(December 2, 2012 at 11:46 pm)Daniel Wrote: That doesn't mean anything. The cost of living in the USA is much lower. Pack of cigarettes cost $5 there, compared with $15 here (we have about the same percentage of smokers). Cost of petrol in Australia about $1.40-1.50/Litre. Cost of petrol in USA about $0.85. Interest rate in Australia 3.25%, interest rate in the USA 0.25%. Average property price in Australia ~$520,000, average property price in USA ~$185,000. Australia = higher taxes, USA = lower taxes. etc.Incorrect.
Cigarettes cost about $5.50 a pack in Virginia, a state which grows a lot of tobacco, so therefore keeps the prices low. In Maryland, they're about $7.50 a pack. In NYC, they're around $12 a pack. It all depends on the "sin tax" associated with cigarettes in the state/local municipality you live in.
Cost of gas here: I just filled my tank for $3.49 a gallon, and that was with my discount card saving me an additional $0.20/gal (original price $3.69/gallon). The conversion between liters and gallons puts the US rate around $1 a liter, slightly cheaper than in Australia.
We are considering refinancing our mortgage because the interest rates have dipped below 3%, I want to say it's around 2.98% for a 15 year loan, substantially higher than the 0.25% rate you are citing, from where, incidentally? If you want to talk credit card rates, they tend to be around 15-18%, though some are considerably higher.
It's not as inexpensive as you think it is here.
