Sunday 16 April 2017

No taxes in the Middle east -- myth or reality?

Let's talk about Dubai for foreigners -- probably the most hip city in the middle east, and compare it to GTA. Yes, there is no income tax. But...there are taxes that you may not see...sales tax, property tax, highway tolls...

And there is no public health, no public education, no child benefits, no employment insurance, no pension.

Housing for an average family is more expensive, clothing is more expensive. Can't lease/finance a vehicle for 0% finance. I crunched the numbers and no income tax does NOT offset other expenses and benefits that I get at home in Canada.

Budgeting was hard problem for me as a married PhD student at Queen's University. Empathizing with students and other salaried workers, I developed a *free*, anonymous and fast budgeting system [1]. My interactive application allows users to try "what-if" scenarios to save more, and provides "Jump Start" for investing the surplus cash.

[1] http://budgetnow.ca/

Credits: Sanaa Wasi, Jawad Arshad