Finally calculated stuff
Please note that this is only intended to give us (well, me really lol) a VERY rough idea of how much taxes cost in comparison. There are a number of factors that aren't being weighed here, including property taxes, VAT, living expenses, etc. I didn't want to spend all day doing this lol. But I did find these results pretty interesting, as you might as well, hehe. I've attached the notepad (.txt) file on which I did all of these "calculations." Please don't rip me for missing this and that, I did as good as I could in such a limited period of time lol. Okay, the Findings!
Assumptions (See references below for where I came up with these figures)
* Average American earns about $26,000 per year (€16,675.07)
* Also consider someone earning $75,000 per year (€48,103.97) as a high-average control
* Assuming the individual spent $30,367 on four years of college at a private school, not counting room, board, etc. (so this is actually a
very generous figure).
* Health insurance is $664 out of pocket on-average, yearly (lines up with what Dink said about him paying $600 out of pocket yearly)
* Child care costs $4000 per year (lowest average, can get up to $6k or even $10k in some areas, so this figure is also extremely generous)
In France...
A person earning $26,000 per year (€16,675.07) would pay 28.26% income tax, equalling $7,347.60. They wouldn't pay college, health insurance, or child care costs as they would in the United states. A person earning $75,000 per year (€48,103.97) would pay 48.09% income tax, equalling $36,067.50.
In the United States...
A person earning $26,000 per year would pay 15% income tax, equalling $3,900.00. A person earning $75,000 per year would pay 25% income tax, equalling $18,750.00. To this we'll add $1518.35 in college tuition (yearly, for 20 years), $664 in out-of-pocket health insurance (for themselves, let's just assume the kids are free for some reason because I'm lazy
), and child care service costs of $4000.
The Results:
The American earning $26,000 would pay $10,082.35 in the United States, for services they'd get in France that would cost them $7,347.60. This roughly translates to a yearly savings of $2,734.75 if they lived in France instead.
The American earning $75,000 would pay $24,268.35 in the United States, for services they'd get in France that would cost them $36,067.50. This roughly translates to a yearly savings of $11,799.15 if they stay in the United States.
In other words, the person earning $26k would be better off moving to France, while the person earning $75k should stay in the United States. But keep in mind that these are extremely rough figures and there are a lot of things to take into consideration. I was being generous with a lot of these numbers, and not so generous with others. For instance, I'm not taking into account those who go to a 2-year trade school, a community college, or a 4-year public/ state college/ university. I'm not considering people with no college education, or people who attended grad school, and I'm not counting dorm rooms/ off-campus rent, books, living expenses, tutoring, etc. And health insurance and day care both vary based on who you are, who employs you, where you live, etc. But it's still interesting I think
References
Average Income (part 1)
Average Income (part 2)
College Costs
French Income Tax
US Tax Brackets
Child Care
Health Insurance Rate
Quote: "However, the report indicates that between 2001 and 2005, there was a 30 percent national rise in what employees must now pay for family coverage -- translating into an additional average yearly out-of-pocket expense of $664. In total, the average employee must now shell out $2,585 for family coverage."
Quote: "RWJF notes that currently 47 million Americans are uninsured, of whom almost 9 million are children."
