Posts Tagged ‘economy’
Ford’s zealous desire to privatize alcohol sales will be costly for Ontario taxpayers
Friday, July 12th, 2024
The Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO)… annual profit — $2.5 billion in 2023 — goes into the public treasury, where it pays for things like health care and education… it’s doubtful that Ontarians would want to pay higher taxes so that more profits from alcohol sales could go to highly-profitable grocery store chains… Once all the LCBO’s lost revenue is factored in, the full cost to the public treasury of this privatization will likely be… close to a billion dollars.
Tags: budget, economy, ideology, privatization, tax
Posted in Delivery System | No Comments »
International Monetary Fund paints a rosy picture of Canada — maybe the country isn’t broken after all
Monday, June 17th, 2024
The IMF says Ottawa should seek additional revenue sources to reduce its reliance on deficit financing. It suggests raising the federal portion of the GST, as this space earlier advocated in also calling for a higher OAS eligibility age of 67… removing interprovincial trade barriers would boost the Canadian economy by about $80 billion a year… The IMF urges Canada to resume provision of social housing, a field Ottawa abandoned in the 1990s with disastrous consequences.
Tags: economy, housing, ideology, standard of living
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
The rich say boosting the capital gains tax will hurt productivity, but it’s just not true. Time to do a little myth-busting
Monday, June 17th, 2024
Most academic economists support a higher inclusion rate, partly because it levels the playing field between different types of capital income. But the best motivation is $20 billion in revenue it will raise over five years, to support modest new programs announced in this budget. This will help fund school lunches, affordable housing initiatives, dental care and disability benefits — while still respecting Freeland’s fiscal “guardrails.”
Tags: budget, economy, featured, ideology, standard of living, tax
Posted in Equality Policy Context | No Comments »
Years of corporate handouts achieved nothing. It’s time for something different
Thursday, June 13th, 2024
… corporate subsidies – either through tax incentives or direct funding and loans – now equal about $50-billion per year. That is slightly over one-half of the total amount of corporate taxes collected by the federal government and almost as much as they spend on health care. only 20 per cent of these business subsidies aimed at increasing productivity actually boost real income for Canadians. The other 80 per cent are not only ineffective but have to be paid for by either more taxes or by decreasing spending on other priorities.
Tags: budget, economy, ideology
Posted in Policy Context | No Comments »
Convenient access to alcohol is going to cost us
Wednesday, June 12th, 2024
… while alcohol sales in 2020 put $3.2 billion into Ontario’s coffers, they came at a cost of $7.1 billion. That left the province with an alcohol deficit of $3.9 billion. Health care accounted for $2.3 billion. The rest went to servicing alcohol-related criminal-justice and lost production costs. These figures reflect a deficit capped by the limited number of LCBO and Beer Stores, a limit that will soon cease to exist.
Tags: economy, featured, Health, ideology
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »
Doug Ford has bungled affordable housing and now Ottawa is rubbing his nose in it
Tuesday, May 14th, 2024
The federal government now says it will send funding directly to municipalities, cutting Ontario out of the equation entirely… Why can the two levels of government come together to build subsidized factories, but not subsidized housing? … Ultimately, the friction over funding may have less to do with personalities than priorities. In Ford’s Ontario, unaffordable factories count for more than affordable housing.
Tags: budget, economy, housing, jurisdiction
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
Mark Carney had a chance to weigh in one of the defining issues facing Canada. The answer he gave suggests he isn’t ready for public life
Tuesday, May 14th, 2024
Around the world, almost no serious person continues to believe that cutting taxes on the wealthy will unlock growth for working and middle-income people. Most advanced industrial democracies are dealing with inequality and challenges to economic growth by rejecting market fundamentalism and investing in things like public transit, child care, affordable housing and ensuring that low- and middle-income people have money to spend in the local economy.
Tags: budget, economy, ideology
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
Debunking myths about community housing: What governments and the public should know
Thursday, May 9th, 2024
Canada’s Housing Plan… includes noteworthy new funding programs and policies to preserve and expand community housing, including social, non-profit and co-operative housing… Canada’s ongoing housing crisis extends beyond affordability and supply challenges. It also involves homelessness, risks to tenancy, shortage of accessible units, financialization and the lack of culturally adequate housing. Community housing is poised to effectively tackle these insidious problems in ways the market cannot.
Tags: economy, housing, ideology, jurisdiction, participation, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Inclusion Debates | No Comments »
Canada’s shift to a more regressive tax system, 2004 to 2022
Thursday, May 9th, 2024
Taxation of the wealthiest is a central means to reduce inequality, provide adequate shared public infrastructure and services that benefit all, and create opportunities for all to live a decent life… Despite the progressive personal income tax system, when we look at all taxes and income, the tax system is only moderately progressive at the bottom, flat through the middle and regressive at the top.
Tags: economy, ideology, jurisdiction, standard of living, tax
Posted in Equality History | No Comments »
Basic Income for a New Model of Canadian Social Democracy
Wednesday, May 1st, 2024
Basic income is a paradigm-shifting idea on how to ensure economic security for everyone… Now is the time for the democratic left in Canada to develop a workable and comprehensive version of basic income as a key policy instrument, and not a sideline consideration. Canadian social democrats should incorporate the principle of guaranteed, unconditional and universal economic security as a fundamental program for its vision a better society.
Tags: economy, ideology, jurisdiction, participation, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »
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