Archive for the ‘Equality Debates’ Category
Update on the class war: 1% winning, 99% regrouping
May. 12, 2012
… there’s far more wealth in Canada today than ever before. Per capita GDP is 50 per cent higher (adjusting for inflation) than 30 years ago. Yet most of that wealth has been transferred to the richest Canadians through tax cuts and government subsidies. Since 1980, the ultra-rich have increased their share of the national income from 8.1 per cent to 13 per cent, a shift of $67-billion. Here’s a strange coincidence. The combined federal and provincial deficits now run at about $65-billion annually.
Tags: economy, featured, ideology, standard of living, tax
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Aboriginal reconciliation: An open letter to Stephen Harper
Apr. 30, 2012
Your apology and any actions you have undertaken since have only been the expedient motions demanded by tragedy, catastrophe or the public outing of your government’s callous indifference to the needs of Canada and her people. Because it’s not just aboriginal people you harm when you deign to disengage us from vehicles of healing. You harm Canada. You make the entire country less.
Tags: budget, ideology, Native, poverty, standard of living
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Buffett Rule a good place to start
Apr 20 2012
Warren Buffett, the billionaire critic of U.S. tax policy, started it all by lamenting that his tax rate is lower than his secretary’s. A secretary who has a few hundred or thousand more dollars in disposable income is likely to spend it, whether on food or on sending a kid to college. This spending will stimulate the economy. People who make, say, $5 million a year might use a tax break to splurge on an extra house, but they also will probably invest in financial instruments that are more likely to drive layoffs to increase a company’s profit margin than they are to create jobs.
Tags: ideology, standard of living, tax
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It would help if Andrea Horwath had a billionaire onside
Apr 19 2012
Conservatives have managed to peddle policy changes — notably tax cuts for the rich — that offer no benefit to ordinary citizens and in fact undermine public welfare by depriving government of revenue needed for social programs. They’ve pulled this off partly by being sneaky, but also by forcefully defending their positions. This has enabled them to present themselves as tough and principled — even when there’s no principle beyond enriching themselves and their allies — giving them an aura of strong leadership. By contrast, their opponents have often come across as unable or unwilling to articulate the case for progressive policies.
Tags: budget, ideology, standard of living, tax
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Special consideration for aboriginals in the courts is a matter of fairness
Apr. 20, 2012
Proportionality between the offence and the punishment is a traditional and, indeed, fundamental purpose of sentencing. It applies to all offenders. Many may have preferred the three-year sentence and that, if errors are made, they be made on the side of public safety. But where does this argument stop? Indeterminate detention would eliminate more risk. But it is fundamental in a democracy that people be sentenced for what they have done – not what they may do.
Tags: corrections, crime prevention, ideology, rights
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Taxing the rich akin to ‘ethnic cleansing’ – seriously?
Apr. 15, 2012
The top 1 per cent of Canadians pocketed nearly 14 per cent of all income in 2007, compared with 8 per cent in 1982… The most commonly heard argument against taxing the rich is that it’s an attack on wealth-creators; the rich will simply move to lower tax jurisdictions or work less… The middle class is being squeezed by stagnant incomes, pension clawbacks and the steady erosion of government entitlements, such as Old Age Security. Basic fairness suggests all segments of society should share the burden.
Tags: ideology, tax
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The increasing inequality gap
Apr 14 2012
We know for a fact that there is a direct correlation between levels of income and the rate of poverty, chronic disease, addiction, mental illness and incarceration… The fastest way to close the inequality gap is by making our taxation system fairer. A slight increase on the wealthiest, as suggested by NDP Leader Andrea Horwath, is a step in the right direction. – / – I don’t begrudge Ontario’s millionaires their millions. But I also don’t think it’s too much to ask them to pay a little more when so many in the province have been asked to sacrifice so much. To me it’s a question of fairness.
Tags: budget, ideology, poverty, standard of living, tax
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Health and wealth [income & taxation]
Apr. 14, 2012
Hospitals would voluntarily adopt an evidence-based framework to guide boards’ decisions about CEO base compensation… An arbitrary policy that would damage the leadership of these important public institutions is in nobody’s interest. – vs – Ontario’s highest personal income tax bracket (46 per cent) has not been this low since the Great Depression. This rate starts at $132,000, so it’s a flat tax for the rich. Billionaires pay the same rate as doctors. Conversely, the budget freezes social assistance rates – despite these payments’ buying 60 per cent less than in 1995… It’s time for high-earning Canadians to pay our fair share. Tax us. Canada is worth it.
Tags: budget, Health, ideology, tax
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Punishing the rich with extra taxes not an answer to inequity
Apr. 12, 2012
… the day may come when it’s necessary to pay more tax – for everyone, not just $500,000-plus earners, who already pay at the highest marginal rate, making for high individual contributions. An extra two per cent is a form of punishment for success… Public hospital or university boards do need to show restraint and due diligence at the top – the top needs to be a model for the entire organization. The logic of restraint, applied fairly to all, is the most sensible policy, before any talk of raising taxes.
Tags: budget, ideology, tax
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A new Canadian survey on the rich/poor gap and taxes should spark debate
Apr 10 2012
“The option of raising taxes to protect the social programs we cherish and to address income inequality has been absent from public debate for too long,” says… Ed Broadbent. “Our research shows Canadians are prepared to do their part and they expect the wealthy, corporate Canada, and their own governments to be a part of the solution, not a part of the problem.”… Fully 89 per cent think addressing income inequality should be a government priority and 77 per cent think it’s a serious problem… As Broadbent argues, “gross inequality isn’t inevitable, it’s a political choice.” One that has distorted the public agenda for too long.
Tags: ideology, standard of living, tax
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