Occupy Wall Street has shone new light on the growing gap between the richest 1% and the rest of us (the 99 percenters). But that’s the U.S. right? Surely, our reality is different, eh? As the occupy movement comes to Canada in the coming week, we don’t really have reason to copy these American trouble-makers, [...]
Entries Tagged as 'tax cuts'
BC’s Top 1%: Doing fabulous, thank you
October 11th, 2011 · Seth Klein · 9 Comments · Poverty, inequality & welfare, Taxes
Tags: inequality·tax cuts·Taxes
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 [...]
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 [...]
Corporate tax cuts haven’t delivered
March 23rd, 2011 · Seth Klein · 2 Comments · Economy, Taxes
Yesterday I debated an economist from the Fraser Institute on CBC radio about the Federal Budget. One of the points of contention (and indeed, one of the core issues around which this budget will likely bring down the government) was the matter and merits of corporate tax cuts. My point: corporate tax cuts simply have [...]
Big municipal tax shift a great deal for business
November 7th, 2010 · Blair Redlin · 1 Comment · Economy, Environment, resources & sustainability, Municipalities, Taxes
Municipal spending and municipal taxes are amongst the lowest in Canada. KPMG says businesses in Vancouver have the lowest business taxes amongst 41 cities they studied. So how come the pressure keeps coming to shift property taxes away from business and on to residential taxpayers?
Tags: role of government·tax cuts·Taxes
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
It’s not just about size: what makes up our tax bill matters
April 20th, 2010 · Iglika Ivanova · Comments Off · 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
Income Taxes are a steal: Seth’s tax confessions
April 5th, 2010 · Seth Klein · 10 Comments · Privatization, P3s & public services, Provincial budget & finance, Taxes
I just did my taxes this weekend, and I’m wracked with guilt. Personally, I’ve never found completing my taxes particularly onerous. It takes me a few hours — no big deal. I’m paid well (and well above the average). I’ve never had to hire an accountant, as I’m not doing anything fancy. I’m only availing [...]
Tags: budget·public services·role of government·tax cuts·Taxes
Tax cuts don’t make up for BC’s low minimum wages
April 4th, 2010 · Iglika Ivanova · 3 Comments · Employment & labour, Poverty, inequality & welfare, Taxes
Responding to news of Ontario’s latest minimum wage increase (to $10.25 per hour), BC’s labour minister Murray Coell held firm on his government’s commitment to leave BC’s $8 minimum wage unchanged. The Minister seems convinced that the tax cuts over the last decade were so beneficial to low wage workers in the province, that they [...]
Tags: minimum wage·poverty·tax cuts
Watch out for that train
May 13th, 2009 · Keith Reynolds · Comments Off · BC Election 2009, Economy, Provincial budget & finance
Is it too early to start talking about what happens now the election is over? Because that light at the end of the tunnel really is a train. In their February Budget the Liberals said they were going to have a $500 million deficit this year. Nobody believed them then. Marc Lee called the Budget [...]
Tags: budget·deficit·service cuts·tax cuts
