“How do Canadian Tax Rates Compare to the Rest of the World?” plus 1 more

How do Canadian Tax Rates Compare to the Rest of the World?

Posted: 09 Apr 2012 04:00 AM PDT

When I travel to the U.S., I inevitably end up in conversation with someone about where I live and how I feel about our tax rates. And while generally speaking, Canadians pay more taxes compared to our American counterparts, it becomes a bit more complicated when you consider what Canadians get for those taxes, and of course everyone's individual tax situation, too.
So how do we compare against the rest of the world? Surely we must be on the high end of the tax spectrum, right?

It may surprise you to know that we don't even make the top ten when it comes to the world's most heavily taxed countries, according to recent data from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). In fact, among the countries tracked in that study, we sit at a respectable 11^th, with our top statutory income tax rate and top marginal all-in rate sitting at 46.4 per cent. To compare, Sweden sits at #1, with its tax rates about ten per cent higher at 56.6 per cent. Who's complaining now, right?

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Interestingly, in many cases, countries with higher tax rates tend to fare better when it comes to "best places to live" surveys. While there are a variety of different markers that each consider different factors when determining if a city or country should top the list, countries like Sweden, Austria, Finland, Denmark – and of course, Canada – tend to rank high. In fact, in a new OECD publication How's Life? Canada was ranked number two (just behind Denmark) out of 40 countries when it came to 11 specific aspects of a great life – from income, jobs and housing to health, education and the environment.

So the next time you hear someone smirk at our taxes in Canada, just ask them where their country ranks among the world's best.

5 Tips to Help Rebuild Credit Score

Posted: 09 Apr 2012 04:00 AM PDT

If you have ended up with bad credit score in the past few years then you are not alone. It can feel like a helpless situation but with time and a little effort you can reverse the situation and the best time to start is right now. Rebuilding your credit score won’t happen over night, it is a long process and requires patience and discipline. If you are looking to rebuild credit score these five simple ways on how to improve your credit score can help you stay on track.

1: Streamline Your Debts

If you have bad credit and are struggling to stay on top of things it can be easy for a bad situation to get worse. For example, if you have multiple credit cards and loan repayments each month it is easy to forget one and receive another dent in your credit rating, making it harder to rebuild credit score. Think about consolidating your credit cards and personal loans to reduce the number of repayments due each month and to reduce the interest rate. Set up an automatic payment to cover at least the minimum repayments each month to avoid damaging your credit score further and then make extra repayments from every pay check. If you do consolidate your debts then make sure you cancel any cards you consolidated rather than using them to extend your debt.

2: Create a Budget

Chances are you got into this situation by spending beyond your means. If you are spending more than you are bringing in then things will get worse and rebuilding credit will be impossible. Start by noting down your household income from wages as well as other sources such as share dividends or government benefits. Then think through all your outgoings such as rent or mortgage, utilities, cable, cell phone, groceries, automobile costs, travel, entertainment, clothes and so on. It can be hard to know exactly where you spend all your money when looking back at bank statements, especially if you spend a lot with cash. Try creating a spending diary for a couple of weeks or use a spending tracker app on your phone such as Toshl to get an understanding of where your money is going.

3: Change Your Habits

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Now you know what you are spending money on, it is time to make some changes. You need to review your budget and find things you can cut out and reduce. For example, perhaps you can use free online services such as Hulu for on demand TV and cancel your cable subscription. Shop around for better deals on things you need to keep such as cell phone plans, car and home insurance, utilities as so on. Try looking for discount coupons for products you would use or switching to cheaper brands. If entertainment is an area you are spending up on then look for cheaper ways to do things such as eating in more, enjoying the great outdoors and so on.

One habit you will have to change is racking up debt. Take your credit cards out of your wallet and try shifting most of your spending to a debit card linked to your everyday bank account. This will force you to live within your means and avoid clocking up more credit.

4: Clean up Your Credit File

You’re now getting things in order and avoiding the risk of your credit getting worse. The next step to rebuild credit is to clean up your credit file. Request a copy of your credit file and look for any errors such as default or late payment notes which are not correct or unauthorized credit file enquiries. You may be able to request for mistakes to be removed which can speed up the path to financial recovery.

5: Rebuild Credit

The steps taken so far should be putting you in a good position to rebuild credit. Set up automatic payments for all your bills and loan repayments to ensure they always get paid on time. Creating a good repayment record will result in your credit score going up over time. While it may seem tempting to avoid all forms of credit this may not be the best option to restore your credit as the banks want to see repayment history. Safe options to help rebuild credit are secured credit cards or certain prepaid credit cards that rebuild credit. Secured credit cards work by securing the debt against money you deposit with the card issuer. You make repayments each month and the card issuer reports these on time payments on your credit report causing your score to rise over time.

Start your recovery

Getting into debt resulting in bad credit can be very stressful but it’s not a problem that will go away by ignoring it. Grab the issue by the horns and take control of it today. You should control your finances and not the other way around.

Article by Richard from credit card comparison website Secured Credit Cards 4U which compares credit cards to rebuild credit including secured credit cards and prepaid cards from leading US issuers.