I forgot! Most women get 1 year mat leave with a minimum level of financial support (the figure depends on what you were doing professionally before), and it can be divided between the parents.

@Applesandbananas: couldn't agree with you more.

I've been in Canada for six years now. It drives me bonkers when I hear Canadians complain about healthcare because it is just so much better here.

Reading that pediatrician thread makes it even more clear. We had eight sick visits for the kids, two for DH, a c-section for me, an ER visit for my toddler, and an emergency visit to L&D triage for me. We paid exactly $0. I can't imagine what our costs would have been in the states.

AND we don't pay much more in taxes than we did when we were in the states. Sales tax is higher, but our income taxes are comparable.

@MoonMoon: he he. That's one of the main reasons my DH doesn't want to live in the US, there's practically no vacation time!

I do think that opening up a more affordable avenue for insurance for those who are unable to procure insurance through an employer is, theoretically, a good idea, but our government is so screwed up, we couldn't even do that correctly.

I think a lot of non-US posters have hit some really crucial points, there is a lot of distrust in government in the US and a very deep, visceral belief in standing on your own two feet, pulling yourself up by your bootstraps, etc., rightly or wrongly, I think that that is very deeply ingrained in the American culture.

I would gladly pay higher taxes if it meant access to healthcare for all, subsidized childcare, affordable or free higher education, etc.

I think one thing that hasn't been mentioned yet, but that is a fear of more conservative people that I know, is that the potential to earn very high wages is what breeds innovation and creativity. I don't necessarily believe this, but I know a lot of very conservative people who do. They believe that high taxes on said income deincentivises people to innovate and move the world forward.

I think there is something to be said for this, to an extent....but in my experience, I do better and more creative work with a guaranteed salary than as an independent contractor.

I guess somewhere in the middle. Something like roads obviously has to be the government unless we want to pave the planet with competing private road systems.

I think it's in everyone's good in a community to have some guaranteed services no matter your ability or even willingness to work. Otherwise it becomes a race to the bottom. I think education and healthcare are two things that help crime both in the present and future to be lower. We give people a certain degree of free healthcare now, but a lot more could be offered for the same amount of emergency dollars.

But I do think money and power are inherently corrupting factors so having competition bw private sector and government is good.

@Truth Bombs: Agree.