I just looked up the original question - for some reason I was under the impression that it was 'how much it would cost a family of four to live comfortably in downtown Toronto?'. I agree, less than $100,000 shouldn't be too much of a problem in many parts of the city, but in downtown housing costs alone would eat up a huge portion of that.
Well hang on - what's downtown. Yonge and Bloor? No ... couldn't live on that. I was thinking old city, where you can still find a 2 bedroom house rental for $1,400 a month.
If both are working, and getting $30,000 each ... 2 kids - let's assume both in school so no child care expenses... but getting activity credits. looking at
http://www.taxtips.ca/calculators/taxcalculator.htm their $60,000 before tax is about $51K after tax ... So that's about 4,250 a month. Of which 1/3 goes to rent. Leaving $2,850 a month. We spend about $200 on food a week for 4 - mostly at Loblaws, so not cheap. Let's say $1,000 for food (which is pretty generous - should be enough to eat out occasionally too). Say $400 for TTC. That leaves $450 a month for clothes and entertainment + phone, etc. But that's a lot of money for food. No one is starving.
Sure, $60K is pretty tight. But you can certainly live on less than $100K a year ... which was my point. Don't forget, if income is earned by 2 individuals - then taxes are significantly lower!
$100k income is barely $60k after taxes.
With 2 earners getting $50K each? No, it's almost $78,000 after taxes using the calculator I referenced above. This is a 2-adult 2 kid family - a family of 4. One earner and 3 kids would be tougher. Even with 1 earner, it's almost $74K after taxes. Don't forget all the tax credits for spouses and kids.
It's incredibly out-of-touch to think a family could survive on $60 pre-tax in the core without living in near poverty conditions.
I disagree. I think Tory is the one out of touch. But remember this is a guy who bought a membership in a golf club that didn't let Jews in - let alone non-whites. We KNOW he's out of touch!