Posts Tagged ‘tax’
An ambitious plan for an alternate reality
Friday, September 25th, 2020
This is the prospect that has so entranced the Prime Minister’s Office: bundling all the policies they’d ever dreamed of together and passing them all in a rush – in the name of “the pandemic” – and doing it all with borrowed funds. The government that failed at so basic a state responsibility as safeguarding public health is eager to take on new challenges.
Tags: budget, economy, Health, ideology, standard of living, tax
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
Ottawa faces a fiscal reckoning. It must review all programs and costs
Friday, September 25th, 2020
The task ahead is on a different scale than any government has faced since the Second World War. It demands not just new programs, but a new way of thinking. This government needs to roll up its sleeves and thoroughly re-examine not only its spending priorities, but its revenue sources, its antiquated tax code, its industrial strategy… Without it, this remains just an unsustainably expensive wish list.
Tags: budget, economy, ideology, tax
Posted in Governance Policy Context | No Comments »
Should we spend more on health? Only if we get better care
Tuesday, September 22nd, 2020
… what the premiers are proposing is that the feds absorb some of their current spending. They want Ottawa to transfer money rather than use their own powers of taxation to increase revenues… This pandemic, more than anything, has exposed the shortcomings in health and welfare systems, particularly in caring for elders and other marginalized groups. That’s what we need to fix. The last thing we need is buck-passing.
Tags: budget, child care, Health, jurisdiction, pharmaceutical, tax
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »
Billionaires get richer while millions struggle. There’s a lot wrong with this picture
Tuesday, September 22nd, 2020
growing inequality — and public concern about it — is being exacerbated by the pandemic. That makes this a particularly good time to revisit the many policy tools Ottawa has to do something about it. Tax reform tops the list. Canada can do more to prevent and pursue companies that hide billions from the taxman in offshore tax havens and close the many loopholes that let the very wealthy lower their tax bill.
Tags: economy, featured, ideology, standard of living, tax
Posted in Equality Policy Context | No Comments »
Freeland prepares to take us down a self-defeating path
Sunday, September 20th, 2020
The problem with putting government-influenced distribution of wealth ahead of wealth creation as a public policy goal is that it tends to create a national economy that is a zero-sum game — i.e., stagnant — and pursues a socioeconomic goal in which wealth is taken from those who have earned it and given to those who have not, in the name of social justice and in implicit exchange for their votes. This ultimately leads to massive discontent, corruption and a failed economy.
Tags: budget, economy, ideology, standard of living, tax
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
Liberals are considering a universal basic income, but economists have tough questions for its proponents
Thursday, September 17th, 2020
“What we’re really talking about is not ensuring everyone receives a cheque but ensuring there’s a minimum floor below which no Canadian ought to fall. So it really is a conversation about rethinking and reinventing our social safety net”… But the program won’t be popular with everyone… Problem 1: The Cost… Problem 2: The Incentives… Problem 3: The Cuts…
Tags: budget, featured, ideology, jurisdiction, participation, poverty, standard of living, tax
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
‘Billionaire wealth has bounced back’: Canada’s 20 richest people saw their fortunes grow by $37 billion during COVID-19, study says
Thursday, September 17th, 2020
The proceeds of a wealth tax could “create ongoing revenue streams” to fund important social policy initiatives… “That includes areas such as health care, building a universal child-care system, addressing the housing crisis that exists in so many parts of the country, and addressing the next looming crisis on the horizon in climate change.”
Tags: economy, ideology, jurisdiction, standard of living, tax
Posted in Equality Policy Context | No Comments »
The Liberals seem to think they have abolished scarcity. Let’s hope they’re right
Saturday, September 5th, 2020
There was widespread public consent earlier this year to the proposal that the economy should be put into a coma, to prevent the spread of a deadly disease… Spending hundreds of billions of dollars in borrowed money to keep the lights on in the midst of a once-a-century pandemic made sense. Borrowing billions more to fulfill every Liberal dream, political or ideological, does not.
Tags: budget, economy, ideology, tax
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
Trudeau’s using our moment of crisis to reinvent our economy. That’s exciting
Saturday, August 29th, 2020
The Liberals are not proposing radical change. Every advance they will propose is an expansion or acceleration of existing Canadian priorities and practices… The timing is right. Interest rates are at a historic low. The government’s cost of borrowing to pay for pandemic relief, a permanently stronger social safety net, and seed capital for tech-oriented startups with export potential is therefore manageable.
Tags: budget, economy, featured, ideology, participation, tax
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
How Canadians learned the art of sharing
Monday, August 17th, 2020
The often-fractious Canadian federation is certainly not without defects – and the now-convoluted equalization program is flawed. But since Ottawa sent out the first equalization cheques in April, 1957, that willingness to share has encouraged social unity and mutual trust. We save ourselves when we save each other.
Tags: budget, economy, ideology, standard of living, tax
Posted in Governance History | No Comments »
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