ezvanetree

Salted peanuts are considered a food item, of course, but they are taxed because they are ready to eat and therefore a snack food, whereas unsalted are something you are going to use, the theory goes, for something else, like cooking or granola, and are therefore more of a grocery item, not a snack food. Same with one donut (a snack) verses six donuts (food for a family), or so the theory goes! The same type of thing applies in Australia--grocery items are GST exempt verses snack items etc.

Also, if you have the tax in the price, it is more or less a hidden tax. That's the idea behind not having the GST in the price in Canada. The manufactor's tax was used before the GST, which was hidden in the price. One of the selling points of the GST in Canada was that there would be no more hidden taxes. However, they could make it easier by having price, GST, total price, so you aren't scrambling for pennies at the checkout!

But we are a bit off topic from the original question!

Luke I Amyofath

And still straying from the topic...... There was a fast-food tax threshold where if you purchased say a bigmac at less than $4 there was no tax but buy the fries and coke and youd pay tax. Theres also tax on what we consider essential items like deodorant, toothpaste, tampons etc but they are taxed as considered "luxury items"
Oh yes..... the luxury's of life

Amazulu

Even further off topic. Similar to the UK where cakes have no VAT as they are considered a food, whilst biscuits have VAT as they considered a luxury food (one or the other).

JAJ

People applying now to migrate to Canada (through the London office of CIC) are being given estimated processing times of over 3 *years*.



Jeremy

northernbird

We received our AOR in May 05 and were given 24 months. A friend received his 5 weeks later and it had increased to 36 months. Ridiculous. Mr NB got offered a job out here in Oz and we figured we may as well wait somewhere warm!!

harini

Thanks guys for your very informative posts. I really appreciate it. This is a great forum, I have been to others and no site has given me this level of detail.

To answer the question of one of the moderators, Yes I do qualify for both countries. Canada is a bit easy to get to the passmark since Australia has a lot of slabs in the age group section and canada doesnt. Canadian taxes are definitely lower, I checked out the ATO site and compared with Canadian site and if you are in the lower income group 20-35K range taxes are lower in Oz(dont flame on this since I know whats low to one can be high to another ) whereas if you go above 70K then australia is definitely above Canada in taxation. Currency is stronger so you can come out ahead in savings.

Once again good luck to everyone on wherever they chose as their final destination.

skywalker

Yeah that's true, but there is another possibility for Quebec which takes 1 year, for those who like french. and after that...

nicanjoe

Being the daughter of a forensic accountant, I've already gone over the taxation, to appease dear ol' dad. We will come home with 10K a year more, assuming my husband makes 10K a year less than he's making now, according to the 2006 taxation information. There may be extra hidden things I don't know about, but that's a pretty big difference if you ask me. Also the median house price where I live (in Oakville) is 385 thou. in Perth it's 308. If we go to Baldivis or Rockingham, I've seen nice new homes for about 350K, ours should fetch about 550.K so our mortgage will be quite small, if all goes according to plan. Also, I understand groceries and petrol prices are higher in Australia, but electricity is being quoted at $50/month. We pay, for hydro (electricity) and gas/water altogether between $500. - $600./month. To be honest, I've never heard anyone on this site say they are financially better off, but everyone seems to have more time as a family. It's partly financial of course, but as long as we're not living paycheque to paycheque (which everyone I know does in Toronto)it's lifestyle that really counts. I know many people that have two full time jobs and one partner also works part time and can't afford a vacation. If you can't afford a vacation in Perth, at least you can go to the beach. Also, to the person that doesn't drink, I don't really drink either, and most people I find will question it, but are thrilled to find a friend that's always willing to be the designated driver! If people have a problem with your not drinking, that means their feeling guilty about their drinking for some reason, move on and find new friends, life is not about what you do but who you are.


I'm not knocking Canada by the way, I'ld go to Calgary in a second if they had better weather (hotter summers actually) it's beautiful they don't pay GST either. Oh and when the "hidden tax" was taken out and shown to us, guess what, the prices did NOT go down, the extra tax was just added on to the price we were paying the month before.

Nicanjoe

ezvanetree

I think it is important to note that Perth/Baldivis is very isolated--once you are there, you are there and it is a long time before you encounter another city. Rockhampton is 650km from Brisbane. In Oakville you are in the equivalent of the Sydney area. Living in Darwin, I can relate to isolation. It can get difficult and tiresome after a few years living so far from everything. A trip to Sydney is a major undertaking, with 6:30am landings after leaving at 1am. And going to places to Asia is much more difficult than I had thought--everything is so far and there are no direct flights, so you have to sit for hours in airports etc. We went to Bali for Christmas because it was the ONLY place we could get to without having to sit for a day in an airport. I looked desperately for an alternative, having been there before. The plane tickets were 680$ each. And that was a special package rate I fought for--I was originally charged 850$.

As for the cost of power and water--in Darwin we don't pay for any heating obviously and we only have an aircon in the master bedroom (which we use nightly half the year). We don't use hot water when we take a shower (no one does in this city). We don't have a pool. We pay about $150 a month. That's not expensive I don't think, but we are very low users (just us two).

But as you say, of course, it is not about money. It is about lifestyle. As you say, there is the beach and Perth is a pretty city. But don't forget the isolation!

harini

Yes thats one thing to add too about Oz, whereas Canada is closer to US and a bunch of other countries like Mexico, Costa Rica, Bahamas etc.

But one point that didnt get answered is Medicare. I am more familiar with canadian health care but I have not heard any reviews of Oz medicare? I did search a lot through the forum and couldnt find any threads( I might have missed of course)

Also I am in IT (more specifically in networking) and I have seen some sites with average salaries but how has the outsourcing affected Oz? I can see jobs on the rise on seek.com and other sites but wanted to see if others had seen changes in the job market.

Please share your thoughts on this

Thanks

JAJ

Tax is not the only factor however, nor are even the general salary levels.

There is anecdotal evidence that Canada is a less 'friendly' employment market for those with British skills and education. And this obviously has a bearing on what salary the average migrant can expect to earn, especially in the early years.

Regarding cost of living, heating costs should normally be a lot less in most parts of Australia.

Do you mean they don't pay a *provincial* sales tax? GST (at 7%) is supposed to be Canada-wide.


Jeremy

northernbird

Well I don't know how you worked that out. My husband earned the same dollar per hour rate in Canada as he earns here and we have WAY less money here in Australia than we did in Canada. As for Canada being more unfriendly in the job market, we have found it the complete opposite. I am putting my neck on the line here and saying that I have found Australia (Perth more specifically) and a good proportion of its people far from friendly!! There I said it.

ezvanetree

Okay, I'll say it too, Nothernbird. I find the reality of Australians to be far from the warm friendly image they seem to have. Maybe this is Darwin only, but I find there is a LOT of hostility between strangers (and indeed, between the people I work with). People's first reaction is not "Hey, how can I help?" it's "What the hell do you want?". I was recently in New Zealand, where I used to live, and I was amazed at how friendly every one was. It was a pleasure to chat with the checkout clerk at the supermarket. It was a good experience to order food in a restaurant. I was made to feel welcome and a valued customer. You can forget that here--blank stares are what you get if you try a casual comment with a waiter etc. Again, maybe this is Darwin only but since many people in Darwin are from somewhere else in Australia, I have my suspicions. I must admit dealing with hostility day after day is one of the reasons I am leaving this country (but the main reason is the isolation!).

nicanjoe

JeTE]remy[/QUO[QUOTE=JAJ]Tax is not the only factor however, nor are even the general salary levels.

There is anecdotal evidence that Canada is a less 'friendly' employment market for those with British skills and education. And this obviously has a bearing on what salary the average migrant can expect to earn, especially in the early years.

Regarding cost of living, heating costs should normally be a lot less in most parts of Australia.



Do you mean they don't pay a *provincial* sales tax? GST (at 7%) is supposed to be Canada-wide.

Yes, Jeremy, I had a five year old begging for "just one more gumball" while I was trying to write the last post, so much for my multitasking!! I can't speak to the part about employers. I always thought British skills were highly regarded, but I haven't been in work force for a while, and things change surprisingly quickly these days. Also about the heating costs, our bills are still quite high in the summer because of air conditioning, so the cost is high all year round for electricity, as well as gas and water. It goes down a little in fall and spring, but that's about it.

To the person that mentioned the isolation problem. I really won't know until we get there, but we've been to Florida three times, so that we could lie on a beach and watch our kids play in the water, we drove 24 hours to get there. Since we have three kids and a dog, we don't get to Europe, or Tunisia or Hawaii, now I may change my mind in 10 years when my kids are off to University and out with friends etc. and I do get bored very easily but for now an easy lifestyle, with a beach and a smaller city is very appealing to me. I truly hope you find what your looking for in Canada, (I would suggest Calgary....just my 2 cents).

harini

Northernbird

I just sent you a PM since you didnt want to discuss your thoughts publicly on the forum. Please send me a PM.

Also has anyone opinions on the medical situation in Oz, pros cons? Is it good?

Thanks