Does your salary drop if your wife starts working?

[The Natural]

Very bleak prospects Aloe, it's too bad. And the situation with the Belgian economy isn't likely to improve.

To get ahead you should try and find work for your hubby and you outside Belgium. Germany is a good place to investigate, they have a sound economy and growth. Perhaps Holland, Switzerland, Austria. Would stay away from countries like Spain, Portugal, Italy, France, England, Ireland, Iceland, Greece. People are fleeing from austerity measures in Ireland and Iceland and more is to come I'm afraid. Many Icelandic families have moved to Norway as it's impossible to have a decent family life for many in Iceland.

All thanks to the international banksters who's pundering souvereign nations...

[Aloe]

Sheeesh, am i and the Natural the only people on the forum open enough to voice their actual family incomes and taxes Nobody shares any specific examples

A monthly income of 1800 euros is not very much.  

Well, it doesn't get any better than this.. I read that an average belgian earns 3000 euro brutto. I just ran it through the netto calculator, if this average belgian is married and has 2 children, and his wife makes 1400 euro netto (which seems more or less the most common situation - about 2 children + working spouse), then this average belgian receives 1857 euro netto per month. That is quite ridiculous, almost 1200 euro taxes. Horrible.

[Aloe]

Ok, either i was doing something wrong, or this calculator was broken yesterday. Now it is telling me that difference between single and spouse with income is only 20 euro!!!!I am positively confused, i was doing this exact same thing yesterday and it was showing me 230 euro difference. How can this be  Whew, i hope it's true. Damn calculator. but still, single has now 20 euro more anyway But that's a lot better than 230

[Misha]

Sheeesh, am i and the Natural the only people on the forum open enough to voice their actual family incomes and taxes Nobody shares any specific examples

My wife works part-time (20 hours per week) and this pays her around 700 Euros per month. Given that she does not earn much, she pays roughly 10% of her salary in taxes, employment insurance and Canada Pension Plan Deductions.

I would save, at most, a few hundred dollars in taxes if my wife were not working. As I earn more, I pay roughly 25% of my income in taxes and the other deductions.

So, as long as my wife wants to work, it is worth it for us, as the money that she earns more than compensates for any trivial tax savings that I would get claiming her as a dependant 

[Misha]

Ok, either i was doing something wrong, or this calculator was broken yesterday. Now it is telling me that difference between single and spouse with income is only 20 euro!!!!

This sounds much more reasonable and likely the better number.

[acctBill]

Ok, either i was doing something wrong, or this calculator was broken yesterday. Now it is telling me that difference between single and spouse with income is only 20 euro!!!!I am positively confused, i was doing this exact same thing yesterday and it was showing me 230 euro difference. How can this be  Whew, i hope it's true. Damn calculator. but still, single has now 20 euro more anyway But that's a lot better than 230

If there's a link available to this calculator please post and some others on the forum can run the numbers and provide an answer.

[Blues Fairy]

My part-time home-based job actually puts us in the next tax bracket, which cuts our tax return by a couple thousand dollars.  I earn way more than that, so no overall loss.  But I am still PO'd at the silliness of the notch tax system which creates a $2000 difference between a salary of $X and $X + $1.  What a great incentive to work harder and earn more. 

[The Natural]

Well, paying income tax at all is a form of slavery anyway but as we're all sheep anyway, I suppose we will just have to accept this as well as everything else coming our way from The New World Order!!!!

[Blues Fairy]

Well, paying income tax at all is a form of slavery anyway but as we're all sheep anyway, I suppose we will just have to accept this as well as everything else coming our way from The New World Order!!!!

Who's "we"?  Speak for yourself. 
Flat tax would be a much better and fairer way to raise money while incentivizing people to work harder.

[Aloe]

If there's a link available to this calculator please post and some others on the forum can run the numbers and provide an answer.

I can think of only one semi-active member who speaks dutch here. What use is a belgian calculator for you?

[Anotherkiwi]

Who's "we"?  Speak for yourself. 
Flat tax would be a much better and fairer way to raise money while incentivizing people to work harder.

No, it's not.  I just spent over half an hour carefully crafting a reply to this, only to have it vanish when I hit Spell Check.  Next time I'll just trust my own writing!