High wages for unskilled labor, attn GStan

[SickBeast]

You think you have it all figured out, Rollo. Like I keep telling you, we pay less per capita on health care here, and everyone is covered. It looks like we will also have universal pharma care also.

By the way, last night I was at a party and I had a very interesting conversation with someone from Australia. His brother is living in Madison, Wisconsin. He said that houses are cheap where you live, he said that for $400,000 you can basically get a mansion. However he said that property taxes there are insane, along with health care costs. As for Australia they were telling me that they are very happy here in Canada. They said that where they are from in Australia it costs at least $1.5 million for a modest home, and everything you buy there is 50% more expensive, including cars. They said that they like the four seasons here in Canada, just that our winters are a bit too long. Very interesting conversation. I thought I would share.

Oh how I wish I lived somewhere that you have to pay ton of money to live in an average or worse house........

Not.

We get the four seasons too, but winter doesn't last 7 months here.

Thanks for proving my inflation in Australia point.

I am hearing that the property taxes in the USA can be $12000 to $15000USD per year.  That's a lot of money!  $1000USD per month.  We pay a fraction of that here.  I would much rather put that money into a mortgage; at least it's an investing that you can recoup when you sell your home.  $1000USD/month will buy you something like $250,000 on a mortgage.

Your winters in Wisconsin are comparable to or worse than the winters most Canadians experience.  Most Canadians live in the south of our country near the US border.  Wisconsin is quite far north in the US.

http://www.starkhomes.com/property/74458...n-wi-53719

There's a $400K house in Madison, taxes $8.723.

http://www.starkhomes.com/property/11009...d-wi-53558

There's a $400K house in McFarland, a couple miles out of town, taxes $6883.

http://www.starkhomes.com/property/11504...n-wi-53562

There's a $400K house in Middleton, borders on Madison, taxes $5800..

You don't pay taxes like you're talking about unless you live on a lake and have shoreline.

When I think of Canada, I think of the country on the other side of Lake Superior which is pretty far North from Madiosn. Winnipeg would have very different climate than Madison, Toronto not so much.

In any case,this does not look like a good deal to me:

https://www.rew.ca/properties/W3873809/3...toronto-on

$649,000 for THAT house? Sure the taxes are only $2500, but you have to live in that house. That would change your whole quality of life.

So you pay $6,000USD/year more in property taxes there. Multiply that times a 25 year mortgage and we're talking about $150,000. That's a lot of money. Probably over $200,000CAD. I find it interesting that Americans are always talking about how much more tax we pay up here in Canada when really those property taxes largely make up the difference. Plus we get free healthcare, better roads, no toll roads, and better government and social services for the most part.