Land of Milk and Honey

[Bucky]

[Yokohammer]

Ethan Epstein says in his blog that Japan's plight ain't so bad.

Jeez ... will someone please whop this guy upside the head and give him a dose of reality?
I can't get his blog to load this morning, but I'm guessing he doesn't live here, or if he does it hasn't been for very long.

Edit: Yup, he lives in California. There's nothing in his profile about ever having been here.

[dimwit]

Aren't you a ray of sunshine today.

Pithy I take it can be taken to mean exaggerated. Japan really ain't that bad. Yes it has been economically overtaken by China but that is hardly to say it is in decline. And yes things definitely have not been nearly as bad here as they have been in the US or Canada. Taxes are low, unemployment is bad for Japan at 5%, half of what it is in North America.

[Christoff]

you have to agree about the "xenophobic" statement though, not to make blanket generalization about all japanese though. i bet if you were to walk up to one of those uyoku dantai in there pimping black vans they would be more than happy to confirm this suspicion for you.

[dimwit]

I think Japan is as xenophobic as you wish it to be. Compared to the korea or China it is a multicultural parardise. Personally, I rarely encounter it and those that seem to be xenophobes are assholes in general and if you placed them in Canada they would find similar outlets for their hobby.

[FG Lurker]

Taxes are low

Taxes are only low if you don't make much money.

[dimwit]

:rofl:

Taxes are only low if you don't make much money.

Taxes are low when compared to Canada. When I compare how much I was paying out in taxes in Canada to what I am paying here on an equavalent salary I am paying about halfas much as I did. I would consider myself to be pretty comfortably middle class.

[Bucky]

Taxes are low when compared to Canada. When I compare how much I was paying out in taxes in Canada to what I am paying here on an equavalent salary I am paying about halfas much as I did. I would consider myself to be pretty comfortably middle class.

How would you compare your quality of life? By that I mean, living space, cost of food, cost of housing, level of bull shit you have to put up with. Do you feel it is equal to what you had in Canada.

I have to tell you when I went trout fishing in B.C. after not having been there in a while I was dumbfounded by the taxes on booze. Gawd, I know now to try to take it with me next time.

[FG Lurker]

Taxes are low when compared to Canada. When I compare how much I was paying out in taxes in Canada to what I am paying here on an equavalent salary I am paying about halfas much as I did. I would consider myself to be pretty comfortably middle class.

Japan's national income tax rates for 2009:

Code: Select all

<1.95 mil yen     5% of taxable income
1.95-3.3 mil yen  10% of taxable income exceeding 1.95 mil yen plus 97,500yen
3.3-6.95 mil yen  20% of taxable income exceeding 3.3 mil yen plus 232,500yen
6.95-9 mil yen    23% of taxable income exceeding 6.95 mil yen plus 962,500yen
9-18 mil yen      33% of taxable income exceeding 9 mil yen plus 1,434,000yen
>18 mil yen       40% of taxable income exceeding 18 mil yen plus 4,404,000yen

Prefectural income tax is 4% of all taxable income on top of national tax.

Municipal income tax is 6% of all taxable income on top of both national and prefectural taxes.


Canada's national income tax rates:

Code: Select all

<$40,726          15% of taxable income
$40,726-$81,452   22% of taxable income exceeding $40726 + $6,108.90
$81,452-$126,264  26% of taxable income exceeding $81452 + $15,068.62
>$126,264         29% of taxable income exceeding $126,264 + $26,719.74

Provincial rates vary from Province to Province, the full list is available here. I'm from BC so as an example:

Code: Select all

<$35,716          5.06% of taxable income
$35,716-$71,433   7.7% of taxable income exceeding $35,716 + $1807.23
$71,433-$82,014   10.5% of taxable income exceeding $71,433 + $4,557.44
$82,014-$99,588   12.29% of taxable income exceeding $82,014 + $5,668.45
>$99,588          14.7% of taxable income exceeding $99,588 + $7,828.29

On top of this for both countries are national health and the pension plans. My feeling is that both are higher in Japan but I don't have the time to look them up right now. Sticking just to taxes and picking a couple of numbers as examples for "taxable income":

$30,000 vs 3mil
$50,000 vs 5mil
$100,000 vs 10mil
$200,000 vs 20mil

Numbers were chosen basically as they illustrate various different tax rates in both countries.

$30,000 in BC: $6018 total provincial & federal taxes
3mil yen in Japan: 502,500yen total prefectural and national taxes
Here, Japan is cheaper.

$50,000 in BC: $11,056.28
5mil yen in Japan: 1,072,500yen
Here they are about the same.

$100,000 in BC: $27,779.95
10mil yen in Japan: 2,764,000
Here they are about the same again.

$200,000 in BC: $70,692.03
20mil yen in Japan: 7,204,000
Close again, but Japan is higher and the gap widens from here as your income goes up.


Decided to look up the pension and health insurance rates as well, since I'm wasting so much time on this...

Pensions:

In Canada for 2009 the rate was 4.95% of earnings, and the maximum payment amount was $2118.60 per year.

In Japan kosei nenkin is 7.67% of your income. There is no limit on these payments, you pay 7.67% (as does your employer) on your entire salary including bonuses.

Medical:

In Canada medical plan costs vary from province to province, but again I'll use BC as an example. For an individual you pay $57/month, for two $102/month, and for a family of 3 or more $114 per month. (Assuming you are making $30k+ per year. Less than that and there are subsidies.)

In Japan kenko hoken is about 4.1% of your income for those under 40 and 4.69% for those 40 to 65. As with kosei nenkin there is again no limit on the amount you pay per year. As with the nenkin your employer is stuck paying the same rates to match your payments -- the result being you get paid less as this is considered part of your overall remuneration.


If we add the required pension and health insurance payments for each country to the tax costs Japan ends up being more expensive at each and every income level shown above.

The only area where Japan is really below most of Canada in taxation is with sales taxes. The only reason for this is that prefectures here don't seem to be allowed to apply sales taxes while provinces can and do (except Alberta.)

Taxes in Japan are going to go higher too, unfortunately. All of them -- medical, pension, income tax, and sales tax.

I like living in Japan but a low tax locale it is most definitely not.

[Ketou]

Interesting one FG.

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to FG Lurker again.

[Christoff]

doesnt matter how low the taxes are, i am still required to pay US taxes - foreign taxes

[dimwit]

Japan's national income tax rates for 2009:

Code: Select all

<1.95 mil yen     5% of taxable income
1.95-3.3 mil yen  10% of taxable income exceeding 1.95 mil yen plus 97,500yen
3.3-6.95 mil yen  20% of taxable income exceeding 3.3 mil yen plus 232,500yen
6.95-9 mil yen    23% of taxable income exceeding 6.95 mil yen plus 962,500yen
9-18 mil yen      33% of taxable income exceeding 9 mil yen plus 1,434,000yen
>18 mil yen       40% of taxable income exceeding 18 mil yen plus 4,404,000yen

Prefectural income tax is 4% of all taxable income on top of national tax.

Municipal income tax is 6% of all taxable income on top of both national and prefectural taxes.


Canada's national income tax rates:

Code: Select all

<$40,726          15% of taxable income
$40,726-$81,452   22% of taxable income exceeding $40726 + $6,108.90
$81,452-$126,264  26% of taxable income exceeding $81452 + $15,068.62
>$126,264         29% of taxable income exceeding $126,264 + $26,719.74

Provincial rates vary from Province to Province, the full list is available

Jesus Christ you forced me to look up the Canadian tax guide (shudder) -a sin for which you can never atone for.

Taxable income is the key word here not total income. When you use the total income baseline (and not bother with all the deductions) the figures I get are

Canada Tax Japan Tax
30,000 2952 3,000,000 96,000
50,000 5906 5,000,000 264,500
75,000 11310 7,500,000 682,500
200,000 45020 20,000,000 4,124,000
1,000,000 277,020 100,000,000 34,524,000

From this you can see at even a middle income you are paying about half the tax rate in Japan. I should point out that these figures change when you put family into the equation, as the basic family exemption is much higher in Canada. Lurker, you are right that at the top scale you are paying substancially less national tax. However if you are earning that kind of personal income and paying that rate of tax, you :

a) are buying the beers next time I visit Osaka
b) need to find a competent tax accountant
c) should be a proud citizen of the Caymen Islands

[Christoff]

subtract you japanese national tax and pay the difference. It is actually kind of sad how how the US pays more in taxes than canada but dont have universal health care.

[Ketou]

Hey someones got to pay for all the bonds being given to the Fed so they can dilute the dollar.