Posts Tagged ‘tax’
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The CERB is nothing like a basic income, but it might be the platform we use to build one
Friday, May 22nd, 2020
the possibility that today’s pandemic-induced mass unemployment may continue for longer than anticipated makes reform of income support both more likely and more urgent. And the general idea of a basic income – a single, unconditional transfer, without the intrusive and bewildering eligibility requirements that demean its recipients and leave many others without – remains as valid as ever… The CERB, for all its limitations, has created the precedent for a federal benefit of this kind. Maybe there’s an opening here, after all.
Tags: economy, featured, ideology, participation, poverty, standard of living, tax
Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »
What Kind of Economic Recovery do Canadians Want?
Friday, May 22nd, 2020
Canadians, by a 2 to 1 margin, want governments to spend whatever is required to rebuild and stimulate the economy, even if it means running large deficits for the foreseeable future… Building Canada’s ability to produce key products like food and medical supplies domestically… Investing in strengthening the health system, including universal public pharmacare… Not letting richer Canadians off the hook for contributing their fair share… Helping people who need it the most…
Tags: economy, featured, Health, poverty, privatization, standard of living, tax
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
Liberals should take a cue from Mulroney, not Chrétien
Wednesday, May 20th, 2020
Mulroney could have adopted the approach that Chrétien took, slashing transfer payments to the provinces and eliminating the deficit entirely. But he judged it to be irresponsible and not worthy of a prime minister in our federal system. So he didn’t… The free trade agreement with the United States had been signed, the GST and deregulation put in place and privatization begun.
Tags: economy, ideology, standard of living, tax
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
There’s no such thing as a non-partisan recovery plan. Deal with it
Saturday, May 16th, 2020
… it’s worth being honest about COVID-19 recovery efforts: Trudeau’s plans are going to be different from Ford’s because they believe very different things… If you were a small-government conservative before the pandemic, Trudeau’s response will upset you; if you were a socialist before Ontario’s first coronavirus case, I regret to inform you that Doug Ford will not be leading the people in glorious revolution… conservative premiers will have enormous power to shape and constrain the federal response.
Tags: budget, economy, ideology, standard of living, tax
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
Canadians need child-care benefits to withstand a COVID-19 recession
Monday, May 11th, 2020
… our national child-care support program – the Child Care Expense Deduction (CCED) – has two flaws that will make it unsuitable for an uneven economic recovery, as predicted for Canada, as well as for primary caregivers with school-aged kids at home… The CCED must be claimed by the lower-income spouse and the amount deducted cannot exceed two-thirds of their income… As a result, the CCED is stingy for low-income families and significantly more generous for higher-income families…
Tags: child care, economy, ideology, participation, standard of living, tax
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
The case for putting seniors’ care under the Canada Health Act
Sunday, May 10th, 2020
One of the most critical undertakings by governments across the country over the past five to 10 years has been reining in runaway health care budgets. And most governments have been successful in doing so. Adding long-term care to health budgets would be a serious blow to those efforts. Then again, maybe Canadians can agree that this is something that needs to be financed… “It would be the first big expansion of our medicare system that has happened in decades…”
Tags: budget, disabilities, Health, housing, ideology, jurisdiction, standard of living, tax
Posted in Health Policy Context | No Comments »
Pandemic proves value of guaranteed incomes
Saturday, May 9th, 2020
We know that we will emerge from this crisis with higher levels of unemployment than we have seen in two generations. We should be prepared for a winter ahead into which millions of Canadians will be headed broke, unemployed and close to despair… It might lead to the most transformational changes in today’s rich but increasingly divided and unequal economies since Bismarck invented the public pension system, nearly 140 years ago.
Tags: budget, economy, featured, ideology, mental Health, participation, poverty, standard of living, tax
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
Millions of Canadians are now collecting a state-funded income. But what happens after the pandemic ends?
Saturday, April 18th, 2020
The advent of UBI in its pure form is unlikely. It has its champions today as never before, but UBI is likely to fade as the pandemic does. To start, the federal finance ministry, no fan of UBI, prefers to create targeted rather than universal programs. And never mind the streamlined efficiency of universal programs like Medicare… the issue isn’t affordability. It’s culture. People either embrace or reject paying the freight for ensuring that everyone has a decent, dignified way of life.
Tags: budget, economy, featured, ideology, standard of living, tax
Posted in Policy Context | 1 Comment »
The Moral Imperative for Policy Advocacy
Tuesday, March 31st, 2020
… if charities do not make governments uncomfortable, they are not delivering on their charitable mission…. charitable status conveys a moral responsibility to be an active agent within civil society, that charities must be more than the sum of their government contracts and charitable receipts. At a fundamental level, charitable status implies not only the power to row but also the obligation to steer, to be thought leaders in the arena of ideas.
Tags: featured, ideology, participation, philanthropy, standard of living, tax
Posted in Inclusion Debates | No Comments »
There is no perfect economic response for Canada’s coronavirus shutdown
Friday, March 27th, 2020
There’s been a flurry of debate about the best method to get help to individuals in this crisis. Should it be delivered by way of targeted income-support programs, such as the CERB? Should the money instead go to employers, in the form of a wage subsidy, enabling them to keep paying their employees, even if they aren’t doing anything? Or should the government just mail everyone a cheque… the amount depending on their income – a universal, if temporary, basic income?
Tags: budget, economy, ideology, participation, tax
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
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