Archive for the ‘Governance Policy Context’ Category
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Without a tax debate, we risk sleepwalking into the future
Of course people know that their taxes buy things they value. In fact… many would agree to some mix of tax increases to strengthen valued services. But the notion that any of us, in this country, at this time, understand the link between taxes and what they buy with sufficient clarity to make informed decisions — well, that’s either naive or just plain pandering… Two successive parliamentary budget officers, whose job it is to know, admit they cannot get the information they need to determine the costs and consequences of tax and spending cuts.
Tags: budget, featured, ideology, participation, standard of living, tax
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Has the Supreme Court made Harper an accidental reformer?
During the Harper years, the Supreme Court’s assertions of provincial prerogatives have reshaped the constitutional landscape… the shift towards co-operation between Ottawa and the provinces… a Prime Minister who dislikes negotiating with the provinces has triggered processes by which the Supreme Court has entrenched the need for such talks.
Tags: featured, jurisdiction, rights
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Oligarchs And Money
… as the latest I.M.F. report shows, there’s strong evidence that changes in the global economy are increasing the tendency of investors to hoard cash rather than put funds to work, thereby increasing the risk of liquidity traps unless the inflation target is raised… who wouldn’t prefer modest inflation and a bit of asset erosion to mass unemployment? Well, you know who: the 0.1 percent, who receive “only” 4 percent of wages but account for more than 20 percent of total wealth.
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, privatization, standard of living
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Say no to government spying
The need to protect teens from online threats is something we all agree on. The problem is that only four of the bill’s 70 pages actually have anything to do with cyber bullying, while the remainder is designed to systematically dismantle our privacy rights. It effectively will allow the state to snoop on nearly everything we do online… The onus ought to be on government to justify the necessity of a law before it treads on our liberty by invading our privacy.
Tags: ideology, rights, standard of living
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Margaret Thatcher’s children have their hands full
… Thatcherites at heart. They see the state more as an impediment to growth and social progress than an asset, they think tax rates are too high and they believe the private sector can run most things most efficiently… cuts have been made to the civil service… So, too, the remuneration and pensions of public servants… “High Tories” with a sense of noblesse oblige about the less fortunate, weak-kneed worriers about social unrest, politicians who saw something called society instead of an agglomeration of individuals – have all but disappeared from today’s conservative parties.
Tags: budget, economy, globalization, ideology, privatization, tax
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A boring budget from an unpopular government
… the government has squeezed all the juice there is out of running a tight ship… But managing the Canadian dollar down to 90 cents U.S. in order to produce a bigger surplus is hokey… Instead of piling more excise taxes on tobacco, which will increase contraband, the Finance Minister should raise sales and transaction taxes on activities that are not undesirable but are exclusively engaged in voluntarily by prosperous people, to stay on course on deficit elimination while raising growth-rates.
Tags: budget, economy, ideology, tax
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A big-picture budget with some troubling details
Since 2006, the current government has extended some form of tax relief to commuters, caregivers, cross-border shoppers, first time charitable donors and home buyers, pre-school children, employed individuals, volunteer firefighters, tradespersons, truck drivers, students, seniors, children active in sports and arts, and small business owners, among others. More than 160 tax relief measures have been introduced… their costs add up, and once in place, they are difficult to retire. The relief they provide to certain groups must be paid for by others through higher tax rates in general
Tags: budget, ideology, standard of living, tax
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Budget injects a (small) dose of ‘integrity’ in closing tax loopholes
This proposal is aimed at structures adopted by certain Canadian corporations that use offshore “capital insurance” subsidiaries and “insurance swap” arrangements intended to convert taxable income into non-taxable income… The budget’s other principal integrity measure is one aimed at another plan in which Canadian taxpayers try to move investment income outside Canada to avoid Canadian tax… Going forward, only Canadian financial institutions will be able to set up an offshore bank that is considered to be a “bank” for Canadian tax purposes.
Tags: budget, economy, globalization, ideology, standard of living, tax
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The uncomfortable truth behind deficit politics
In the narrative of fiscal politics, the opening question is typically: what can we afford? … the task is to shift the political conversation from “what can we get without paying for it and what can we cut without actually noticing it” to an adult conversation about what we need, as well as how and when we will pay for it.
Tags: budget, economy, featured, ideology, standard of living, tax
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Federal budget to hide expensive defence-spending realities
…the surplus is a fiction — because it depends on delays to some very expensive defence procurements… The same stop-and-start manoeuvre has also pushed back many other enormously expensive and much-needed procurements until after 2015… Using the government’s own numbers, and excluding operating, maintenance and infrastructure costs, more than $16 billion in defence procurements would be showing up on the federal financial statements by 2015 — had they not been delayed
Tags: budget, economy, ideology, standard of living
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