“But employees, especially in states with state income taxes, may pay more in income taxes, payroll taxes for Social Security and Medicare (which covers retired and disabled people) than they would pay in Canada in income taxes, CPP and EI contributions, and health-care premiums.

“I never recommend that people move to the U. S. just to save taxes,” Wruk said. “It should be based on lifestyle or a job opportunity.” ”

Note that the CPP payroll tax has a wage base of $40,000 while Social Security has a wage base of $97,500 which rises 6% per year on average.

While Canada still has higher overall taxes, the gap has narrowed. Net taxes in over a dozen states are now in the range of the lower-taxed Canadian provinces (Alberta, BC, Ontario). Most tax comparisons that I know from the Canadian media (Globe & Mail, National Post) seem to fall under two categories: a) low tax, low cost of living red states assuming a traditional family with one non-working spouse (to split income in joint filing) or b) comparing only US federal taxes to total Canadian (federal, provincial) which may be an honest mistake, with 42 possible state income tax forms and over 100 local income tax forms to consider. For me as a single person, it’s been a wash in high tax, high cost of living blue states (now on my third tour through the US) and my motives for relocating anywhere in the world are based on business and an interesting, creative class-friendly environment (or some interesting place that’s new to me, since India is a possibility).

And differing slightly with Richard Florida, for my case, most engineering centers are NOT creative class friendly places and it is a struggle to find a rewarding position in or near an interesting place.

Relocation can involve many factors including but not exclusively financial considerations. In my byline, is a link to an article on the narrowing of US-Canada migration southward versus northward, now down to about 2 to 1, based on award of permanent residence. Since half of the Americans coming to Canada do so as family, there are probably repatriate Canadian spouses and dual citizen children (not counted in stats) who likely narrow the net flow. There has also been a jump in temporary student and work visas to Americans in Canada. It used to be that it was easier for Canadians to relocate permanently to the US (traditional immigration) than vice-versa. The news now indicates that the reverse has become true.

It is to bad the City of Toronto has been unable to create any meaningful employment gains. Losing nearly 200,000 jobs over a period of time, while its adjoining neighbors create over 800,000 is surely a major sign of trouble. While this mega region may be productive, Toronto proper is not. Its high tax rates has chased out a number of smaller firms, while maintaining only the more attached ones. Toronto’s tax climate towards business certainly makes incubating new and creative ventures difficult and is a recipe for failure.