c-180
Junior Member
Joined: Feb 2016
Posts: 49
Likes: 9
MB C300
holy smokes! $150k for a c class?
dang, driving a c class in your countries must be for real ballers.
Any joe shmuck can drive a c, e, cls class here in the US. my c300 almost fully loaded came out $53k, and after discounts ended up 47k. and i have a decent job, nothing out of the ordinary, just average salary.
but yes, like sequins pointed out, we pay it back in health insurance, education (crazy expensive here in the US), and the fact that i paid almost $30k in taxes alone for 2015. on top of that the US government made me pay another $3k when i filed my taxes. really stinks to be single in the US.
dang, driving a c class in your countries must be for real ballers.
Any joe shmuck can drive a c, e, cls class here in the US. my c300 almost fully loaded came out $53k, and after discounts ended up 47k. and i have a decent job, nothing out of the ordinary, just average salary.
but yes, like sequins pointed out, we pay it back in health insurance, education (crazy expensive here in the US), and the fact that i paid almost $30k in taxes alone for 2015. on top of that the US government made me pay another $3k when i filed my taxes. really stinks to be single in the US.
Junior Member
Joined: Feb 2016
Posts: 49
Likes: 9
MB C300
Junior Member
Joined: Feb 2016
Posts: 49
Likes: 9
MB C300
One thing to note is that, in Israel for example, cost of living is a lot lower.
http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living...=United+States
Apparently rent is 50% cheaper in Israel than the U.S. (and that includes all the flyover states). So if your mortgage was cut in half, you could afford a lot more car.
Just pointing out how prices are all relative. For example, in Hong Kong, a city with real estate prices double Manhattan prices, and 100%+ car taxes. But, on the other hand, white-collar salaries are equal to or higher than the U.S., tax rates are in the low 10-15% range, no sales tax or anything, and free medical care, education etc. So it really ends up being a wash. People seem like they're spending a lot more of their gross income on housing, cars, etc. but that's offset by the low tax rates.
But, why are income tax rates low? Because the government makes money off land instead - which explains the real estate prices.
My point is that, in developed countries with roughly equivalent income per capita and government expenditures, things do even out on the grand scale. Simply puts, governments have to raise money from somewhere, and they all generally spend roughly similar amounts of gdp. The question is just whether they take it from your salary, your housing, your retirement fund, or your car purchases.
http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living...=United+States
Apparently rent is 50% cheaper in Israel than the U.S. (and that includes all the flyover states). So if your mortgage was cut in half, you could afford a lot more car.
Just pointing out how prices are all relative. For example, in Hong Kong, a city with real estate prices double Manhattan prices, and 100%+ car taxes. But, on the other hand, white-collar salaries are equal to or higher than the U.S., tax rates are in the low 10-15% range, no sales tax or anything, and free medical care, education etc. So it really ends up being a wash. People seem like they're spending a lot more of their gross income on housing, cars, etc. but that's offset by the low tax rates.
But, why are income tax rates low? Because the government makes money off land instead - which explains the real estate prices.
My point is that, in developed countries with roughly equivalent income per capita and government expenditures, things do even out on the grand scale. Simply puts, governments have to raise money from somewhere, and they all generally spend roughly similar amounts of gdp. The question is just whether they take it from your salary, your housing, your retirement fund, or your car purchases.
