Posts Tagged ‘economy’
Justin Trudeau’s carbon tax is revenue neutral… for now
Wednesday, April 24th, 2019
… higher-income Canadians will only be refunded a fraction of the carbon taxes they’ll pay, while low-income Canadians, in general, will get back more than the tax costs them… It punishes people who use more energy, usually those with higher incomes, who tend to have bigger houses and more luxurious cars, or boats, or cottages, and it rewards people who use less… In general, conservatives aren’t keen on wealth redistribution. Liberals are.
Tags: economy, ideology, jurisdiction, tax
Posted in Governance Policy Context | No Comments »
The push is on to reinvent American capitalism
Tuesday, April 23rd, 2019
In today’s America, just 16,000 families account for US$6-trillion in assets. That is equal to the total wealth of two-thirds of all U.S. families. While so many go wanting, thousands have so much wealth they couldn’t spend it all if they lived to be 800. It’s irrational, and one of the many reasons rethinking capitalism is overdue… Mr. Trump triumphantly points to continued good growth and near record-low unemployment numbers… But … Republicans are vulnerable on the inequality issue. Their tax cut was a giveaway to the wealthy and to Corporate America.
Tags: economy, ideology, participation, standard of living, tax
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
Isn’t it time the wealthy paid fair taxes?
Monday, April 22nd, 2019
Canada’s richest 87 families are today richer than the bottom third of Canadian families — 12 million Canadians. Surely, if we set a reasonable exemption level — perhaps $1 million for a house, family business or other investments — it would be fair to tax the remaining capital gains at inheritance. Most G7 countries do… Ideally, one would want to both reduce the capital gains exemption (at least to 25 per cent) and introduce an inheritance tax. The two are complementary.
Tags: economy, featured, ideology, standard of living, tax
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
There’s nothing moderate about this Ontario budget
Saturday, April 20th, 2019
… the cuts are large. But so, too, are the tax cuts that rob the province of billions… the government took billions of dollars from the budget. That lost revenue, plus new corporate tax breaks, will drain an average of $3.6 billion a year from provincial coffers over the next three years. That money could have stayed in vital programs; it could have reduced the deficit. It did neither… But as a public relations exercise designed to conceal bad news, the budget did its job.
Tags: budget, child care, economy, featured, ideology, participation, rights, standard of living, tax
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
Why is retiring later a good idea? Because 65 is the new 55
Friday, April 19th, 2019
Canadian Institute of Actuaries suggests… Shifting the target retirement age for CPP and Old Age Security from 65 to 67, with a commensurate 14.4-per-cent boost in the monthly pension… Allowing Canadians to defer OAS and CPP until as late as 75, with a big boost in monthly payments as incentive… Encouraging employers to choose 67, rather than 65, as the target retirement date for new pension-plan members
Tags: economy, ideology, participation, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »
Thumbs up for Ontario’s new Childcare Plan
Friday, April 19th, 2019
The new Ontario Childcare Access and Relief from Expenses (CARE) tax credit, initially estimated to cost around $400 million, will incentivize thousands of stay-at-home parents (mostly mothers) to join the workforce, generating additional taxable employment income and boosting tax revenues in the long run. The credit is targeted, mostly, at low- to modest-income families, where gaps from the current childcare expense tax deduction are the greatest… The CARE refundable tax credit will fill this gap, refunding up to 75 percent of the cost.
Tags: budget, child care, economy, featured, ideology, jurisdiction, participation, women
Posted in Child & Family Policy Context | No Comments »
How raising the age for CPP and OAS to 67 would benefit the whole country
Monday, April 15th, 2019
It’s past time we updated a retirement-income system conceived in the days when people lived just 10 to 15 year after retirement… “This isn’t a recommendation to assist the government in improving sustainability or save the government money.” … Retirees will need more savings than previous generations because they will live longer, because company pensions have become more scarce and because saving is made more difficult by low interest rates.
Tags: economy, pensions, standard of living
Posted in Equality Debates, Social Security Policy Context | No Comments »
Finally, Canada is global example for climate action
Monday, April 15th, 2019
Few climate-concerned Canadians know much about the slate of new federal climate polices, except for the contentious carbon tax. And while global experts agree that the national carbon tax is impressive – and won’t cause the economic harm claimed by conservative politicians – they are equally impressed with several other climate policies… the TransMountain pipeline can shift to transporting different Albertan products, perhaps hydrogen produced from the oil sands or sustainably-produced biofuels on the prairies.
Tags: economy, globalization, Health, ideology, jurisdiction, standard of living
Posted in Governance Policy Context | No Comments »
The crushing impact of social media freeloaders
Monday, April 15th, 2019
Here are two breathtaking stats: 65 per cent share and 80 per cent margin. Those are market experts’ estimates of share of ad revenues and the profit margins of the social media duopoly in Canada. No other ad business in the world has that stranglehold, no other media business earns one quarter of those stratospheric profit margins. Unlike them, their Canadian television, newspaper and magazine competitors pay taxes.
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, participation, standard of living, tax
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
With a looming aging crisis, who is helping the caregivers?
Sunday, April 14th, 2019
“The cost and consequences of caring for an aging family member are high, and higher for women than they are for men, and higher still if there are no workplace, community or family supports to assist them”… the problem with women’s eldercare is that it is ultimately a problem of unpaid work that persists throughout women’s lives, from child care to household chores to emotional labour to end-of-life care… “We will all be caregivers and care receivers at some point in time. We need to figure out how to do this well.”
Tags: disabilities, economy, Health, ideology, participation, standard of living
Posted in Child & Family Policy Context | No Comments »
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