Archive for the ‘Economy/Employment’ Category

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Why do Canada’s wealthiest families get huge tax breaks?

Monday, August 24th, 2020

If you’re a billionaire looking to pass on your fortune tax-free to your kids, Canada is a great place to do it… Canada is the only G7 country that doesn’t have an estate tax… Of course, the absence of an inheritance tax is only one of several avenues that the elite have at their disposal to lighten their tax burden. The capital gains tax is another. And its distributional impact is huge… But change is in the air

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Canadians risk becoming addicted to pandemic aid

Thursday, August 20th, 2020

We have remortgaged the house to get through the pandemic, as we should, but now we must pay for it, otherwise we are creating intergenerational inequity by effectively taxing future generations for today’s crisis. The way to address this particular moral hazard is a clear and credible economic and fiscal plan.

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Why our concept of retirement is outdated – and how artificial intelligence can help

Wednesday, August 19th, 2020

By 2030, the most dominant form of work is forecasted to be independent contracting – self-employed individuals who are contracted for specific projects or services – for both blue-collar and white-collar jobs… Rethinking retirement is… about empowering people with the choice to live life in a way that works for them.

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New income support system must go beyond tinkering with EI

Tuesday, August 11th, 2020

… pushing hundreds of thousands of people into poverty would risk stalling the recovery that’s now underway. About half the jobs that were lost in the depths of the lockdown in April have already come back, and we can expect unemployment to keep falling. But if the purchasing power that was pumped into the economy through CERB is suddenly cut off, that could plunge the country into a prolonged recession.

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Here’s a tip: It’s time to discuss how we pay workers in the service industry

Monday, August 10th, 2020

Embedding tips can solve some problems. First off, tipping clearly contributes to pay disparities among restaurant staff. Waiters often earn double what cooks earn, and hiring for back-of-house positions has been problematic for many restaurateurs. Studies have shown that tipping also promotes bias based on age, race, and gender…

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Insiders say Justin Trudeau doesn’t want an election. He wants to seize the moment and push through bold change

Saturday, August 8th, 2020

… now is the time, with the cost of long-term borrowing so cheap due to historically low interest rates, to address those inequities for the longer term… Premiers may have been willing to put up with aggressive federal moves in areas of their jurisdiction during the emergency and restart phase of the pandemic, but it’s hard to see that lasting.

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Five good ideas for income supports in a post-CERB Canada

Friday, July 31st, 2020

… the notion that you can only have… a strong income support system or a thriving economy… is a false dichotomy, and our post-pandemic recovery requires us to move past this narrative… we need to fundamentally ensure that people with lived and living experience of poverty and income insecurity are at the centre of policy-making… Failing to put human rights at the centre of our efforts would be an abdication of our collective responsibility.

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How Canada won its first debt war

Friday, July 24th, 2020

[Post WW2] … North American manufacturing was in its heyday, trade liberalization was boosting exports and productivity, and the baby boom fuelled consumption. Today, protectionism is on the rise, and the aging of the baby boomers poses significant long-term problems for labour productivity… Stepped-up enforcement against tax evasion, an annual wealth tax and higher corporate income tax rates are needed…

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CERB is dead, but a new EI will live, as the pandemic leads to more lasting policy changes

Wednesday, July 15th, 2020

the Liberals are looking to morph the CERB into a new EI… But melding CERB into EI won’t be simple… in a normal year, employment insurance pays benefits to less than 40 per cent of the unemployed. Some don’t work enough hours to qualify, but a lot more are ineligible because they never paid in, probably because they were self-employed or considered contractors. CERB covers far more people.

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Tax us. Tax us. Tax us. Millionaires beg to be taxed more to help COVID relief

Monday, July 13th, 2020

Calling themselves the Millionaires for Humanity, more than 80 wealthy individuals… are petitioning for higher taxes on the rich to help pay for the billions in new government programs made necessary by the COVID-19 pandemic. “Today, we, the undersigned millionaires and billionaires, ask our governments to raise taxes on people like us. Immediately. Substantially. Permanently.” … Charity isn’t the answer.

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