Wayne and I made the move to the USA to further his career, since there was little opportunity to land a tenure track position in Southern Ontario in his field when he graduated from his PhD... after spending a year in Pennsylvania, we moved to our current locale, Charleston SC... and expanded our family....
Every time we come home to Canada to visit, we inevitably get asked... when are you moving home? And as much as I love being home and visiting, we know it's not in the cards for us... for the following reasons:
- The cost of living in Ontario is significantly higher...
- Gas is about $4 a gallon compared to $2.50 a gallon in SC
- Milk is $5 a gallon, compared to $3.50
- Our house, uprooted to Toronto would easily cost double or more than we spent, and mortgage rates.terms are significantly higher here...
- Autism services have a huge backlog in Ontario...
- We are fortunate that SC has great programs and services for Liam with little to no wait time...
- Taxes are significantly higher
- Our income tax rates are fairly similar but the tax breaks on our mortgage interest and insurance, as well as dependents help to keep our OOP taxes low
- The SC Sales Tax varies but is rarely more than about 7% and there is no federal sales tax, while Ontario has a 13% HST (8% provincial, 5% federal) on 90% of goods and services...
plus... we've learned that Liam is a true Southern boy who wouldn't ever swim in open water again if we moved up north... he likes his ocean much warmer than the cold lake water he's stepped into around here...
