Brain Drain and High Taxes
Campaigners against high taxes use the problem of brain drain as the perfect scapegoat to portray themselves as defenders of national interest. Brain drain is a pejorative description of the tendency for skilled workers to seek employment away from their own country. Canada can relate to the brain drain problem and its worst enemy is the United States. The drain of knowledge started off as only a little trickle. But it became an issue of interest by the early 1990's, as there was evidence of Canada becoming a net loser of skilled workers to the United States, even though Canada was also a recipient of skilled workers on a worldwide basis. "Taxation is testing the allegiance of some of Canada's best and brightest", claims John Roth who is the vice-chairman and chief executive officer of Nortel Networks (Canada Newswire, 1999, page1). A network design and engineering company like Nortel Networks has to deal with a shortage of skilled high-tech workers in Canada and thus blindly point the finger at high taxes to be the cause of this problem. Hence, clearly high-taxes have become a perfect excuse for those who are trying to avoid dealing with the real reasons beh
Following, would it be incorrect to assume that there may be if any an insignificant tax advantage from moving south? Those who have already moved seem to become sadly aware of this only after all the dust has settled. The Toronto Star conducted an interview with a registered nurse who was originally from Toronto and now works in a Kansas Hospital. Now earning around $27,500 U.S by working in Kansas and comparatively paying less taxes and rent than in Toronto, the above individual finds herself paying more in medical and malpractice insurance on top of it all. Furthermore, the Toronto Star states that, " Overall, she says her expenses may total less, but she's not as far ahead as she expected- and she misses the quality of life she was able to afford in a Canadian city" (Speirs, 1999, page 2). Although the above example refers to only an individual and may not properly represent the overall picture, what needs to be made clear is as follows. She maybe making more money and overall be saving a little more than compared to before, but is that tax advantage really worth losing out on having a better quality of life, such as a safer neighbourhood and a cleaner environment. Only after taking into consideration the amount of real goods and services each unit of money can buy, which is also known as purchasing power, a proper comparison can be made between the United States and Canada with regard to the amount of taxes they both pay. Dobbin, Murray G. "Brain drain-nonsense: The tax grass is greener theory doesn't wash." Online posting. 2 Nov. 2000 (http:/www.straightgoods.com/item80.asp.)
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Approximate Word count = 3160
Approximate Pages = 13 (250 words per page double spaced)
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