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 [...]
Entries Tagged as 'tax cuts'
If the Taxpayers Federation gets its way, we can be just like California
June 21st, 2010 · Keith Reynolds · 8 Comments · Municipalities, Taxes
Tags: tax cuts·Taxpayers Federation
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
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 · No Comments · 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
There is more to good economic policy than protecting the interests of employers
May 6th, 2009 · Iglika Ivanova · No Comments · BC Election 2009, Economy, Employment & labour, Environment, resources & sustainability
Next week’s election will take place in the midst of an economic crisis which hit our province seemingly out of the blue last fall and hit us hard, causing 69,000 job losses between November and March (the April numbers will be released on Friday, May 8, and are expected to be just as grim as [...]
Tags: campaign·green infrastructure·inequality·Liberals·NDP·Obama·platform·recession·tax cuts·unemployment
To Tax or Not to Tax — That is Not the Question!
April 27th, 2009 · Marvin Shaffer · No Comments · BC Election 2009, Energy, Environment, resources & sustainability
It was disappointing to read Mark Jaccard’s sensational, but grossly misleading forecast of massive job loss if the NDP eliminates the carbon tax. Sure, if the NDP axes the tax and implements a cap and trade on large emitters to extract all the GHG reductions needed to achieve B.C.’s targets, there would be a huge [...]
The NDP Platform and BC's Economic Challenges
April 20th, 2009 · Marc Lee · No Comments · BC Election 2009, Climate change, Economy, Provincial budget & finance
Below is an oped of mine that was done at the request of the Vancouver Sun and that ran in today’s paper. Unfortunately, for reasons that are not entirely clear, the last two paragraphs were cut off, leaving the oped hanging. I put them back in below, and have requested that the online version be [...]
Tags: budget·cap-and-trade·carbon tax·deficit·flaring·green infrastructure·greenhouse gas·NDP·oil and gas·platform·recession·tax cuts·unemployment
Beggar-thy-neighbour politics in Metro Vancouver
March 13th, 2009 · Marc Lee · No Comments · BC Election 2009, Economy, Municipalities, Taxes
Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts made the news this week calling for property-tax-free zones in Surrey to attract new business to her city. Of course, in a climate where businesses are not making new investments, this will at best lure businesses from other parts of Metro Vancouver. Economists call these beggar-thy-neighbour policies because you can only [...]
Partisan claims and the BC economy
February 23rd, 2009 · Marc Lee · No Comments · BC Election 2009, Economy
BC’s recession and election together mean things are going to get nasty in the political realm. Already we seeing plenty of sneering commentary from our esteemed cabinet ministers. Consider this jibe from Colin Hansen, the Minister of Finance, in his annual address to the brethren of Sigma Chi: “I want you to think about one [...]
Tags: campaign·employment·inequality·Liberals·NDP·Olympics·recession·tax cuts
