Last Thursday BC newspapers carried a large ad supporting implementation of the Harmonized Sales Tax. The advertisement was signed by the “Smart Taxation Alliance” a group of 30 or so employer organizations. The ad carried the usual dubious arguments that transferring the cost of taxes from corporations to consumers will create vast economic activity. What [...]
Entries Tagged as 'Taxes'
The Smart Tax Alliance. Non-Partisan? Really?
August 8th, 2010 · Keith Reynolds · 4 Comments · Provincial budget & finance, Taxes
Gas prices and consumption: BC vs Pacific Northwest
July 12th, 2010 · Marc Lee · No Comments · Climate change, Energy, Poverty, inequality & welfare, Taxes
On a weekend getaway to Washington state, I was alarmed at how much cheaper gas prices are south of the border. Typically, we paid $3 per gallon, whereas the price in Vancouver upon our return was $1.16 per litre, which is $4.39 per gallon (with the exchange rate roughly parity over the weekend). This is [...]
Will the HST boost job growth and when?
July 6th, 2010 · Iglika Ivanova · No Comments · Economy, Employment & labour, Poverty, inequality & welfare, Taxes
As BC and Ontario have now started paying the HST at the till, many people may be wondering when exactly can we expect to see those jobs postings opening up. This is a good question. According to analysis commissioned by the BC government from economist Jack Mintz, titled British Columbia’s Harmonized Sales Tax: A Giant [...]
BC’s carbon tax turns two
July 5th, 2010 · Marc Lee · 3 Comments · Climate change, Taxes
With all of the attention focused on the HST implementation on July 1, most people seemed to miss the next increment of that other much-hated tax, BC’s carbon tax. As of July 1, the carbon tax is now $20 per tonne of CO2, or about 4.6 cents on a litre of gasoline. And like any [...]
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On the economic impacts of the HST
July 5th, 2010 · Iglika Ivanova · No Comments · Economy, Employment & labour, Poverty, inequality & welfare, Taxes
My previous HST post focused on the impact of the tax on households and I concluded that it’s likely that it will cost families and that some modest income families will be hurt by the tax. Is this sufficient reason to campaign for the tax to be repealed? Not necessarily. Public policy is about choices [...]
The HST and BC family budgets
June 24th, 2010 · Iglika Ivanova · 9 Comments · Poverty, inequality & welfare, Taxes
That the HST will take a bite out of family budgets is clear to everyone. The main question right now is just how big of a bite. Two studies released earlier this week asked this exact question but came to very different conclusions. On Monday, the Fraser Institute released a paper arguing that lower and [...]
Tags: HST
If the Taxpayers Federation gets its way, we can be just like California
June 21st, 2010 · Keith Reynolds · 8 Comments · Municipalities, Taxes
The Canadian Taxpayers Federation’s Maureen Bader is inciting a tax revolt for municipal taxpayers. If she gets her way, maybe we can be just like California. Last Friday the Globe and Mail published an article in their business section outlining how Los Angeles area apartment owners in the mid 1970s financed a campaign against municipal [...]
Tags: tax cuts·Taxpayers Federation
Have taxes changed all that much over the past half century?
April 20th, 2010 · Iglika Ivanova · 3 Comments · Taxes
Yesterday, the Fraser Institute released its Consumer Tax Index report, which claims to show that the average Canadian family’s tax bill has increased by a whopping 1,624% since 1961. There are a lot of things wrong with Fraser Institute’s math. Here are just a few of them. To begin with, the numbers should have been [...]
Tags: Fraser Institute·Taxes
It’s not just about size: what makes up our tax bill matters
April 20th, 2010 · Iglika Ivanova · No Comments · Poverty, inequality & welfare, Taxes, Transparency & accountability
The Fraser Institute and the CCPA do not typically see eye to eye, but they seem to agree that personal income taxes take up a relatively small fraction of the average tax bill — about 13 – 14%. According to the Fraser Institute’s recent report on the average Canadian family’s tax bill, the average family [...]
Tags: equity·Fraser Institute·income taxes·tax cuts·tax fairness·Taxes
Are Canadians paying too much in taxes?
April 20th, 2010 · Iglika Ivanova · No Comments · Taxes
It’s tax season and people are looking more closely at their incomes and the amount of taxes they pay. The Fraser Institute released their annual Consumer Tax Index report yesterday, claiming that the total tax bill of the average Canadian family now takes up 41.7% of their income. This seems like a big number, which [...]
