Archive for the ‘Governance Debates’ Category
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Our tax system is too costly for the poorest Canadians
Sunday, March 15th, 2020
… a lack of financial literacy – or even general literacy – has an impact. Insufficient computer skills and lack of access to accounting resources also play a role. Yet, the predominant cause remains the mind-boggling and growing complexity of our tax system… Even chartered professional accountants think that the current system of tax deductions and credits is too complex… tax credits and exemptions targeting middle and higher-income Canadians should be abolished and replaced by broad-based tax cuts.
Tags: featured, ideology, participation, poverty, tax
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Making sense of Canada’s joyless democracy
Saturday, March 7th, 2020
Winning both a majority of votes and a majority of seats is a high benchmark for any politician to achieve. The past 50 years of federal elections in Canada have produced this double majority on only one occasion – under Progressive Conservative Leader Brian Mulroney in 1984. Also, minority governments have been and can be productive. One should not confuse the disappointment of a majority of Canadians after a particular campaign outcome with Canada’s democracy being dysfunctional.
Tags: ideology, participation
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AFB meet GND: What role might the Alternative Federal Budget play in fleshing out the details of a Green New Deal for Canada?
Friday, March 6th, 2020
Advocates need a clear and practical agenda to make the most of this opportunity without sacrificing either environmental or social prerogatives. The AFB can help in this respect. Adopting all the AFB 2020 actions would mark an important shift in government policy-making and put the Canadian economy on more inclusive and sustainable foundations. It would do so without significantly adding to Canada’s debt at a time when public debt is truly the least of our problems.
Tags: budget, economy, ideology, standard of living, tax
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Why the Canada Revenue Agency should do our taxes for us
Friday, March 6th, 2020
The CRA automatically receives information about the employment and investment income for most Canadians, so let its computers fill out the forms and do the math on our behalf for free… where effectively you get a prepopulated digital return, which has all your income and deductions that it [the CRA] knows about there. And you either sign off on it, ‘yes’ or ‘no,’ or add any additional lines that are relevant and then submit it… Already 36 countries, including Britain, Germany, Japan and the Netherlands, allow return-free tax filing for some taxpayers
Tags: economy, featured, tax
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Do Canadian Conservatives even know what conservativism means any more?
Thursday, December 26th, 2019
Somewhere along the way, conservatives went off track. Tax cuts, deregulation and free trade became ends unto themselves without any consideration for their consequences for working-class citizens. Inevitably, the latter revolted. The result was Donald Trump’s election to the White House in 2016 and Britain’s vote to leave the European Union… Canadian conservatism needs to be more than a carbon copy of whatever becomes of its U.S. counterpart.
Tags: economy, ideology, privatization, tax
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Raising taxes to build Toronto is not just good — it’s necessary
Tuesday, December 10th, 2019
In recent years, our leaders have tried every trick in the book… to avoid collecting the revenues needed to build the country. They’ve sold off profit-making public assets, giving up long-term revenue streams for one-time capital gains. They’ve embraced public-private partnerships (P3s), paying extra to build infrastructure but hiding the cost off the public books. They’ve taken on more debt.
Tags: budget, ideology, jurisdiction, tax
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The mathematical truth about Toronto property taxes: raising them is the best option
Tuesday, December 10th, 2019
The average annual residential tax bill across the GTHA and Ottawa for 2018 came in at $4,773 per household. In Toronto, it was $3,906… The mathematical truth says Toronto’s residential property taxes are low. The mathematical truth says there is room to raise them to pay for the things the city desperately needs.
Tags: budget, ideology, jurisdiction, standard of living, tax
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Toronto should move to a ranked ballot
Tuesday, December 10th, 2019
Council recently voted 14-11 to direct city staff to start the process of moving toward a ranked ballot for the 2022 municipal election… No one likes how our system encourages negative campaigns, focuses on wedge issues and personal attacks, and gives incumbents at the municipal level where there are no political parties such an unfair advantage. Or that councillors can be elected with so little support from the electorate.
Tags: ideology, jurisdiction, participation
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Ontario using new law to suppress suits alleging negligent government conduct, lawyers say
Monday, December 9th, 2019
By making the government immune from lawsuits for negligence… the law sets a dangerous precedent: it harms the individual right to hold government accountable, and permits government “to circumvent the rule of law and deny access to justice.”
Tags: ideology, jurisdiction, rights
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Canada’s voting system is functioning just fine
Wednesday, November 27th, 2019
… proportional representation… tends to favour the formation of smaller parties able to exert outsized influence due to the need to win the support to form coalitions. That in turn leads to deal-making, horse-trading and backroom agreements, with the ongoing need to keep smaller allies happy if the coalition is to remain in power. Compromise is not necessarily a bad thing… Yet it can also breed uncertainty.
Tags: ideology, participation
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