Tax free for now, I doubt this break will last. However, this combined with the 18% capital gains tax rate gives rise to a highly amusing situation in the UK: Employed people on 150k+ (judges, managers, lawyers, top doctors etc) will pay 51% tax The filthy rich, and professional investors will pay 18% tax Professional poker players, turf bettors, blackjack card-counters and other gamblers, along with traders and speculators, (including short-sellers lol) will pay 0% tax. I find it hilarious that in a time of economic carnage and many people losing their jobs and going into poverty, that New Labour are taxing professional gamblers and market punters at 0%, stinking rich and big-swinging dick investors at 18%, and poor sod working joes at 21-51%! If the Tories announced this as their policy they would be strung from the lamp posts!
I think these countries are confused, they don't know what they want to or need to do to resolve the crisis, the housing bubble was created to hide the already fucked up underlying economy, the housing bubble burst, now [they're thinking] where should we hide this broken economy?
NO idea where you got your numbers... I live in Canada and 90% is a joke. Here are the real numbers, straight from the CRA website: http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/ndvdls/fq/txrts-eng.html Federal: 15% on the first $38,832 of taxable income, + 22% on the next $38,832 of taxable income (on the portion of taxable income between $38,832 and $77,664), + 26% on the next $48,600 of taxable income (on the portion of taxable income between $77,664 and $126,264), + 29% of taxable income over $126,264. Provincial (Ontario): 6.05% on the first $36,848 of taxable income, + 9.15% on the next $36,850, + 11.16% on the amount over $73,698 Someone making $150,000 gross in Ontario would pay roughly $48,003 in Income Taxes which is equal to about 32%. Of course sales taxes, EI etc. all need to be paid as well. But nobody would pay 90% of their income to the government that's proposterous.
I read a report from a thread yesterday about how Russia is no longer releasing unemployment numbers or only releasing them quarterly now or something along those lines. I don't think Russia will greatly improve their economy any time soon. Definitely not as much as China.
I guess get rich and put it in muni bonds in your state (tax free on all levels, but getting rich is the hard part first)