Arggghhhh.. Don't you just hate taxes?? Ever since I got kicked out of the educational system and into the working world, I've realized just how much we are being taxed. I think it would be interesting for us to post the various forms of taxation in our countries. Let's compare our taxes and see who has the most ridiculous taxes!!
For starters, Malaysia will be implementing a Goods & Services tax which will come into effect circa 2007. No idea when it will actually be implemented but people are estimating the government will start with a 3% levy! Everything that is sold or provided as a service will be taxed. So, if you need to buy a car, house, etc., 2006 is a good year to do it..
True. Same in Canada as well. GST, PST and income tax. I don't have to mention Robert Kiyosaki, right? One of the things that Cashflow Quadrant talks about is how taxes impact people from the four quadrants of income. Employees are the most disadvantaged; your money gets taken before you ever even get it.
In Malaysia.you have: Income tax, Sales tax, Excise duty, Estate duty, Real Property gains tax, GST(coming soon) that will directly affect you and I one time or another.There are other indirect taxes that affects us.But wat the heck,we can't even get a decent allocation for our schools. The stepchild is main pillar of the family but gets fcuk in every aspect if u know wat I mean.
Mostly quoting myself from another thread... Let's see about Sweden: - Income (salary) tax: ~35% (Unless you've got more than an average salary. Then the tax goes up towards 50%.) - Financial income tax: ~30%. - Property tax: Insignificant, unless you're very rich. - Car tax. To cover road maintenance and registrations. - House tax. Hey, the house is there, so why not tax 1.5% of it's property value in addition to any property tax? - Sales tax. Typically 25%, but with exceptions. Books, for example, are only 6%. - CO2 tax. Applies to fossile fuel. - Alcohol tax. (For example 140SEK tax per 70cl of 40% alcohol. And then you have to add another 35SEK sales tax on those 140...) - Tobacco tax. - Dog tax. And then we have the latest invention: Congestion tax! If you drive a car registered in Sweden through central Stockholm on a weekday you'll have to pay some tax for that. (See Stockholmsförsöket (in English).) It's calculated that on average 70% of the income goes to pay taxes! On the other hand, we do get something for all these taxes: - Free schools, including university. - Cheap healthcare. - Fairly good roads. - Retirement funds. - Other social benefits. Cheers Olle
Olle, 1. What is financial income tax? 2. Re sales tax - that's the equivalent to goods and services tax (GST), I suppose. At least books are cheaper! Phew! But then, here in Malaysia, books are expensive, even without tax. 3. Get taxed when use fossil fuel? That's one way to encourage environmental friendliness like carpooling, taking public transport and driving less! (i.e. walking more ) ooh.. congestion tax in Malaysia would make the government loads of money! 4. Tobacco tax. 5. At least you get some benefits (like tertiary education!!! and heathcare) from your taxes!
Robert Kiyosaki is actually a little American-centric. At least over here, you won't get taxed unless you are getting paid over RM 2,600. BTW, over here, whenever you buy property, you have to pay stamp duties of 1.5%? I think it's something around that. And if you take a loan on that property, you need to pay stamp duty for the sum of the loan as well. If you sell off that property within 5 years, you will need to pay a Property Gain Tax of up to 20%. Let's not forget the yearly Assessment and Property taxes.
IIRC, you only get taxed if your nett income is RM2,500 which means your actual salary should be in the region of RM2,800+
Oh I see. Well, this is the first year I'll be taxed so I will need to consult a tax consultant soon. LOL!!
Tax on income from financial sources such as stocks and loan interests. It's necessary to differentiate this from the regular income (salary) tax, since taxes from salaries are (mostly) local while financial taxes are national. That's the idea. Petrol prices are ~80% tax here, so if you pay 100$ to fill up your car (65 litres) then roughly 80 of those are tax. Here you can have a yearly salary up to 16,800SEK (2,200USD) without having to pay any tax on that income. You still have to pay all other applicable taxes though... Cheers Olle
ABN? Nah, it's not the tax consultant that I'm complaining about. It's the hassle of filling in the tax forms and providing the necessary paperwork.
Our road tax is still much cheaper than in Singapore. But when you compare the quality of the roads in Singapore and what we have over here in Malaysia, I think they are getting value for their money.
Paperwork? I just enter the IRS website, log in using the password delivered by mail together with all IRS known data about my income and fortune (which cover just about everything!), and sign it digitally. Takes less than two minutes alltogether and is a no-brainer! Cheers Olle
Ahh.. Not so simple over here. We are now given a package of forms to fill out with the relevant instructions. And I think we have to provide the relevant records too. It's my first time too, so I expect I will take a little longer than the "regulars" at this. LOL!
