Earlier today, Elections BC announced the much anticipated HST referendum results. British Columbians have voted to scrap the HST. The best part about having the results is that now we can move on from the narrow issue of what type of sales tax is better and focus our energies on some of the bigger issues [...]
Entries Tagged as 'Taxes'
So the HST was defeated. Now what?
August 26th, 2011 · Iglika Ivanova · 45 Comments · Economy, Poverty, inequality & welfare, Provincial budget & finance, Taxes
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What’s behind the push for a municipal auditor general?
August 12th, 2011 · Keith Reynolds · 1 Comment · Taxes, Transparency & accountability
The call for the creation of an Auditor General for BC’s municipalities almost seems like a “no-brainer,” doesn’t it? Charlie Smith had a good article in the Georgia Straight outlining reasons why a municipal AG would be a good idea. Some people, in some municipalities have had problems with transparency. And while the Province does [...]
Hochstein and the demand to cut union wages
August 8th, 2011 · Keith Reynolds · Comments Off · Employment & labour, Municipalities, Poverty, inequality & welfare, Taxes
Last week Philip Hochstein had an op-ed in the Vancouver Province accusing municipalities of profligate spending and accusing municipal workers of being vastly overpaid. Hochstein is president of the Independent Contractors and Business Association of BC – representing non union construction corporations. He is the public face of the hard right in British Columbia and has [...]
BC’s Regressive Tax Shift
June 28th, 2011 · Marc Lee · 3 Comments · Poverty, inequality & welfare, Provincial budget & finance, Taxes
With much of the talk on taxes in BC about the HST, we issued a new report today that looks at the bigger context for BC’s tax system (Vancouver Sun oped here, CTV News story here). Iglika Ivanova, Seth Klein and I compare and contrast BC’s tax system after a decade where tax cuts were [...]
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To HST or Not to HST
June 19th, 2011 · Marvin Shaffer · 5 Comments · Economy, Taxes
The campaign to save the HST is rather shameless, not to mention bad public policy. We won’t, as HST spin masters would have it, pay less tax with the new and improved HST. The amount of tax we collectively pay depends on the amount of services and support government provides — total government spending– not [...]
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Social Determinants of Health
June 7th, 2011 · Peter Prontzos · Comments Off · Children & youth, Economy, Employment & labour, Health care, Housing & homelessness, Human rights, Poverty, inequality & welfare, Provincial budget & finance, Taxes, Women
It is now clear that economic, and social variables – more than individual behaviour – are the most salient factors in determining people’s well-being. Working and living conditions, the distribution of wealth, and where we live are some of , “the primary factors that shape the health of Canadians” (CCPA Monitor, June 2010). Almost everything [...]
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Christy’s HST “fix”: politics trumps good policy
May 26th, 2011 · Seth Klein · 18 Comments · Taxes
This is no way to make tax policy. Wednesday’s proposed reforms to the HST provide yet more evidence that what we really need is a Fair Tax Commission –– a full public engagement exercise in which the entire tax regime is on the table, and people can deliberate on how we want to raise the [...]
Harper’s Reckless Economics
May 1st, 2011 · Marjorie Griffin Cohen · 2 Comments · Taxes, Transparency & accountability
Throughout the election campaign Stephen Harper claimed the political high ground on the management of the economy. The surprise is that the opposition has pretty much let him get away with this. During the English Language debate the first question focused on $6 billion tax cuts to corporations. Harper said there were no tax cuts [...]
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Robin Hood Economics
April 5th, 2011 · Marc Lee · Comments Off · Economy, Taxes
Canada’s economic context at the time of Election 2011 is one of “precarious recovery”, and overall demand conditions are weakened by a few major factors. Unemployment is still just under 8%, which is good compared to the double-digit unemployment of the early 1990s, but not great compared to the expansions of the late 1990s and [...]
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Ten years of tax cuts: a household’s perspective
April 1st, 2011 · Marc Lee · Comments Off · Taxes
I did my taxes yesterday and once again was surprised to see how low my family’s income taxes have gone. In 2010, my wife and I paid a combined 13.7% of our income in federal and provincial income tax. Canadian modesty does not permit me to disclose the exact amount of income, but it was [...]
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