Archive for the ‘Governance’ Category
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Ottawa Should Reveal $16 billion in Hidden Spending
Greater visibility in budgets, estimates and public accounts would not make such preferences disappear – plenty of programs that do show as spending in these documents have persisted for decades, and have expanded… changes to the reporting of tax preferences that show their spending equivalents would give Canadians a valuable tool to improve federal fiscal policy.
Tags: budget, economy, ideology
Posted in Governance Policy Context | No Comments »
Ontario is proving that taxing the one per cent works
In Ontario, the average total income of the one per cent grew by 2.5 per cent in 2014 while average federal and provincial income taxes paid grew by 7.2 per cent. Nationally, with similar average total income growth of 2.3 per cent, average federal and provincial income taxes grew more slowly, by 4.7 per cent.
The faster revenue growth in Ontario suggests that the changes in taxation of high-income earners had a positive impact on government revenue.
Tags: economy, featured, globalization, ideology, jurisdiction, tax
Posted in Governance Policy Context | No Comments »
Don’t fear Trudeau’s proportional representation bogeymen
It’s important not to exaggerate how much would change under PR. It’s possible to win now, in a riding with several candidates, with as little as 28 per cent of the vote, and quite common to do so with less than 33 per cent… If I think a party would be bad for Canada, it’s my responsibility to get out and persuade my fellow citizens not to vote for them — not rig the system so they can’t.
Tags: featured, ideology, participation
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
Canada’s role in ‘snow washing’ money to evade taxes
In order to get hold of… Ultimate Beneficial Ownership (UBO) identification documents — you need to produce some evidence of apparent wrongdoing on the part of a target company to convince a magistrate to sign a disclosure order or warrant. But having gained access to a Canadian company’s records, you’ll often be faced with a total lack of UBO identifiers. Those UBO identifiers need to be made available: not only to frustrate tax evaders, fraudsters and money launderers, but potentially terrorists, who might use the anonymity associated with underregulated companies to fund their murderous activities.
Tags: budget, crime prevention, economy, featured, globalization, jurisdiction, rights, standard of living, tax
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Canada misses out on nearly $50 billion in tax each year
“Offshore is really big dollars from a smaller number of entities, but the majority of the tax gap is actually small amounts from a large number of people” … Aggressive tax avoidance — techniques that comply with the letter of a law, but contravene its spirit — as well as simple mistakes on tax filings and nonpayment of taxes round out the causes of lost tax revenues in the tax gap, according to the report.
Tags: budget, crime prevention, economy, globalization, jurisdiction, standard of living, tax
Posted in Governance Delivery System | No Comments »
End this needless secrecy
It can take so long to get records through the FOI process that they become irrelevant. The system stymies the ability of the public, usually through the news media, to know what quasi-judicial bodies like the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario and the Ontario Civilian Police Commission are doing in some of the most controversial areas of public policy.
Tags: featured, ideology, participation, rights
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Bill Morneau pledges to spend — but first he has to cut
If the government plans to spend any money in this budget, it will have to be funded from new revenue sources — and there is likely to be a political cost to tapping those streams… Having ruled out taxing health and dental benefits, he may opt to eliminate the deduction on meals and entertainment that make corporate boxes feasible at hockey games, or kill the age amount tax credit claimed by people aged 65 and over.
Tags: budget, economy, ideology, tax
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Proposed public sector wage hikes for execs are out of line
… there’s no evidence that current salary levels, along with the other benefits of public-sector employment, are insufficient to retain top talent… Thibeault’s rationale for OPG could just as easily apply to hundreds of other public-sector executives who head up our health care networks and transit systems… Allowing huge increases for any category would likely set off out-of-control demands across the entire public service
Tags: budget, ideology, standard of living, tax
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
A real job for the democratic institutions minister
Don’t just make cash-for-access fundraisers more transparent; end them altogether… Beyond changing the rules… ensure that parliamentary watchdogs are better placed to enforce them… Fix our access-to-information laws – now… The danger of backtracking on electoral reform is that the government may have contributed to the malaise it purportedly sought to address.
Tags: ideology, jurisdiction, participation, standard of living
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Trudeau’s broken promise on electoral reform betrays the public interest
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s decision to abandon his commitment to make the 2015 election the last held under the broken first-past-the-post electoral system is one of the most cynical I’ve seen… The decision shows utter contempt for Parliament’s electoral reform consultations and the special committee’s recommendations to the government.
Tags: featured, ideology, jurisdiction, participation
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
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