It’s tax filing season. Don’t miss the deadline if you owe money. I did my taxes for last year and was curious to find out how much taxes I paid in 2010. Not just in income tax, but ALL taxes, including taxes I paid for buying stuff. I looked at all my expenses from last year and crunched some numbers. Here’s a rough breakdown of where all my tax dollars went.
Income Tax – 68%
Sales Tax – 18%
Property Tax – 11%
*Other Taxes – 3%
Total – 100%
No surprise, income tax was the biggest hit to my wallet. Had to pay more in property taxes because the real estate in this city is still hot, and our houses are selling for 3 times the national average. A typical house in Vancouver costs over $1,000,000 now. It’s great if you’re selling, but I don’t have any other place to live, so I’d rather hold onto my little apartment and deal with the taxes than sell, because my monthly mortgage payment now is lower than if I were to rent a comparable place. Overall, I don’t feel like I got taxed too heavily. A little less than 30% of my total earnings went to the tax man in 2010, which I guess is on par with most Canadians?
*Other Taxes includes environmental levies (for electronics), carbon tax (for gas), excise taxes, taxable benefits, capital gains tax, arrears, etc
