Re: Give your partner more pleasure

[Michael Graham <michaelg@ma.hw.ac.uk>]

Shawn wrote:
> On Thu, Oct 21, 2004 at 01:54:58PM -0700, Cometman said:
> > 
> > >You'll pay twice as much in taxes, but your medicine will be
> > >"free".
> > 
> > ..some (dare I say, many?) people in "those" countries feel it's a
> > good deal.  Some people in less socialistic countries feel their
> > deal is
> 
> Didn't say it wasn't a good deal; just implied that you pay for it
> either way.  The folks who characterize their health care as "free"
> are usually trying to make some kind of point that doesn't take into
> account the fact that they're paying for it just like we do; they're
> just sending the check to a different building.

According to [1] in 1998 the average production worker in the US paid
18% income tax and 8% to social security, in the UK paid 17% income tax
and 7% to social security. And I assume that in the US the average
production worker would still have to pay for medical care.

Now I don't doubt that higher earners pay more in the UK but remember a
nation's greatness should be judged by how it treats the least of its
citizens.

[1] http://www1.worldbank.org/publicsector/tax/socialsecurity.htm

-- 
Michael Graham
Department of Mathematics
Heriot-Watt University
Edinburgh EH14 4AS, UK

Tel: +44 (0)131 451 4175